Duterte turns over homes to wounded soldiers, cops

SAN JOSE DEL MONTE, Bulacan, Philippines — President Duterte has turned over an initial 50 housing units for the families of soldiers and policemen who were wounded in action.

Initial beneficiaries include the families of 35 soldiers and 15 policemen.

“I saw it with my own eyes. – the suffering and agony of a soldier of the Republic. And I thought that …we can make things easier for them. At least life a better, a bit comfortable,” Duterte said in the turnover ceremonies here on Thursday.

The President also announced that totally disabled uniformed personnel will get housing units as a full grant while partially disabled beneficiaries will only pay P225 monthly amortization instead of P625.

“I hope that this will go a long way to alleviate their situation,” he added.

The floor area of each housing unit is 24 square meters. The housing units are located in Pleasant View Residences Package 3 in Barangay Graceville in this city.

It has a total of 1,788 low-rise units on a 6.1863 hectares of land divided into three packages composed of 10 low-rise buildings for each package.

National Housing Authority general manager Marcelino Escalada said per instructions of the President, the floor area of the old design for soldier and police beneficiaries was too small.

“We decided to combine two units into one for all wounded soldiers, especially those who fought in Marawi,” Escalada said.