Palace says Indonesian businessman vows to assist gov't in social welfare, housing projects

Malacañang on Thursday said an Indonesian businessman has promised to assist the Marcos administration in its programs for social welfare and in providing Filipinos with low-cost housing.

The Presidential Communications Office said Indonesian businessman Dato’ Sri Tahir met with President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. at the Palace and gave P41.6 million.

The PCO said Tahir initially met the Marcoses in Hawaii when they were in exile in 1986. It added that Tahir was very excited to see Marcos when he won the presidential elections last year.

"So maybe I use this opportunity. I like to see, explore, we can work together in social work,” Tahir said. “We have been working in the region. So, I hope that, with your permission, with your support, let me arrange to explore.”

Marcos, for his part, discussed with Tahir the present social welfare programs of the government for children, the elderly, as well as his administration's ongoing projects for housing.

“We have a program that we are going to start for the street children. Unfortunately, we still have people who are homeless. So, we are trying to look after them,” Marcos said.

“So, this is how we view social work in the Philippines. As much as possible, we would like people not to become dependent on the government. And Filipinos, I think, have that attitude. So, that’s a good situation. So, that’s more or less how we are approaching a new way of doing social work,” he added.

Marcos also said his government is targeting one million housing units each year for the next six years, noting the country’s backlog of 6.5 million socialized and local housing units.

“That is a very important part of our agenda. It causes so many social problems if we don’t have available housing. It’s very hard for people to be productive if they do not have their own home," he said.

“Even if they are just paying for it, it’s different from being informal settlers, squatters. That’s why it’s a big priority. So, housing is moving well," he added.

Meanwhile, Tahir also expressed interest in building a hospital in the Philippines.

“We are running the largest private hospital in Indonesia. So maybe if we can invest also in hospital here,” he said.

According to the PCO, Tahir founded the Mayapada Group, an Indonesian conglomerate, with businesses in the finance, healthcare, hotel and real estate, specialty retail, media, and mining industries.—AOL, GMA Integrated News