The Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) and the University of the Philippines (UP) on Monday marked another milestone in the construction of the UP-Los Baños 4PH Rental Housing Project with a concrete pouring ceremony at the project site in Barangay Paciano Rizal, Bay, Laguna.

DHSUD Secretary Jose Ramon Aliling, together with Senior Undersecretary Eduardo Robles Jr., UP president Angelo Jimenez, and UPLB Chancellor Dr. Jose V. Camacho Jr., led the ceremony, signaling the start of full-scale construction to bring affordable rental housing for UPLB constituents closer to completion.

The DHSUD and UPLB broke ground for the project on 6 March, ending a 45-year wait for a government housing project at UPLB. The last housing project at the university was implemented during the administration of the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr.

The housing project is part of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s flagship Expanded Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino (4PH) program which seeks to address the country’s housing needs by making decent, safe, and affordable shelter more accessible to Filipino families.

The UPLB-Expanded 4PH Rental Housing Project will initially provide 320 housing units to qualified beneficiaries, including low income employees and students of UPLB, as well as informal settler families in communities surrounding the university.

“Our goal under the Expanded 4PH is to address the housing needs of our fellow Filipinos for decent, safe, and affordable homes,” Aliling said.

The project was developed through the collaboration between DHSUD and UP to address the housing needs of UPLB constituents while supporting the university’s efforts to provide a more secure and dignified living environment on and around its campus.

“Our President’s directive is clear — we must bring government services closer to our fellow Filipinos,” Aliling said.

For their part, Jimenez and Camacho noted how quickly the UPLB housing project came to fruition through the close collaboration between the DHSUD and UP.

“It has only been a few months since we spoke last December and held the groundbreaking in March, and now we are already at the concrete pouring stage. This is concrete proof that we are doing what we say,” Jimenez said.

“This is the fastest project in my entire career. Things have happened incredibly quickly,” Camacho said.