THERE IS this project by the national government in partnership with the local government of Davao City which might have been affected adversely by the vicious rift between the group of former President Rodrigo Duterte on one hand, and the camp of incumbent President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on the other.
We are referring to a mass housing project set to be located in Barangay Riverside, Calinan of the city’s third district.
We have no doubt many can recall that sometime in October of 2023 the City Government of Davao signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), an agency of the national government charged with implementing programs aimed at addressing problems on homelessness.
The housing project planned in the MOU is under the so-called Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Program. It aimed to construct 82 buildings with 8,000 residential units. The target beneficiaries of the program are the informal settlers who belong to the “poorest of the poor.”
DHSUD Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar signed in behalf of the national government while Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte signed for the city of Davao.
Again the signing was in October of 2023, to be exact October 12. It was still two or three months before the falling out of the Dutertes and Marcos, Jr. When the first quarter of 2024 set in the bitter squabble between Duterte and Marcos came out to the open with most, if not all of the harshest attacks coming from the camp of the former President and his daughter Vice President Sara Duterte.
As the enmity progressed the local government started airing apprehension that national government projects in Davao City may be jeopardized. Most prominently mentioned is the city’s transport modernization program.
But to many the mentioned project may not be as critical as the housing program that was supposed to be set up as People’s Ville I, II and III at Riverside, Calinan. Imagine how much the 8 thousand families awarded units in the housing project will decongest the expanding informal settler colonies in the central section of Davao’s urban center?
Unfortunately the people of Davao City appear to be totally unaware of the status of the housing project provided in the MOU. Neither the local government nor the National government is giving the Davaoenos an update on the project status.
Has it become a collateral damage to the Duterte-Marcos, Jr. break-up? Has the housing project already been dumped in the canal of “forgotten memories?”
Will the City Housing Department (has it become a department already?) please give us the status of the People’s Ville project?
We assume that the said office in the local government is the right entity to inquire about the status of the laudable housing plan.
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It is really hard to understand why many politically inclined individuals “are in it,” even if they know “they cannot win it.”
Yes, we are referring to some people, including “recidivist” or perennial candidates filing their certificate of candidacy for councilor and other elective positions even if they know by heart they cannot win in the election.
We are already starting to think that these individuals are making running in elections a “business” that gives them financial rewards along the way.
Yes, these candidate still insisted on running despite their failure to be included in the ticket of major contending political parties. Being “outsiders” of the official slates makes it doubly difficult for them to win even if they have the resources needed to run a campaign that will last about 45 days.
Sometimes, those with resources even become milking cows of scheming barangay officials who commit to help run their campaign in their respective area of jurisdiction. Even politicians who are their “benefactors” sometimes are the ones initiating moves to junk them in favor of another candidate.
Indeed we can only commiserate with them being led to such misfortune.
