MEDIA BRIEFING. Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (center), with Councilors Claudio Jesus Puentevella (left) and Psyche Marie Sy, during a press briefing at the Bacolod City College Activity Center on Thursday (March 9, 2023). Benitez said around 10,000 jobs will be created in the construction of an initial 10,000 housing units in the city through the implementation of the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Program. (PNA photo by Nanette L. Guadalquiver)
BACOLOD CITY – Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said Thursday the implementation of the government's Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Program is expected to create 10,000 jobs here.
"They (the developer) are now mobilizing. We have announced that their requirement is 10,000 workers," he told reporters.
On Tuesday, the city government entered into a joint venture agreement with the consortium of WRS Holdings Inc. and Scheirman Construction Consolidated Inc., which will invest PHP2 billion for the mixed-use human settlement project, starting with 10,000 housing units in two locations in the next four years.
The housing units will rise at the Arao relocation site in Barangay Vista Alegre to be called the Yuhum Residences with 3,000 units while in Bredco, Reclamation Area, the Yuhum Executive will have 7,000 units.
Yuhum Residences will be comprised of 22 residential towers while Yuhum Executive will include four towers.
Each site will also have a commercial complex, open grounds and parks, public market and terminal, primary care facility and schools, and government offices.
"As we are getting ready to build our Yuhum housing, jobs are open for everyone. Just get in touch with Public Employment Service Office," Benitez said.
Among the initial job openings include those for architects, engineers, electricians, foremen, carpenters, equipment operators, and helpers/laborers.
"This would have a trickle down effect. Housing development, as I've always said, is the best pump priming economic activity that we can do," the mayor said.
Under the agreement, the buildings will be developed by the Scheirman consortium “at no cost” to the city government and the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development.
The city government will provide the land upon which the human settlement/housing units will be built.
Bacolod is the first local government unit in the country to implement the “Pambansang Pabahay Para Sa Pilipino: Zero Informal Settler Family Program for 2028”, which seeks to build a total of six million housing units to address the country’s housing backlog in six years or until 2028. (PNA)
