No Freeport ID, can still avail of housing benefits

The non-compliance of Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB) requirement for residents of Barangays Malaya and Maligaya to secure residential ID would not affect their status to avail of housing privileges within the FAB.

This was announced by AFAB Administrator/CEO Hussein Pangandaman during his recent dialogue with members of Bataan Export Processing Zone Neighborhood Association (BEZNA) and the community residents. Pangandaman assured them that the absence of Freeport residential ID (FRID) will not in any way prevent the residents from benefitting from freeport housing program.

But the move was met with criticisms from concerned residents saying their national IDs and driver’s license are enough to get themselves around the FAB area unhampered.

The FRID aims to give residents safety pass and accessibility in the Freeport but not to invade their privacy, the AFAB said in a statement.

Pangandaman said in a social media post that a technical working group would be created to formulate guidelines on the disposal or sale of ageing housing units many of which had been renovated by the occupants themselves.

The occupants, most of whom are retired employees of then Bataan Export Processing Zone since its inception in 1974 during the time of then president Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. have raised their families in Barangays Malaya and Maligaya. Roughly 11,000 residents had been residing in the two villages.

The sale of housing units and other Freeport assets is governed by FAB law, and the disposal of which will be discussed with guidelines to be set by a technical working group duly constituted by AFAB officers.

Sources said the sale of Freeport assets worth millions of pesos was already tackled in previous AFAB administrations but was not carried out due to lack of clear guidelines which have yet to be formalized.