Bongbong wants housing program for govt employees

A bill has been filed at the Senate seeking to create a national housing program specifically for government employees. The program will be called Civil Service Housing Program, and will institutionalize a comprehensive housing program for government personnel and integrate all existing housing programs of which state workers are beneficiaries, according to Senate Bill 2699 filed by Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong" Marcos Jr. The proposed measure states that the housing program shall extend to all civil servants as defined by section 4 of Presidential Decree No. 807. Sale or transfer of rights over the housing unit purchased under the program, however, shall be prohibited within 10 years. “While the housing need for all Filipino families is a constant priority, the government has to notice also the largest beneficiary group on whom all government depends: its loyal and hardworking and equally needing government employees, who render valuable services and without whom its machinery would be rendered paralyzed," Marcos said in his explanatory note. SB 2699 says that a Civil Service Housing Executive Committee shall be created to oversee the Civil Service Housing Program. It shall be composed of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) chairman as ex officio chairman and the secretary or appropriate interior undersecretary, the heads of Social Security System (SSS), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF/Pag-IBIG Fund), National Home Mortgage Financing Corporation, Home Guarantee Corporation, National Housing Authority (NHA), and the Socialized Housing Financing Corporation (SHFC) as ex officio members. However, the measure says that the participation of non-government organizations in the implementation of the program shall be encouraged. The bill says that an initial amount of P1 billion shall be appropriated for the housing program. Marcos, chairman of the Senate committee on urban planning, housing, and resettlement, had also earlier proposed the creation of a “super housing" agency that will be called the Department of Housing. He said the Department of Housing would consolidate the efforts of key shelter agencies and address the supposed “acute" housing shortage problem. — Kimberly Jane Tan/KBK, GMA News