CREBA shelter approach backed

Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan has come out in support of the comprehensive and integrated approach proposed by the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders Associations (REBA) to confront the crisis of homelessness in the country.

Pangilinan, chairman of the Senate committee on housing, urban planning and resettlement, spoke before the joint national convention of CREBA and the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) at the Bacolod Convention Plaza Hotel in Bacolod City last weekend.

The senator cited the proposed Omnibus Housing and Urban Development Act now pending the House of Representatives filed by Rep. Eduardo C. Zialcita (Parañaque City), vice-chairman, House committee on housing.

The bill embodies the major components of CREBA’s advocacy for a total approach to the housing problem through sustainable financing, access to land, regulatory functions, and a full-fledged Department of Housing and Urban Development that, in consultation with the private sector, will mount a massive housing strategy in solving the problem.

Pangilinan said: "I do not believe in palliative measures in order to address a problem that has reached epidemic proportions. Using the house as an apt metaphor, weak laws in housing and human settlement are like beautiful facades placed in front of crumbling structures. What we need are laws that would serve as firm foundations. This could be the lasting legacy of the 12th Congress, of which this humble representation is a part, a legacy to our children and our children’s children."

He said he has filed his own bill in Senate seeking the creation of a Department of Housing and Urban Development to unify and integrate the functions of diverse housing agencies. This, he said, would address a major problem posed by the lack of a centralized body for a unified response to the housing problems.

"Like education," the senator stressed, "mass housing is one of the best investments this country can make. Aside from fulfilling a basic need of the citizens, it could spur economic activity."

Commending CREBA and HUDCC for focusing on the theme "Housing: Key to National Healing and Economic Recovery," Pangilinan said the convention partnership indicates the need for greater cooperation between government and private sector to solve the nation’s "most pressing problems – housing and human settlement being one of the most critical issues of the country."

Stressing the need for accessible and affordable housing loans through non-market based interest rates, Pangilinan recalled his parents’ experience:

"In 1956, my newly-wed father and mother took out a loan to purchase their first home, a small two-bedroom bungalow in Philamlife Homes, Quezon City. The monthly payments were spread out over a 20-year period — P156 a month. You might think, what a good deal! Those were the days. But P156 a month was a lot of money for a struggling engineer-builder and his public school teacher wife. My mother earned P100 a month and she took the bus daily to Padre Faura where she taught at the UP Preparatory High School. After just five years and by this time, four children, my parents could no longer afford the monthly payments, and so, before I was born, they had to give up their home, take whatever money they could get for it, and move to the then more affordable cogons of UP Village where I was born. Pretty soon we became nine children."