The 2.5-hectare Sidlak Village will soon rise in Victorias City, Negros Occidental, following the signing of a memorandum of agreement and groundbreaking ceremony with the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) and Pag-IBIG Fund officials Feb. 27.
Sidlak Village is the city’s first major housing milestone, through the City Human Settlements and Urban Development Office, under the administration of Victorias Mayor Javier Miguel Benitez.
“It is imperative to ensure the quality of the communities we are building. These human settlements are not only a place where people reside, these are cradles of societies,” Benitez said in his message during the MOA signing.
He also revealed that Victorias City is the second local government unit in the entire Philippines to sign a MOA with DHSUD. The first was the highly-urbanized Bacolod City.
“This (ceremony) is a sign that we are moving toward more conscious and forward-looking human settlements that will withstand the modern problems of every human community,” the mayor pointed out.
The housing project is made up of two 10-storey condominium-type buildings intended for government employees and informal settler families (ISFs), who are members of PAG-IBIG Fund.
It will be located in the 25,000 square-meter lot in Barangay XIII, with 600 units, and with 10 floors in each tower.
This is part of providing dignified human settlements to all Victoriahanons under the Six-Point Agenda of the incumbent administration, a press release from the city said.
The project aims to address the need for suitable and conducive shelters to every Victoriahanon, and to deliver quality housing services.
The Victorias City government is coordinating with the provincial government of Negros Occidental, Office of Congressman Kiko Benitez, the DHSUD, Pag-IBIG Fund, National Housing Authority, Social Housing Finance Corporation, National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation, and the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor for the realization of the housing projects.
Present at the MOA signing and groundbreaking, meanwhile, were DHSUD Undersecretary Samuel Young and Assistant Secretary Engr. Leah Delfinado, Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, Pag-IBIG Fund Business Development Sector senior VP Fermin Sta. Teresa Jr. and trustee Anthony Arellano, Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council regional coordinator Eva Maria Marfil, and Pag-IBIG FUND Home Lending Operations-VisMin Group OIC, Engr. Noli Armada.
Vice Mayor Abelardo Bantug III and the Sangguniang Panlungsod members were also present, along with Sangguniang Panlalawigan Board Member Juvy Pepello, punong barangays, city department heads, project contractors, and partners. ||
