City Hall employees losing chance to benefit from housing project?
Iloilo Housing Project
City Hall employees may no longer have the chance to avail of housing units at the city's socialized housing project in Pavia, Iloilo. This after Mayor Jerry Treñas declared that the anomaly-ridden housing project would be turned over to private firms for completion.
A source from the City Hall, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, city government employees definitely could no longer afford the housing units if it would be handled by private firms.
The source disclosed that even before the project was stalled by anomalies the employees have observed that the proposed cost of each housing unit was too high. Based on the proposal before the project was stopped due to anomalies, each housing unit including the lot would have cost P400,000 or nearly half a million pesos.
"Mahal gani nga siyudad pa sadto ang nagpresyo ano pa gid ayhan kon private companies na (the city priced the housing units expensively, how much more if it would be handled by private companies," said the source who is a former officer of the Resource Employees Association of City Hall (REACH), the official association of regular employees in the city government.
The source observed that in Bacolod City there is a similar socialized housing project for employees and each unit including the lot is only priced at P218,000.
Based on the original plan the city's socialized housing project is intended for the city government employees as represented by REACH. The association's president Renato Talacay was not available for comment at press time.
More than a hundred partially completed housing units sit untouched at the housing site in Brgy. Ungka, Pavia for about four years now.
The housing units are now dilapidated and lots of its materials have been "cannibalized" by residents living near the site.
Works on the housing project stopped sometime in September 2002 after subcontractor Rudy Gonzales exposed that the project contractor Ace Builders Enterprises used substandard materials.
The Office of the Ombudsman Visayas took cognizance of the case and recommended the filing of administrative charges against city government officials concerned but up to this time there is no development yet.
Mayor Jerry Treñas, on the other hand, attempted to negotiate with the contractor to settle things out and continue with the project but to no avail.
Recently, the Commission on Audit came out with a report calling the attention of the city government to act on the housing anomaly which resulted to the wastage of some P87 million public money.
To that Treñas answered that once the problem be settled with Alex Trinidad of Ace Builders Enterprises the housing project would be turned over to private firms which will complete the project and take charge in the selling of housing units.
The housing project which originally costs P125 million aims to construct 413 housing units for City Hall employees. It is funded through a loan with the Philippine Veterans Bank. It sits on a five-hectare lot in Pavia town which the city government owns.