‘Squatter’ no more thanks to 4PH boost
Every home awarded, Aliling said, gives Filipino families not only shelter but also security, stability and the confidence to build a better future.
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Every home awarded, Aliling said, gives Filipino families not only shelter but also security, stability and the confidence to build a better future.
For years, Ariel Antonio carried a label he never wanted. Not anymore.
The 58-year-old Antipolo resident now holds the title to the land where his family lives — a document he says represents more than ownership. It is dignity, security and something he can one day pass on to his children.
“I will no longer be called a squatter. I now have a land title that I can leave to my children,” Antonio said after becoming one of more than 8,100 beneficiaries of the revived Enhanced Community Mortgage Program under the government’s Expanded Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino (4PH).
Antonio’s story is one of thousands that the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) says are beginning to emerge as the Marcos administration expands its flagship housing program.
In Bataan, Aileen Tolentino finally unlocked the door to a home she could call her own after spending eight years paying rent.
Ironically, she said, her monthly amortization under the Expanded 4PH Program is lower than what she used to pay her landlord.
“I’ve been renting for eight years, and my rent was higher than my monthly payment here. Now I finally have my own home,” she said.
Lifelong dream
For residents of Barangay Ibabang Iyam in Lucena City, the reward came after more than two decades of waiting.
Earlier this week, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and DHSUD Secretary Jose Ramon Aliling handed Certificates of Entitlement to 100 beneficiaries covered by Presidential Proclamation 436, formally recognizing rights over land many families had occupied for years.
For Lucena professor Arturo Dominguez, the document represented the fulfillment of a lifelong aspiration.
“We are overjoyed because the land we have long hoped and prayed for will finally become ours,” he said.
Local government employee Marlon Villaruel described homeownership in practical terms.
Owning a home, he said, means no longer worrying about rent, landlords or whether there will still be a roof over his family’s head next month.
DHSUD Secretary Jose Ramon Aliling said these stories illustrate what the Expanded 4PH Program seeks to accomplish beyond building houses.
Every home awarded, he said, gives Filipino families not only shelter but also security, stability and the confidence to build a better future.
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