A 2.5-hectare Sidlak Village will rise in Victorias City after the signing a memorandum of agreement and groundbreaking ceremony with the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) and Pag-IBIG Fund on Monday, February 27.

Sidlak Village is the city’s first major housing milestone through the City Human Settlements and Urban Development Office under the administration of Victorias Mayor Javier Miguel Benitez, a press release from Victorias said.

“It is imperative to ensure the quality of the communities we are building. These human settlements are not only a place where people reside, these are cradles of societies,” Benitez said in his message during the MOA signing.

Victorias City is the second LGU in the entire Philippines to have a signing of a memorandum of agreement with DHSUD, following Bacolod City, he said.

“This (ceremony) is a sign that we are moving toward more conscious and forward-looking human settlements that will withstand the modern problems of every human community,” he added.

The housing project will included two 10-storey condominium-type buildings intended for government employees and informal settler families (ISFs) who are PAG-IBIG fund members.

It will be located in the 25,000-square-meter lot in Barangay XIII, with 600 units and a total of 10 floors in each tower.

This is part of the provision of dignified human settlements to all Victoriahanons under the six-point agenda of the incumbent administration, the press release said.

The project aims to address the need for suitable and conducive shelters to every Victoriahanon and to deliver quality housing services, it added.

The Victorias City government is coordinating with the Negros Occidental provincial government, office of Rep. Francisco Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District), DHSUD, Pag-IBIG Fund, National Housing Authority (NHA), Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC), National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC), and the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP) for the realization of the housing projects.

Benitez led the MOA signing and groundbreaking ceremony with DHSUD Undersecretary Samuel Yang, DHSUD Assistant Secretary Leah Delfinado, Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, Pag-IBIG Fund Business Development Sector Senior Vice President Fermin Sta. Teresa Jr., Pag-IBIG Fund Trustee Anthony Arellano, Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council Regional Coordinator Eva Maria Marfil, and Pag-IBIG FUND Home Lending Operations – VisMin Group OIC Noli Armada.

Vice Mayor Abelardo Bantug III and the Sangguniang Panlungsod members were also present along with Board Memer Juvy Pepello, punong barangays, city department heads, project contractors, and partners.

Sidlak Village is the first among the future housing projects in Victorias City under the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Program of the national government and through the initiative of the city government.*