Resty’s affordable housing

Today I want to tell the story of Resty Perez. Resty was a former journalist who became a successful PR consultant and lately, a housing entrepreneur. I met Resty decades ago when he was a reporter. When I became editor of the Manila Chronicle, he joined me and served as our Business Editor at a salary of less than P20,000 a month.

Resty had big dreams. Resty was getting married and he wanted to show his prospective wife’s family he could more than provide for his lovely bride. That meant leaving journalism. A true friend, he waited for me to leave the Chronicle before he resigned.

Among his contemporaries in journalism, including me, Resty is likely the most financially successful today. Leaving journalism was probably the most difficult decision he made and also the best, financially. The great thing about Resty is he remains the same Resty we have always known.

It is easy to be amazed how far he has gone from the days when he was driving a beat up Ford Escort. And he deserves everything he has today because we all saw how hard he worked to be where he is.

Resty makes friends easily and keeps them. In the course of his journalism career, he has met a lot of movers and shakers in business and when he shifted career path, those friendships helped him build up his solo PR practice.

But Resty is not one who will be content with being successful in one endeavor. Even as he was the most sought-after PR consultant for many conglomerates and foreign investors, he made the decision to branch out.

Resty’s friends in the banking industry alerted him whenever there are mortgaged properties about to be auctioned off at bargain prices. Resty managed to bag a few of those assets. In one property in Makati behind the fire station off Ayala, he built a modest but well kept and managed business hotel.

In another property he acquired, a 12-hectare spread in Naic, Cavite, he started building a low cost housing project. When he told me about it, he said he wanted to prove it is possible to build decent housing for the less privileged without scrimping on quality of materials.

But, I protested, he will have to deal with government housing agencies notorious for funny deals. Resty was not daunted. He has dealt with government officials all these years as a reporter and he is sure he can handle them without having to compromise his principles.

So he started building the first phase of his low cost housing project on the first five hectares of his property.

Here is how Resty explained why he did what he did in a short speech during the recent inauguration of the first few units.

Marami pong nagtatanong kung bakit ibinigay namin sa informal settlers itong ayon sa kanila ay isang ‘magandang lupain.’ Sa tingin po nila mas malaki ang kikitain ng First RGP kung susundin ang original plan na gawing subdivision ito para sa middle class, o sa mas may kakayahan sa buhay.

Tama po sila. ngunit ang sagot ko po sa kanila: bakit hindi? For sure, lumiit ang kita ng First RGP because we did not maximize our profits. We did not sell at the best price possible. We sold each of the 1,180 house-and-lot units for only P400,000. We could have sold the same at a much higher price…

But we did not. We chose not to take advantage of the opportunity. And we, upon the request of the beneficiaries, even agreed to use the most expensive modular hollow blocks, Jackbilt. Look around and you will see well-built houses, and roads that are as wide, if not wider, than those in gated subdivisions.

First RGP earned less, but we are happy and content with that… This is our way of giving back, although we are just a fledgling company. We want to help and make a difference. If others follow us, that would make our humble effort all the more worthwhile and meaningful.

So we made a deliberate choice: earn less so we can give more. The financial dividend, the peso profit, is of this world; the giving is divine. It is more satisfying and it will carry over to the next life. This decision was validated, confirmed and reinforced recently by Pope Francis when he lamented capitalism’s worship of money and urged everybody to help the poor.

More than 40 years ago, nakikitira din po kami sa mga kamag-anak para may pambayad ang mga magulang ko ng tuition naming magkakapatid. Kaya alam ko po ang dinadaanan ninyo. Wala din po kaming bahay at gahol din po kami. Ito po ang pinaghuhugutan namin sa First RGP.

And Resty managed to work well with various government agencies and financial institutions to make his dream project a reality. He worked with government agencies to select the informal shelters who will benefit from the project. He was proud to have done something to uplift their dignity and their lives.

Resty is happy to be part of a program to house the poorest of the poor of Metro Manila and save them from the dangers of floods when the typhoons come.

“The feeling of seeing so much good and trust being passed around is a reward in itself. It is proof that we can dream and make that dream come true if we work together. And working together, unity, is my message to our beneficiaries…

“Hindi na po magtatagal at hindi na po kayo yung tinatawag na informal settlers. Ang address po ninyo ay hindi na Almirante Creek, Tar-tar Creek, Pasong Cobra Creek, at Las Pinas River. Ang bagong address po ninyo ay South Morning View subdivision, Uniwide Sales Coastal City, Naic. Welcome home!”

Actually, Resty went beyond just building the houses and paving the roads. He also made arrangements to help the beneficiaries augment their incomes. He convinced Franck Provost salon to train qualified beneficiaries in beauty parlor skills. Livelihood sources had always been big problems that plague efforts to relocate informal settlers. Resty knew that and addressed it.

It makes me so proud of Resty that it took someone like him, not a big property developer like Ayala or Megaworld, to do something about affordable housing for our poorer communities.

This one big failure of government to provide affordable housing is also a failure of society and the business sector. In our neighboring countries, they have massive housing programs for those who cannot afford commercial developments.

It is tragic our bustling property sector is too focused on making big money almost exclusively with no provisions for socialized housing. Perhaps, a law should be passed that would require condo and housing developers to allocate at least 25 per cent of funds invested to affordable housing.

Right now, our so-called property boom is focused on luxury condos and some for the middle class, but nothing for the masa. As a result, we are all suffering from the congestion and the rising crime rates just beyond our gated communities.

The little government has for affordable housing gets wasted in anomalous deals that government agencies cook up with some property developers. Many low cost housing projects are unlivable because low quality materials were used and facilities were not built.

Maybe some of Resty’s PR clients, Ayala, DMCI and Robinsons Land can learn some lessons from him in how to do their socialized housing projects… indeed to even have some socialized housing projects. If Resty can do it, risk his comparatively meager resources compared to them, so could they.

What makes Resty different is his heart to share what he has with those who need help most. Resty didn’t forget his humble beginnings and that’s what makes him special.

A few months ago, Resty suffered what could have been a fatal case of appendicitis. He underwent an emergency operation for a busted appendix while he was busy… in the midst of constructing his housing project.

Because infection had spread from his busted appendix, it was touch and go for a while. He later told me he felt vindicated he did his low cost housing project. He said even if he did go, he has done something with the resources God entrusted to him.

Turning philosophical, he said accumulating money isn’t everything. It is how to make that money work to help those less fortunate that makes a difference.

Wow, Resty! I am sure all of us who knew you from way back and pounded the typewriters with you are proud of what you have achieved. You showed us earning all that money was the easy part. It just took ambition and determination. Knowing how to use that made all the difference. It required compassion. And you knew just what to do.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco