30,000 qualified National Housing Authority (NHA) beneficiaries received their Certificates of Eligibility for Lot Awards (CELA) from President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr. and NHA General Manager Joeben Tai on December 5, 2022.

The awarding of certificates was held at Parkstone Estates in Brgy. Calubcob, Naic, Cavite, an NHA housing project for informal settler families (ISFs) affected by the Supreme Court Mandamus to rehabilitate Manila Bay, ISFs living along danger areas, and families affected by government infrastructure projects.

The awarded house and lot units were built by the NHA in the past years. GM Tai’s mission was to fast track the occupancy of the vacant houses to give more Filipino families a home of their own, especially before Christmas Day.

President Marcos Jr. and NHA GM Tai personally handed the awards certificates to five (5) families representing the 3,000 beneficiaries present during the event in the Naic, Cavite housing project site. The awarding of house and lot units was simultaneously held across NHA project sites in NCR, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

NHA Regional Offices conducted simultaneous awarding at St. Gregory Homes in Malabon City, Harmony Hills in Quezon City, San Fabian Resettlement Project in Pangasinan, Gamu Resettlement Project in Isabela, Pleasant View Package 2 in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan, and the Bulacan Convention Center.

Awarding ceremonies were also held at the Tabaco Housing Project in Albay, Dumangas Municipal Gym in Iloilo, Naga housing project in Cebu, St. Francis Village in Tacloban, Labuan Sea Breeze in Zamboanga City, Cabanglasan in Bukidnon, Balay Pagbabago in Davao City, and Tampakan in South Cotabato.

The grand awarding of NHA’s certificates of house and lot is a fulfillment of GM Tai’s promise to President Marcos Jr. to Build Better and More housing for homeless Filipinos, which is also a part of NHA’s commitment to building 1.3 million houses to address the 6 million housing backlog of the country.

Coinciding with the simultaneous awarding of house and lot certificates was the distribution of Transfer of Certificate Titles (TCTs) to seven (7) Kapatiran members in Bukidnon and awarding of enhanced units in Bronville, Naic, Cavite to 24 other Kapatiran members who were former rebels and had sworn allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines, as part of the NHA’s peace-building program. This is in coordination with the Office of the Presidential Adviser for Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU).

With the approval of President Marcos Jr., GM Tai vowed that the NHA would allocate all its remaining vacant housing units to help lessen the country’s housing backlog and as an early Christmas gift to Filipinos.

Apart from further improving the quality of NHA’s housing units to be at par with or to surpass the quality of housing in the private sector, GM Tai is also working on partnering with other government agencies and the private sector to provide better and more livelihood opportunities in an effort to create sustainable communities for the agency’s beneficiaries.