Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte said on Tuesday the Department of Education (DepEd) is ready to accept more partnerships with other local government units (LGU) to secure the housing program for public school teachers.

Duterte made the statement as she joined the groundbreaking ceremony and signing of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the “Programang Pabahay para sa mga Guro at mga taga-Lungsod Quezon” (Housing program for teachers and Quezon City residents).

“We are willing to partner with other local government units, katulad ng ginawa ng Quezon City local government unit. Mayroon silang pabahay at ang partnership nila with the Department of Education is ‘yung pag-identify ng beneficiary teachers natin na qualified para sa kanilang pabahay (like what the QC LGU did. They have a housing program and their partnership with the Department of Education is to identify the qualified teachers for the housing program),” she said in an interview.

Duterte said such program should not be limited to urban areas.

“Ang isyu ng kawalan ng pabahay ay hindi lang po nakasentro sa mga highly-urbanized na mga lugar sa Metro Manila katulad ng Quezon City o Davao City sa Mindanao (The issue on the lack of housing is not only centered in Metro Manila’s highly-urbanized areas, like Quezon City, or Davao City in Mindanao),” she said.

For its part, the QC government expects the housing program to benefit about 444 individuals, 144 of whom shall come from the teaching and non-teaching personnel of DepEd.

Under the QC housing program, beneficiaries shall be granted a unit in one of its soon-to-be-built QCitizen Homes Republic Residences.

The compound shall consist of eight five-story buildings and one 12-story building.

Qualified beneficiaries may avail of the housing program through the Pag-IBIG Fund (Pagtutulungan sa Kinabukasan: Ikaw, Bangko, Industriya at Gobyerno) or the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) financing.

Besides the housing program, Duterte urged teachers to avail of the Office of the Vice President’s newly-launched livelihood program for women and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual, plus (LGBTQIA+) community.

“We encourage that to our teaching personnel in the Department of Education. To date, we’re always promoting and offering the Office of the Vice President’s entrepreneurship program, the Magnegosyo Ta Day,” Duterte said in mixed English and Filipino. (PNA)