VALENZUELA CITY — When President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. broke ground on the Disiplina Village–Arkong Bato in March 2023, the 20,709‑square‑meter site along M.H. Del Pilar Street was a promise waiting for concrete. By February 13, 2026, that promise had become 336 completed housing units across seven low‑rise buildings, and the first families had begun moving in. The Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, together with the National Housing Authority, formally inaugurated Phases 1 to 3 of the project, turning over Certificates of Award to qualified beneficiaries on the very week Valenzuela celebrated its 28th Charter Day.
The Arkong Bato project is only one front in a multi‑layered housing offensive that has transformed Valenzuela into a proving ground for the Marcos administration's flagship shelter program. Across multiple barangays, the Expanded Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino (4PH) Program has deployed three distinct mechanisms: the Enhanced Community Mortgage Program for land acquisition, the NHA‑built Disiplina Village for in‑city relocation, and a high‑density housing component that redevelops occupied sites into vertical communities. For Valenzuela's property sector, the cumulative effect is structural: hundreds of families who once occupied land without title are now documented, tax‑contributing stakeholders in the formal real estate market.
From Three Decades of Uncertainty to a Documented Address
The ECMP has become the most visible engine of this transformation. On January 9, 2026, Secretary Jose Ramon Aliling and SHFC President Federico Laxa handed a Php14‑million check to the Wawang Pulo Homeowners' Association Phase 1 in Barangay Wawang Pulo. The funds, covering land acquisition and documentary stamp tax, gave 242 families who had occupied the site since the 1990s the means to finally own the ground beneath their homes. "Napakasaya po ng naramdaman ko ngayon," said Reynaldo Dela Cruz, a 51‑year‑old security officer among the beneficiaries. Monalisa Delapo, a 58‑year‑old tailor, shared a sentiment that echoed across the barangay: "Akala ko po sa TV ko lang po nakikita na marami siyang inaaward na lupa pero sa amin nangyari din ngayong araw na 'to."
The pace intensified through the first half of 2026. On May 6, Aliling and Laxa awarded more than Php47 million to the Archangel Sword II Homeowners' Association in Barangay Lawang Bato, unlocking land acquisition for 256 member‑beneficiaries who had lived there for nearly 20 years. One week later, on May 13, another Php9 million reached the Bagong Pag‑asa Neighborhood Association of Parada, covering 58 families in Barangay Parada. "Halos linggo‑linggo po kaming nagpupunta ni Secretary Aliling upang iabot sa inyo ang tulong na pinansyal," Laxa said, a statement that was both operational update and institutional pledge. Since the ECMP's revival under Expanded 4PH in July 2025, SHFC has approved 45 projects benefiting more than 7,700 families nationwide, with 18 communities already receiving land acquisition checks.
Disiplina Village: A 960‑Unit Anchor That Redefines In‑City Housing
The Disiplina Village–Arkong Bato represents a different modality—one that builds rather than buys. The master plan calls for 20 five‑storey low‑rise buildings generating approximately 1,000 housing units, primarily for informal settler families living along the Tullahan River and those affected by the Supreme Court's Mandamus to clean up Manila Bay. Each completed building comprises 48 units with floor areas ranging from 24 to 30 square meters, and the project is strategically situated near Arkong Bato National High School, PR San Diego Elementary School, community wet markets, and groceries.
What distinguishes Disiplina Village from conventional resettlement sites is its refusal to exile beneficiaries to the urban fringe. It is the city's fourth in‑city housing relocation project, following Ugong, Bignay, and Lingunan—a model that keeps families within reach of their workplaces, schools, and social networks. Mayor Wes Gatchalian articulated the philosophy behind it. "Gusto nating makilala ang Valenzuela hindi lamang lugar kung saan nakikita ang mga naglalakihang mga pabrika, kundi makilala bilang isang liveable city," he said. The architectural facade draws inspiration from the historic Arkong Bato, and the adjacent Arkong Bato Park, inaugurated in 2023, provides open space that anchors the community.
For the broader property market, in‑city housing of this quality and scale functions as a neighborhood stabilizer. When informal settlements are replaced by titled, permanent housing within the same barangay, the legal uncertainty that depresses adjacent land values begins to lift. A developer evaluating a nearby parcel can now factor into the calculus that the area's risk profile has measurably improved—a variable that, over time, translates into higher property valuations and a broader base of potential buyers.
A City That Refuses to Choose Between Industry and Livability
Valenzuela has long been defined by its industrial corridors—the factories, warehouses, and logistics hubs that line MacArthur Highway. Mayor Gatchalian's vision, articulated during the Charter Day inauguration, is for the city to be recognized "bilang isang liveable city"—a place where employment, housing, education, healthcare, and public safety converge. The Expanded 4PH program is the housing pillar of that vision, and the numbers are beginning to bear it out.
From the 242 families of Wawang Pulo to the 256 beneficiaries of Lawang Bato, from the 58 households of Parada to the 336 units already occupied at Arkong Bato, the program has converted hundreds of Valenzuelano families from informal occupants into documented property stakeholders. Each family that receives a Certificate of Award, a land acquisition check, or a Certificate of Unit Allocation exits the shadow economy of informal tenure and enters a system where their home is both an asset and a taxable, transferable property. "Patunay muli ang Arkong Bato Disiplina Village project dito sa Valenzuela City sa pagtupad sa hangarin ni Pangulong Marcos Jr. na maghatid ng disente, ligtas at abot‑kayang pabahay sa pamilyang Pilipino," Aliling said. For Valenzuela's real estate landscape, those words describe not only a social program but a structural shift—one that is converting the country's most vulnerable occupants into its newest property owners.
