Probe on 'Lupang Arenda' delay sought

SEN. Imee Marcos has filed Resolution 900 seeking an inquiry on the «unreasonable delay» in the construction of Lupang Arenda, a socialized housing project in Taytay, Rizal.

«Almost 29 years have passed since the first presidential proclamation set aside public land to develop low-cost and medium-rise housing for informal settlers living in Lupang Arenda and along the Pasig River,» said Marcos, chairman of the Senate Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development.

«It's time to resolve the complex story of proclamations for housing informal settlers,» she added.

Marcos said the project was stalled despite the preparatory work completed in 2018 by a pre-proclamation committee composed of representatives from the Housing and Urban Development Coordination Council, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and National Housing Authority.

Citing records, Marcos said then-president Fidel Ramos issued Proclamation 704 in 1995 to set aside 80 hectares of land for socialized housing where informal settlers along the Pasig River and poor families in Taytay, Rizal, would be relocated.

She added that in 2006, then-president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo issued Proclamation 1160 granting 20 parcels of land to urban poor families living in the Manggahan Flood Complex and to homeless employees of the Rizal provincial government.

However, in the aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy in 2009, Marcos said Arroyo revoked both proclamations amid fears of the project obstructing the Napindan River.

Former president Rodrigo Duterte restored Proclamation 704 through Executive Order 93 in 2019, but as of March 2022, only 41 certificates of land ownership had been distributed to informal settlers occupying 2.1 hectares of land in Lupang Arenda, Marcos said.

She lamented that, as of September last year, the DENR had yet to provide the clearance to convert Lupang Arenda into a public housing area.

«Tens of thousands of informal settlers' households await a conclusive Presidential proclamation on Lupang Arenda. It would bring the government closer to its target of building one million housing units each year, as promised,» Marcos said.