10/09/2010 [ tribune.net.ph ]
Instituting systemic and policy reforms in housing was the focus of Vice President and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Chairman Jejomar Binay during his first 100 days in office.
These include addressing the controversy involving Globe Asiatique, a property developer, and Home Development Mutual, or the Pag-IBIG Fund, over “ghost borrowers,” directing a review of lending and financing policies, revisiting the government’s
relocation programs and strengthening partnerships with the private sector and civil society groups in meeting housing goals.
As Vice President, Binay also hosted leaders and representatives of foreign and local governments, agencies and organizations, visited and held dialogs with local government executives and made his first official visit to South Korea.
While in Seoul, Binay paid courtesy visits to ranking government officials led by Prime Minister Chung Un-Chan, met with investor groups and urged them to venture in housing programs and projects in the Philippines, and held dialog with the overseas Filipino community.
“There is still much to do particularly in renewing our people’s hope for a better future under the new administration,” he said.
Binay revealed that he focused his first 100 days in studying and implementing reforms in the shelter agencies to alleviate the housing problem. He noted that the housing need, estimated at 3.6 million, is on a steady rise.
“We must deliver more houses to fill the gap between housing stock and housing need which is about 350,000 each year,” he said.
The Vice President also visited resettlement sites, awarded house and lot units to deserving families and held consultations with the various stakeholders in the housing sector.
The reforms included the adjustment of the Pag-IBIG’s target for housing loans from 75,000 housing units to 150,000 units and setting aside of loanable funds for buyers/developers.
Changes in Pag-IBIG also included the revision of the Single Borrower Limit (SBL) policy and the implementation of equitable deployment of loanable funds per region on the basis of demand for housing loans and performance of developers.
The previous version of the SBL policy allowed a certain developer to secure a P7-billion loan from Pag-IBIG. The controversy, which Binay had ordered investigated, is the subject of a Senate inquiry.
“There is a need to restore confidence in the system, to build trust between developers and the concerned shelter agencies,” he said.
“But more than correcting the impression that the national government is playing favorites with some developers, we will show that government is determined to run after developers who engage in misrepresentation and duplicity, and endanger the stability of government institutions,” he added.
The housing czar had directed Pag-IBIG to lessen the processing time for loans while making sure that enough controls and safeguards on the utilization of mortgage instruments are in place.
Pag-IBIG is also reexamining existing systems and process in financing to make more housing funds available, strengthen mortgage instruments in securing ownership, and maintain the integrity of the mortgages.
The HUDCC chairman also stressed that the National Housing Authority is now reviewing its resettlement program upon his instruction to ensure humane conduct of relocations, and to make certain that relocation sites have quality facilities and livelihood opportunities.
“I have always maintained that the work of government goes beyond providing informal settlers with relocation sites, but ensuring that our fellow Filipinos are given opportunities to live their new lives with dignity,” Binay said.
Jerrylyn Barcelo and PNA
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