CLARK FREEPORT – Vice Pres. Jemomar Binay said here yesterday the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) which he heads is prepared to take over “non-performing” housing projects worth about P100 billion nationwide in its bid to address its 3.6 million housing backlog.
This, even as he appealed to local government units to upgrade their comprehensive land use plan (CLUP) and set aside disaster-free alienable and disposable lands which could be given free under the government’s low cost and socialized housing. Only the housing cost should be shouldered by beneficiaries, he added.
In an open forum during the Pabahay Caravan which he heads, Binay stressed that the HUDCC has the power to assume control of such housing projects which, for various reasons, have been abandoned for 10 years or more.
Binay declared this after Mindoro Oriental Rep. Rodolfo Valencia cited during the caravan a report from the Commission on Audit (COA) indicating that over the years, various government housing agencies have incurred receivables worth no less than P100 billion from housing projects constructed by private developers.
In an interview, Valencia said these houses were approved for funding under the housing programs of such agencies as the Government Service Insurance Corp. (GSIS) but had remained idle for 10 years or more.
Valencia also said that a syndicate is involved in selling off some of these properties at a huge loss to the government.
He cited the case of one syndicate which, he recalled, succeeded during the Arroyo administration in selling some 40,000 such housing units in various parts of the country for only 40 percent of the actual value of the properties.
This, even as Binay and Valencia expressed confidence that Congress would soon pass a bill creating a Department of Housing and Urban Development that would integrate the functions of several government agencies involved in housing.
“It is now one of the top five priorities in the House, after Pres. Aquino certified it as such. It’s now at the House committee level,” Valencia said.
Binay said the creation of such department would not counter the present government’s thrust in involving local government units in fast-tracking low cost and socialized housing.
He noted that the country’s 3.6 million housing backlog grows at the rate of 250,000 every year. During the caravan attended by mayors from various provinces of Central Luzon, Binay appealed for the allocation of alienable and disposable lands to be used for low cost and socialized housing. This, he said, would significantly reduce amortizations of beneficiaries, since they would no longer be required to also pay for the cost of land.
Binay said that with the help of such non-government organizations as the Gawad Kalinga, the cost of one unit of house could even be brought down to only P65,000.
He also said that the updating of CLUP by local government units should take into account the need to also preserve local agriculture which, he noted, should not be disrupted by the conversion of lands into residential areas.
“Central Luzon is the third most populous region in the country and yet geographically, about half lf it remains devoted to agriculture”. He noted.
Binay also said that by the end of this year, he expected some 20,000 housing units for military and police families would be finished.
