In early January, Housing czar Jose Rizalino Acuzar expressed optimism that more housing units would be completed and turned over this year to beneficiaries of the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino (4PH), the Marcos administration’s ambitious national housing program.

Launched in September 2022, 4PH was declared in Executive Order No. 34 by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. as one of his administration’s flagship programs. Given overall management and supervision of the 4PH program is the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development with Acuzar, an experienced real estate and property developer since the 1970s, at the helm as DHSUD Secretary.

The agency, with a P6.35-billion budget, has eschewed the traditional horizontal approach to housing so as to maximize land use. Building at least a million units annually between 2022 and 2028 is DHSUD’s target.

Mindful of the government’s ultimate goal of zero informal settlers by 2028, Acuzar is bent on effectively addressing the housing backlog by opting for a vertical (multi-story) housing strategy, the better to provide for as many Filipinos there are who need housing badly, making housing affordable and in consideration of limitations in available land suitable for in-city housing.

Last year, on 17 December, in a ceremony on the Malacañang Palace grounds, President Marcos awarded the initial batch of 4PH units to overseas Filipino workers. “This is the start,” enthused Acuzar. “More (4PH) units will be awarded in the coming months.

Currently, some 56 housing projects are being developed across the country, with some condominium-type structures already completed and set for distribution.

Part of the DHSUD’s holistic approach to its task is its undertaking of the Pasig Bigyang Buhay Muli (PBBM) project, as lead entity in the Inter-Agency Council for the Pasig River Urban Development (AC-PRUD). The overall vision of this initiative is to rehabilitate the Pasig River and its tributaries — a national government priority — and maximize its economic potential through urban tourism and transport connectivity.

A 500-meter showcase area with such amenities as commercial stalls, a playground and even a day-care center stretching from the back of the Manila Central Post Office to the entrance of Intramuros near Plaza Mexico is already open to the public.

Also last year, DHSUD’s nationwide Plan and Do (Planado) program got off the ground. Designed to enhance land use planning and urban development, Planado is focused on attaining two main outputs, that is, zero backlog on Comprehensive Land Use Plans, and Provincial Development and Physical Framework Plans by 2028. The whole idea is to promote urban development for the next generation of Filipinos.

Overall, the program is likewise aimed at streamlining and digitalizing land use and urban planning and development processes to create smart, green, resilient and inclusive human settlements, a manifestation of the government’s mindset for building not just housing but shelter in the most ideal environment possible for Filpinos who need housing the most.

In 2025, the agency is confident about providing more housing units to 4PH beneficiaries. A number of housing buildings in various 4PH sites that were completed last year are now ready for turnover this year, said Acuzar.

He said that so far, over 1,000 applications under 4PH are being processed by the DHSUD’s key shelter agency, Pag-IBIG Fund in Palayan City in Nueva Ecija, Bacolod City in Negros Occidental, and Bocaue, Bulacan.

Said Acuzar, “We are now starting to reap the initial results of 4PH projects, particularly decent, safe and affordable housing units in condominium-type developments. We expect successive and sustained turnover of more 4PH units to our beneficiaries in the coming weeks.”

Meanwhile, in an early January meeting with the Metro Manila Council (MMC), Acuzar reported that some 170,000 units within 55 4PH projects are currently under construction in various locations around Metro Manila.

In that meeting, Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) acting chairman Atty. Don Artes said mayors in the metropolis will come up with an inventory of informal settler families (ISFs) in their respective areas as well as government-owned spaces or suitable areas to be used as staging sites.

The staging sites will serve as temporary relocation areas for the ISFs for at least two years while the 4PH projects are being built. Once these shelter projects are done, the ISFs shall be transferred to their new housing units.

Metro Manila mayors in attendance expressed support for the 4PH with San Juan City Mayor and MMC president Francis Zamora saying, “It is my vision for San Juan to be free of informal settler families and this project is an opportunity to realize that vision, that is, of providing ISFs — people who badly need housing — with decent shelter.”