ILOILO CITY— Senate chairperson on housing committee JV Ejercito will inspect and investigate the alleged sub-standard housing project in Concepcion, Iloilo for victims of typhoon Yolanda.
“We will look into that. So far, I only visited Tacloban and Compostela,” he said in a press conference Friday afternoon, after the Senate public hearing on the effects of the tax reform program on public services and utilities.
Last March, the municipal council of Concepcion also investigated the housing project being implemented by the National Housing Authority (NHA) after the local government received number of complaints from concerned citizens against the alleged sub-standard houses and incomplete housing project supposedly intended for 1,000 beneficiaries.
The issue even reached President Rodrigo Duterte when a concerned citizen, Rhett Zerrudo, sent a letter to the President’s office.
Zerrudo noted on his letter some of his observations on the project such as wobbly partition walls, substandard doors and windows, poor drainage system and cracked concrete roads.
Vice-Governor Christine Garin, who was also present during the press conference, said the alleged irregularities on the housing project is a “big concern here in Iloilo especially that almost all towns in the fifth district are beneficiaries.”
“Their problem is on the sub-standard project. They do not want to live there,” she added.
Her statement was backed by Ejercito, saying that the government already spent around PHP66 billion for housing projects but the occupancy rate was less than 50 percent.
“We will look into that. Hopefully, we don’t want to repeat that because we are not a rich country, we maximize whatever funds we have. If we spent PHP60 billion for housing project, we hope that 80 to 90 percent are occupied,” he added.
Ejercito’s plan to investigate the housing project in Iloilo is part of his committee’s ongoing investigation to the alleged irregularities in the resettlement and housing programs of the government for tragedy-stricken families such as victims of typhoons Sendong, Pablo, and Yolanda as well as the Zamboanga siege in 2013.
The legislator said a public hearing was already conducted last Monday.
He said the delivery of substandard projects, location that is far from utilities and facilities, and housing project being constructed in danger zone are the three issues brought up during the first hearing.
Another hearing is scheduled on May 30, he said. (PNA)
