Low-end developers back pro-poor housing moves

MANILA, Philippines - Low-end housing builders affiliated with the Organization of Socialized Housing Developers of the Philippines (OSHDP) welcomed the assurance of a level playing field for all participants in government housing, given by Vice President Jejomar Binay, concurrent chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).

Engr. Jefferson Bongat, OSHDP national president, said that developers catering to the production of socialized housing units, costing P400,000 or less, also expressed appreciation for the inclusion of OSHDP, as a member of the “super council” on housing recently convened by Binay. The OSHDP’s representative to the HUDCC/Council is Giovanni Olivares, currently the chairman of the board of the organization.

Olivares said the council was convened by Binay on January 19, 2011 reportedly for first time in six years. “It was awesome to have an attendance of 100 percent among the members of HUDCC Council which included the NEDA secretary general, the MMDA chairman, the president of SSS, president and general manager of the GSIS, and all heads of the key shelter agencies namely: Pag-IBIG Fund; Home Guaranty Corporation; National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation; National Housing Authority; Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board and Social Housing Finance Corporation,” he said.

Although they are not members of the Council, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., chairman, Senate committee on housing and Rep. Rodolfo Valencia were invited to the meeting and their attendance was truly inspiring, Olivares added.

OSHDP’s inclusion in the HUDCC Council is an indication that small developers will be able to avail themselves of equal opportunity, along with the bigger ones, in participating in government-funded programs, including financing programs for subdivision development as well as for the acquisition by individual homebuyers of housing units, Bongat said.

“We are optimistic of our role in producing socialized housing units, considering that majority of the government’s shelter targets comprise of low-income housing under the past and current Medium Term Philippine Development Plan, the country’s development blueprint,” he added.

To ensure the easy affordability of socialized housing, OSHDP also supported the industry move to retain mass housing as among those to be continually provided with incentives under the proposed government’s Investment Priorities Plan for 2011.