The Iloilo City Urban Poor Affairs Office (ICUPAO) led the topping-off ceremony of the Uswag Low-Rise Residential Building at Barangay San Isidro, Jaro, on March 8.
The construction of a twin four-story condominium will benefit 120 low-salaried City Hall employees.
The ceremony was joined by EnP Eva Marfil, OIC-Regional Director Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD); ICUPAO Chairman Rony Firmeza; SMDC Assistant Project Director Carl Navarro; Answering the Cry of the Poor (ANCOP) Sr. Operations Manager Efren Tompong; representatives from City Engineer’s Office, Non-Government Organizations, city councilors, and barangay officials.
The partnership with DHSUD and SMDC is part of the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino: Zero ISF Program for 2028 which aims to reduce the city’s backlogs in housing.
Navarro said the project has now a 47% completion rate envisioned for turnover to the City Government by end of May 2024.
The 30-square meter each 120-condo unit building is situated on a 2,741-sqm portion of the 16.2-hectare USWAG Subdivision of said village.
The initiative marks a success in the changing modality of Socialized Housing Programs. The pilot project is an early indication that the City Government will pursue strongly in shelter development with a help of the National Government.
SMDC’s in-house contractor Vykim Project committed that masonry, plumbing, electrical works, and partition of units, the parapet of walls, and lying of cement, hollow blocks (CHB), then full-blown architectural works will commence in April.
The shelter program is for low-income earners and informal settler families with no real property, who have not accessed the local or national shelter program and are not professional squatters or members of a squatting syndicate. (Alexandra Jover/Iloilo City PIO)
