Government-private sector housing policy to be forged in summit

National president
Chamber of Real Estate and Builders Associations

The CREBA’s 2001 National Convention on October 18-20, is now a Pre-Housing Summit National Convention, a prelude to the Housing Summit being convened by no less than President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo a week later. The Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), chaired by Secretary Michael T. Defensor and CREBA, are busy threshing out the details of the joint program.

This inter-linking of the convention and the Housing Summit demonstrates the importance of each event. The first will be a jump-off by both the private sector and the government in their united effort to formally reach a national consensus, a broad perspective, on a coordinated approach to the crisis of homelessness in this country. This will be formally presented and discussed at the Housing Summit to be presided by President Arroyo.

Earlier, in her SONA before Congress, President Macapagal-Arroyo had outlined government’s financing initiatives that will comprise the basic elements of the new housing program. She vowed a P20 billion appropriation as part of seed money that will fire off a sustainable housing finance scheme. The fund will be combined with the P50 billion coming from the unused portions of the Agri-Agra Fund, and the P10 billion contribution of the Pag-IBIG Fund, and a P5 billion contribution each from the Social Security System (SSS) and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS). The money will total P90 billion, a sufficient seed money to begin an earnest housing program.

The mechanics of operating a common housing fund, the infrastructure that will directly pursue the overall housing program, a land access policy and the authority to adjudicate disputes over land uses, will have to be mapped out by the government. Recently, CREBA has repackaged its housing advocacy to incorporate its basic proposals into an omnibus congressional bill seeking to establish a Department of Housing and Urban Development. CREBA’s proposals cover a comprehensive home financing scheme and the other features designed to help ensure an aggressive and effective total approach to the housing problem.

The joint gathering will bring together industry leaders and government housing moguls at the CREBA convention at the Bacolod Convention Plaza Hotel in Bacolod City. A full convention attendance is thus expected.

President Arroyo, hopefully, will grace the occasion as keynote speaker during the opening day program.

The issues to be discussed during the workshops are housing regulation, licensing and land conversion to be tackled by the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, the Department of Agrarian Reform, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and the Land Registration Authority.

Housing production will be taken up by National Housing Authority and the private sector, while housing finance by the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund), Home Guaranty Corporation, SSS, GSIS, Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines.

Expected to be on hand during the workshops are Agrarian Reform Secretary Hernani A. Braganza, Pag-IBIG Fund president-chief executive officer Manuel C. Crisostomo, Home Guaranty Corporation president Gonzalo Bongolan, HLURB Commissioner-CEO Romulo Q. Fabul, National Housing Authority Edgardo D. Pamintuan, SSS president Vitaliano N. Nañagas and GSIS president-general manager Winston F. Garcia, and LRA administrator Senecio O. Ortile.

During the Housing Forum which follows immediately the President’s speech, Secretary Defensor will talk on "Housing: Policy and Directions." The chairmen of the Senate and House of Representatives committees on housing and urban development will discuss their priority legislative agenda.

By the way, a helpful feature of the CREBA convention will be the Business Matching Program that seeks to match the resources, services and need of participants with those of others through mutually beneficial complementation. The program was successfully launched in last year’s convention.

This year, in its effort to better fulfill its commitments, the CREBA Youth which is spearheading the program is preparing several improvements in the event. The 2001 version features two sessions, one in Manilaand another in Bacolod during the convention. These arrangements will make the program more flexible to participants and accommodate the anticipated increase in participants.

As the recent changes in government leadership bring more opportunities to the housing and real estate industries, said Jaime C. Millan, CREBA Youth chairman, the business matching program this year will give the participants more chances to meet new business partners, colleagues and friends.