FORTY-NINE families living in Manila’s so-called “tunnel community” are set to move to permanent homes in Bulacan this month as the National Housing Authority (NHA) steps up efforts to relocate families dwelling in unsafe settlements.
NHA General Manager Joeben Tai announced the relocation target following a town hall meeting led by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Sept. 15 for families living in an underground community in Barangay 738 and 799.
The families are being relocated to St. Ildephonsus Village in Barangay Anyatam, San Ildefonso, Bulacan, after completing the documentary requirements needed for their transfer.
Tai said the move aligns with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive to ensure that the target families are transferred to safe, decent, and affordable homes.
The NHA will also impose a one-year moratorium on the beneficiaries after their relocation, according to Tai.
The remaining families are expected to be relocated by the end of the year, he added.
Meanwhile, the DSWD will provide rental assistance to 36 families through its Pag-Abot Program while they wait for their housing units and relocation schedules.
The town hall allowed the families to raise concerns about housing, relocation, and other forms of government assistance. DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian led the meeting, accompanied by Manila social welfare officials and other local government representatives.
The “tunnel community,” located along Tripa de Gallina, emerged in the 1990s and currently has 94 low-income families, according to the NHA.
The unusual settlement is part of a much larger Metro Manila housing problem — informal settler communities have developed in or near waterways, esteros, railway rights-of-way, road easements, and other high-risk or government-owned areas as low-income families struggle to find affordable housing close to jobs and services.
DHSUD’s National Resettlement Policy Framework cited estimates of about 600,000 informal settler families in Metro Manila, equivalent to roughly three million people living in slums, along railways, waterways, creeks, and other danger zones.
