Naga to pilot PBBM’s Pambansang Pabahay
By JASON B. NEOLA
WOWED by the facilities established at the Balatas New Development Area (BNDA), President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. described the place as the model site for his Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino program where 7 condominiums will be constructed by the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).
The project is an integral part of the DHSUD’s plan to provide shelters for over six million Filipino families in six years across the country. It aims to provide one million housing units per year.
The president who was in Naga City on Thursday, March 16, to grace the ground breaking ceremony for the 7 medium-rise condominiums felt impressed by the development at the BNDA, saying that it can be an ideal site to pilot the government’s settlement project.
Marcos issued the statement after he was delighted by the improvements at the BNDA which were undertaken by the city government under the leadership of Mayor Nelson Legacion.
TIME CAPSULE Photo shows President Marcos Jr. is assisted by Mayor Nelson Legacion and Vice Mayor Cecilia de Asis in sealing the time capsule contained with a newspaper during the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of 7 medium or high rise condominiums, a project under the national government’s Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino. The ground breaking rite was conducted on March 16, 2023 at the Balatas New Development Area.
In gist, the president said that there is no need for the national government to construct a school, a hospital and other lifeline facilities at the site as the LGU Naga has continuously been undertaking necessary steps to develop it as a perfect settlement for the Filipino families.
“We shall instead train our focus primarily on the construction of more houses,” he told a crowd of more than 250 people.
A source said that before the presidential entourage left, DHSUD Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar informed Legacion about the possibility of constructing 24-storey condominiums instead the original plan of 12 storeys. Acuzar even assured the city mayor that he will be sending structural engineers to study the capacity of the land to carry high-rise structures.
Aside from the 7 buildings to be constructed at the BNDA, 5 more housing projects under the same program are up in other barangays of the city like those to be put up at Sitio Iwid in Barangay Balatas, and in the villages of Lerma, Sta. Cruz, San Felipe, and Carolina.
Marcos, in his message, said that he is considering the idea of making the BNDA as pilot area for the housing projects that the government is planning to construct in different cities and municipalities across the country.
“I am glad to inform you that the DHSUD has already signed 83 memorandum of agreements and four memorandum of understandings with the different LGUs, enabling the government agency to establish collaborations toward the achievement of peaceful, orderly and safe communities,” he said.
Aside from the modern 200-bed capacity hospital, of which the construction is ongoing, and the Balatas National High School, which is now operational, the BNDA is also the site of the newly-built Naga City PAGCOR Event Center, and the Naga City Urban Agriculture Training Center and Demo Farm.
The BNDA is also the location of 2-storey 4-classroom building and the Center for Safety and Resiliency, which is soon to be constructed, a satellite market cum bagsakan center, the headquarters of the BFP, the Naga City Police Office, of which the ground breaking ceremony is set either on March 29 or 30, this year, and the City Risk Reduction and Management Office.
Based on the previous plan, each of the proposed condominium, which will all stand on a 1.2 ha of land, has 12 storeys with over 220 suites. Every unit has a floor area of 6 x 4 meters.
The construction of the facilities is expected to help shape the BNDA as another center of commerce and development in the city.
Marcos assured the Nagueños that his administration will pursue the construction of the condominiums which is expected to provide the city with over 1,100 homes in that area alone.
He even told the Pabahay program beneficiaries who attended the ground breaking rite that aside from the housing projects, his administration, in partnership with the LGU, will see to it that they will be provided also with opportunities to land a job and engage in the government’s livelihood program.
“We are also looking into the possibility of involving the idle estate-owned lands in the Pabahay program,” the president said. Early media reports said that he will implement Section 24 of Republic Act No. 11201, which mandates several government agencies to jointly identify idle state lands suitable for housing and rural development.
The Pambansang Pabahay allows the commitment of Mayor Nelson Legacion to make good on his promise to build affordable homes for informal settlers and low-income earning constituents.
The ground breaking rite, which was attended by the city officials, Punong Barangays, business leaders, program beneficiaries, representatives from finance and banking institutions, private contractors, and the members of the media, is also graced by the presence of DHSUD Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar and other cabinet members of the present administration.
THE architect’s perspective of the condominiums – to be called The Legacy Residences – that will rise at the Balatas New Development Area (BNDA).