Businessman Jose Acuzar Named New Housing Secretary

President Marcos has appointed a real estate firm owner as chief of the housing department.

Jose “Jerry” Acuzar, owner of the New San Jose Builders Inc., took his oath as Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) secretary before Marcos at the Malacañang Study Room last Friday, July 29, a Facebook post by Radio Television Malacañang showed.

He succeeded retired general Eduardo del Rosario, the first secretary of the department.

The Housing chief, who was born in 1955, hails from Balanga, Bataan. According to an online encyclopedia published by the Balanga Historical Committee, Acuzar completed a vocational course in drafting at the former Bataan National School of Arts and Trades while working as cutterwelder in the iron works shop owned by his older brother Ben.

Acuzar established the New San Jose Builders after obtaining his architecture degree from the Technological Institute of the Philippines in Manila.

The encyclopedia entry said his first major contract was the construction of the Philippine Columbian Association sports complex.

Acuzar also owns the heritage town Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar in Bagac, the Adriatico Grand Residences in Manila, Victoria de Manila, Victoria Towers, Victoria Station Condominium, Isabelle de Valenzuela, Metro Manila Hills, and Fort Victoria, the online encyclopedia said.

The housing secretary is a brother-in-law of Paquito Ochoa Jr., the executive secretary of the late former president Benigno Aquino III.

The DHSUD was created through Republic Act No. 11201 enacted in 2019. It serves as the primary national government entity responsible for the management of housing, human settlement, and urban development.

It also oversees key shelter agencies namely the National Housing Authority, Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-IBIG Fund, Social Housing Finance Corp., and the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp.