The Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) and the University of the Philippines have begun full-scale construction of a rental housing project at UP Los Baños that will initially provide 320 units for employees, students and nearby informal settler families.

DHSUD Secretary Jose Ramon Aliling and UP President Angelo Jimenez led the concrete pouring ceremony Monday at the project site in Barangay Paciano Rizal, Bay, Laguna.

They were joined by DHSUD Senior Undersecretary Eduardo Robles Jr. and UPLB Chancellor Jose V. Camacho Jr.

The project is one of the pilot rental housing developments under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Expanded Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino, or Expanded 4PH, Program.

The 320 units will initially cater to qualified beneficiaries, including low-income UPLB employees and students, as well as informal settler families in surrounding communities.

“Layunin natin sa Expanded 4PH ang matugunan ang pangangailangan ng ating mga kababayan para sa disente, ligtas, at abot-kayang pabahay,” Aliling said.

DHSUD and UPLB broke ground for the project on 6 March, ending what the department described as a 45-year wait for another government housing development at the university.

The previous housing project at UPLB was implemented during the administration of the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

Jimenez highlighted the speed at which the project moved from planning to construction.

“Ilang buwan lang since nag-usap tayo last December at nag-groundbreaking last March, now concrete pouring na tayo. This is a concrete manifest na ginagawa natin ang sinasabi natin,” Jimenez said.

Camacho similarly described it as the fastest project he had seen move forward.

“Ito po ang pinakamabilis na project sa buhay ko... napakabilis po ng mga pangyayari,” he said.

Jimenez said UP intends to pursue more housing projects, particularly for the university’s lowest-paid employees.

“This will serve as proof of concept,” he said.