CREBA marks 50th year, builds up housing vision

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s largest association of real estate and housing industry stakeholders is intensifying its pursuit of the vision of ‘a home for every Filipino’ as it gears up for its 50th founding anniversary this year.

The year-long golden jubilee anniversary celebrations of the Chamber of Real Estate & Builders’ Associations Inc. (CREBA) will be launched at a grand event on March 16 at the Conrad Hotel Manila featuring a roundtable discussion with the country’s top developers and government officials.

Founded in 1973, CREBA is the Philippine umbrella organization of the real estate and housing sector composed of property developers, builders, contractors, suppliers and manufacturers of construction materials and other professionals and entities engaged in 70 allied fields with chapters in at least 25 key cities and provinces all over the country.

Led by its national chairman Charlie Gorayeb and national president Noel Toti Cariño,CREBA has been at the forefront of efforts in legislative and policy advocacy, particularly in influencing government and private sector activities toward increased production of affordable housing which have contributed considerably in shaping the industry into what it is today.

CREBA’s aspirations for the homeless sector are embodied in its five-point agenda for housing drafted into various bills and policy proposals on shelter finance, land access and governance to either amend, rationalize, streamline or beef up existing laws and policies on housing to help achieve a production rate of at least 500,000 units per year and address homelessness within two decades.

Among the activities lined up to highlight CREBA’s golden legacy to the sector is a Visayas-Mindanao Regional Housing Conference to be held in General Santos City from April 26-28.

The high point of the CREBA calendar for the year will be from Sept. 26-28, where members, as well as esteemed speakers, both from the local and global real estate arena, will convene for its annual national convention, expo and gala night at the SMX Convention Center and Conrad Hotel in Pasay City.