DAVAO CITY—The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has readied the mass housing project for its employees, even amid an impending replacement of the region by another political entity as a concession to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the peace negotiations.
The ARMM Bureau of Public Information announced that 48 units were already completed “and are ready for occupancy by qualified applicants” from the ARMM bureaucracy.
“We will ensure that only the rank and file employees of the ARMM will benefit from this housing program. This has been previously approved by a board resolution,” Regional Gov. Mujiv S. Hataman said.
The ARMM resettlement and housing project is at Barangay Capiton in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.
Hataman and Regional Housing and Rural Development Authority Chairman Kanggu M. Umal already made the ceremonial ribbon-cutting last week to signal the official distribution of the units.
The resettlement area is 2.1 hectares and designed for the construction of 96 housing units, exclusively for the rank and file personnel of the ARMM, the information office also clarified in its statement.
Each housing unit measures 44 square meters and stands on a 140-sq-m lot, “which is only a few meters away from the Capiton highway providing easy access to the recipient-employees for an 8-kilometer drive or ride toward the ARMM compound in Cotabato City.”
Each unit costs P700,000 and consists of three bedrooms, a living room, dining area, kitchen, shared toilet and bath and a carport.
Concrete road network and canals and provision of power and water supply would complete the amenities afforded for comfortable living. “This housing project, aspired by the ARMM work force for decades now, has been realized only during the Hataman administration,” Umal said.
The completion and distribution of the units was timed with the week-long 25th ARMM foundation day. The applicants viewed the units at an open house.