For servicemen, P5.46B in housing windfall

Thousands of police officers, soldiers and firemen, among others, are set to get new homes this year with the release of fresh funds for the construction of housing projects for uniformed personnel.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on Thursday announced the release of P5.46 billion in fresh funding for the National Housing Authority (NHA) to cover 20,000 house-and-lot packages.

These would benefit personnel from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) and the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).

“From the very beginning, one of President Aquino’s goals was to give uniformed personnel the opportunity to secure permanent housing,” Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said. “This latest release underscores the administration’s continuing commitment to provide safe, resilient and quality homes to our men in uniform and their families.”

The biggest of the agencies are the AFP and the PNP, which have over 220,000 and 140,000 personnel, respectively.

Once the new houses are built, the total number of completed units would increase to 66,852 since the current housing program started in 2011, Abad said.

As of May 31, 2014, a total of 46,852 housing units have already been completed since 2011. This is an accomplishment rate of 75 percent of the total target of 62,790 units set in 2013.

Of the released P5.46 billion, Regions IV-A and III will get the biggest shares of P1.77 billion and P1.64 billion for 6,500 and 6,000 housing units, respectively.