A total of 70,165 informal settler families living along Manila Bay had been relocated in several resettlement areas by the Department of Interior and Local Governments, Undersecretary Epimaco Densing testified before the House Natural Resources Committee hearing today.

This is just 24% of 190,655 families living under squalid conditions in shanties along the bay which comprises the cities of Manila, Pasay, Las Pinas and Paranaque.

Densing said they expect to finalize and wait for the lifting of a moratorium in Cavite and Bulacan to be able to relocate more families in other resettlement sites. Government intends to sweep the bay clean of informal settler communities from Cavite all the way to Bulacan.

The National Housing Authority or NHA is contracting 15,000 housing units this year as part  of a 6.1 billion peso relocation program. Of this number, 1,840 units are already ready for occupation.

NHA is building more housing units to relocate 34,105 families in informal settler communities in Caloocan and Valenzuela. Government intends to spend 25.4 billion for this.