President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday has presented to Cambodian business leaders the Philippine government's "aggressive housing program" of constructing one million houses to address the housing backlog in the country.

And while Marcos admitted that the Philippines is currently facing a housing shortfall of about six million units, the President stressed that his administration is doing everything it can to commence the housing programs.

"We are aiming for one million homes, one million low-cost and socialized homes a year. It is an ambitious number but we will try very, very hard," Marcos said in a roundtable meeting with Cambodian business leaders in Phnom Penh.

The President said that the problems that lack of housing bring "extend into the social side."

"It becomes a problem for the rest of society when people do not have homes," said the President, adding that in building houses, "you cannot just build a house; you have to build a community."

"Otherwise, it is not practical for people to live there. So there have to be schools nearby, work cannot be farther, the commute cannot be more than one hour, there has to be a marketplace, all of this. The transportation is easy to get to," Marcos said.

To recall, the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development in September this year launched the Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino program which aims to build one million housing units every year or a total of six million at the end of the term of the President.

The Chief Executive is also set to sign an executive order that will implement Section 24 of Republic Act. 11201, mandating several government agencies to jointly identify idle state lands suitable for housing and rural development.