By PNA and U.S. News Agency / Asian

President Benigno S. Aquino III launched the first tranche of housing units representing his promise to provide 20,000 homes for the valiant men and women in uniform here on Monday.

The President, together with Vice President and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council chair Jejomar Binay, led the ceremonial opening of the Bocaue Hills Housing Project here that aims to provide an initial 4,000 low-cost housing units to the men and women of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.

To be built at a cost of P140,000 per housing unit, qualified members of the AFP and the PNP who avail of the housing project will only have to shell out P200 a month for the first five years of amortization.

The remaining 30 years of payment will be computed with a compounded interest method to produce equally affordable amortization ranging from P400 to P800 only.

In his speech keynoting the event, the President said that with this project, the men and women of the AFP and PNP will not have to worry about having to pay rent which could reach up to P3,000 in Metro Manila.

“Hindi na kakabug-kabog ang dibdib ninyo sa pag-aalala kung saan kukuha ng panustos sa upa; hindi na ninyo kailangang kabahan sa kaligtasan ng inyong pamilya,” the President said.

“Matatapalan na natin ang tagas sa naipupundar ninyong suweldo dahil sa binabayarang upa dati sa Metro Manila na humigit kumulang sa tatlong libo kada buwan,” he added.

After his speech, the President took a brief tour of two model housing units and expressed satisfaction at what could be made out of the units for it to be liveable.

“The first two units are demo units of what you can do with the basic structure and they are impressive,” the President said.

“To be honest, if you are going to be paying P200 for that, I think you will be satisfied,” he added.

The President signed Administrative Order No. 9 last April 11 ordering the National Housing Authority to formulate, implement and manage housing projects for 20,000 military and police personnel.

In response, the NHA has embarked on a massive house-building program with other housing sites located in San Jose del Monte and Norzagaray in Bulacan; Baras and Rodriguez in Rizal; Calamba, Laguna and Trece Martires and General Trias in Cavite.

The housing agency said it will complete building the 21,800 housing units promised by the President by November 2011.