January 19th, 12:20am January 18th, 11:10pm Neil Alcober

The San Juan City government led by Mayor Guia Gomez inaugurated yesterday its second in-city relocation for indigent residents living in flood-prone areas.

Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito was also in attendance during the inauguration of the San Juan Ville Housing project along F. Manalo Street in Barangay Kabayanan.

The housing project is composed of two five-story buildings with a total of 118 units. All of the units will be turned over to families from Barangay Salapan whose houses are located in flood-prone areas.

The San Juan Ville housing also has a multi-purpose hall and sewage treatment plant.

Ejercito, who chairs the Committee on Urban Planning and Housing in the Senate, urged other cities to also undertake similar housing projects.

“I want to show to the whole country that even if San Juan is a small city, it was able to come up with an in-city housing project for the poor. Other cities should be able to do the same,” Ejercito said.

Prices for each unit will depend on which floor it is located. Units on the ground floor cost P500,000 each while those on the fifth floor cost P400,000 each.

Beneficiaries can choose to either pay a straight payment of P2,280 for 30 years or choose a staggered payment as follows — P800 for the first five years, then P1,400 from six to 10 years, P2,200 from 11 to 15 years, P3,200 from 16 to 20, P4,400 from 21 to 25 years and P5,500 from 26 to 30 years.

“The homeowners association who will occupy these units, they are the ones who believed that this project will happen. The government is currently expropriating lands around the city for further in-city housing projects,” Mayor Gomez said.

The Sangguniang Panlungsod led by Vice Mayor Janella Ejercito Estrada fully supported the housing project. It passed an ordinance for the City Mayor to enter an agreement with Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) for the said project and the P35 million appropriation ordinance for land development.

The DILG allocated P90 million for the project, which was formally turned over to the San Juan City government in 2016. The groundbreaking of the project was done in April 2017.

Eden Azarcon, head of the Urban Poor Assistance Office of the city government, said the beneficiaries of the San Juan Housing Ville project were pre-selected and are legitimate residents of Barangay Salapan.

Meanwhile, the city government’s first housing project – the St. Joseph Ville – was built in 2016. It houses 340 qualified informal settler families displaced by the fire in Barangay St. Joseph on 25 December 2012.