HOUSING CZAR. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administers the oath of office to Jose Acuzar as housing czar at Malacanan Palace's Study Room, based on a short video clip uploaded on state-run Radio Television Malacanang's Facebook page on Friday (July 29, 2022). Acuzar is a Filipino entrepreneur from Balanga, Bataan who established New San Jose Builders Inc. (Screengrab from RTVM) MANILA - President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has appointed Filipino entrepreneur Jose "Jerry" Acuzar as the new head of the Department of Housing Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD). Marcos on Friday administered the oath of office to Acuzar as DHSUD at Malacanan Palace's Study Room, based on a short video clip uploaded on state-run Radio Television Malacanang's (RTVM) official Facebook page. "President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. administers the oath-taking ceremony of Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) Secretary Jose 'Jerry' Acuzar at the Study Room in Malacanan Palace on July 29, 2022," RTVM said in a Facebook post. The DHSUD is designated as the primary national government entity that is responsible for the management of housing, human settlement and urban development. The DHSUD is also mandated as the "sole and main planning and policy-making regulatory, program coordination, performance monitoring entity for all housing, human settlement, and urban development concerns, primarily focusing on the access to and the affordability of basic human needs." Acuzar's appointment came after Marcos, during his first State of the Nation Address delivered Monday, directed the DHSUD to coordinate with the Department of Social Welfare and Development to improve the implementation of the government's Emergency Shelter Assistance Program for calamity victims. Acuzar was involved in several infrastructure projects in the country. He started as a draftsman at Tondo Foreshore Redevelopment Project in 1975 and became a contractor in the 1980s before establishing New San Jose Builders Inc. (NSJBI). NSJBI is behind the construction of several condominiums such as Victoria Towers in Quezon City and The Fort Victoria in Bonifacio Global City. Acuzar, who hails from Balanga, Bataan, owns the heritage town Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar in the province's Bagac town. Meantime, Marcos also led the oath-taking of Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla at the Study Room of Palace, RTVM said in another Facebook post. Lotilla also assumed the Energy Secretary post from 2005 to 2007. (PNA) }