Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto questioned the National Housing Authority (NHA) on why it has to provide a housing program for the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).
“Yung AFP, PNP dapat nasa formal sector yan because may sweldo yan e,” Rector said during the budget hearing of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) at the Senate.
(The AFP and PNP should be in the formal sector because they have salaries.)
The NHA serves as an attached agency of the DHSUD.
NHA’s website said its AFP-PNP Housing Program intends to “provide decent and affordable housing to low-salaried personnel” of the AFP, PNP, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, the Bureau of Fire and Protection, and the Bureau of Corrections.”
The senator noted that the DHSUD requested P23.36-billion from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to fund its AFP-PNP Housing Program for 2021. The DBM, however, rejected the funding request.
Recto said the AFP and PNP personnel should just apply for housing loans with the Pag-IBIG fund.
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NHA housing program for AFP, PNP personnel questioned
“I don’t think there is a need for NHA to build homes for them,” Recto said.
“They should be eligible to borrow from Pag-IBIG and let the private sector build the homes so they can choose where they want to live, and the quality of the homes will be better,” he added.
He also urged the NHA to focus on helping the informal settlers.
“I think the mandate of NHA should be for informal settlers. Yung mga walang sweldo, that’s how it should work. That’s how our system is supposed to be designed so yung walang sweldo, yung nakatira sa estero, yung nakatira kung saan-saan yun yung tutulungan ng NHA,” the senator said.
“Yung may sweldo, dapat makapagutang yan sa Pag-IBIG and it’s the private developers building the homes that they can choose where they want to live,” he added.