1 million houses set to be built but can’t be rushed — Acuzar

Members of the urban poor group Kadamay join a caravan to support families who occupied government housing units in Pandi town, Bulacan. This photo was taken in 2018. (File photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — Around one million houses have been planned out in line with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s promise of six million houses by the end of his term.

“One million has been laid out, planned to be built. Building it has many problems, and you can’t rush building,” Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar said on Wednesday in Filipino in an ambush interview in Manila.

Acuzar said that the structural integrity of the building could be compromised.

Building such houses would take three to four years, said Acuzar. He added that the government would need to build upwards, as there was no more land on which to build low-level buildings.

Back in 2022, in his first year of office, Marcos vowed to build one million houses a year.