Labella reminds developers to allot for socialized housing

CEBU, Philippines — Amid the increasing lifestyle sophistication in Cebu, Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella calls on developers to set aside socialized housing projects for the underprivileged Cebuanos.

Labella said it is difficult to see some people enjoying the sophisticated lifestyle in luxurious and comfortable homes in either condominiums or gated subdivisions, yet there are also Cebuanos who hardly have decent houses to go home to.

Labella called the attention of the local developers to strictly adhere to the law requiring them to allocate at least 10 percent of their total portfolio to socialized housing projects.

Projects should be located within Cebu City, so that the City’s constituents will be able to take advantage of it.

Last year, the Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF-Visayas) called on local government units (LGUs) to partner with the agency to provide affordable housing units to their respective constituents.

Pag-IBIG department manager III of business development department in the Visayas Rio R. Teves called LGU executives to be pro-active in developing housing projects as Pag-IBIG has an existing program to help fund mass housing projects initiated by LGUs.

Pag-IBIG has been reaching out to LGUs, as well as associations and cooperatives encouraging them to venture into mass housing projects with the help of the agency.

Employees earning P12,000 a month, Teves said are the target market for mass housing projects.

Pag-IBIG in partnership with Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) have been working on our campaign in the countryside areas for pre-approved home loans in order to encourage developers to invest in residential projects in non-urban locations.

Teachers, government employees will be able to easily own and live in a gated subdivision or well-developed housing villages with this program.

Pag-IBIG and HLURB will reach out directly to developers to convince them of the ready market via the pre-approved home loans in a certain province or town.

This is one of the ways in order to spread the benefits of taking advantage of the home loan access offered by Pag-IBIG, which now has interest rates at an all-time low. (FREEMAN)