In an interview with reporters, Marcos said he sees the establishment of housing for the uniformed personnel as an investment, not financially but for their well-being.
“So that ‘yung kanilang serbisyo hindi nila kailangan alalahanin kung saan sila uuwi at saan uuwi ang pamilya nila,” he said.
(So that they don’t have to worry about where they will go home and where their family will go home, regarding their service.)
“Alam naman natin ang dami sa pulis natin ay homeless. Kung saan-saan na lang nakikitira and the truth be told, ‘yung iba squatter talaga at wala na silang matirahan,” he added.
(We know that many of our police officers are homeless. Some of them will live anywhere and truth be told, others are really squatters and they have nowhere to live.)
Marcos said they have already found a property in Cavite that is suitable for the housing program.
Initially, he said they will build 500 units each for the AFP and PNP.
Marcos earlier led site inspections and launches of different housing projects in Metro Manila and several provinces, most notably under the administration’s flagship program billed as the Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino: Zero ISF (Informal Settler Family) 2028 Program.
The Marcos administration’s housing program aims to address the housing backlog in the country pegged at more than 6.5 million units.
Marcos tasked the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development to build one million housing units every year for the next six years, with P36 billion annual interest support from the national government. (SunStar Philippines)