30,000 informal settler families’ relocation seen
SOME 30,000 informal settler families, most of whom live in hazardous areas in 44 towns and four cities of Pangasinan can look forward to safe sustainable relocations.
This was reported by Alvin Bigay, chief of the Provincial Housing and Urban Development and Coordinating Office (PHUDCO), to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan on Monday and
underscored the need for the province to enter into and sign a memorandum of agreement with the newly created Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) to forge partnership for the implementation of housing programs and projects in Pangasinan.
Second District Board Member Philip Cruz, chair of the committee on housing and land use, introduced a resolution authorizing Governor Ramon Guico III to sign the MOA with officials of DHSUD for the shelter programs in Pangasinan.
He said DHSUD will build 50,000 housing units in Region1 for the next six years and Pangasinan will have the biggest share of these housing units.
DHSUD’s core program zero informal settler families will be a big boost in attaining the goal of reducing the number of informal settlers in Pangasinan, he added.
The provincial government has expressed readiness because PHUDCO already prepared a provincial shelter plan covering 44 towns and four cities (Dagupan City included) during the start of the pandemic, making Pangasinan the first LGU in Region 1 to come up with a provincial shelter plan.
Bigay said the DHSUD program seeking to reduce the number of informal settler families will enhance the housing program of the province for homeless provincial government employees and employees of other government agencies like policemen and teachers.
Asked by Vice Governor Mark Lambino why Dagupan, a highly urbanized city independent from Pangasinan, was included in the program, Bigay said Dagupan is a big contributor to the number of informal settlements in the province.
“So, if we address the number of informal settlements in Dagupan, it will be a big reduction in the number of informal settlements in the entire province of Pangasinan,” he added. (Leonardo Micua)
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