JUST like other cities in Metro Manila, San Juan also had to deal with informal settlers who settled in government lands, a problem besetting many local governments that cannot simply be solved by demolishing makeshift homes. Many of these residents have family members who work or study in San Juan-based schools and companies: Driving them away could worsen the informal-settler problem in other Metro Manila cities.
Instead of sending them packing to other locales or asking the national government to handle the problem, San Juan built a relocation facility in the lands being occupied by informal settlers. The local government constructed the five-story low-rise buildings for informal-settler families (ISF) in Barangay Saint Joseph. Dubbed as Saint Joseph Ville, more than 300 ISFs now call the housing facility their home.
Vice President Maria Leonor G. Robredo said she wants to replicate the same project among other cities in Metro Manila that are grappling with the informal-settler problem. Robredo, also chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), said she was “inspired” by the San Juan housing project.
“Our main problem with in-city relocation in Metro Manila is the high cost of land. This is the reason the only way to go is to build medium-rise homes to maximize the use of the land. We will not build single-detached units for in-city relocations because of the cost of the land, which the poor will not be able to afford,” Robredo said.
The HUDCC chief said she has recently asked Metro Manila mayors to furnish her an inventory of available government lands where medium-rise housing facilities could be built. Robredo also urged local governments to find out the number of ISFs in their areas, and whether they are occupying lands owned by the government.
While government lands will be practically be awarded to ISFs under the scheme, Robredo said the medium-rise housing facilities that will be constructed will not be free. ISFs would have to pay for the units, but she said the cost will be less onerous compared to single-detached houses.
Inputs from Metro Manila mayors would be included in the HUDCC’s so-called People’s Plan, which will detail the cost of their monthly payments. The plan would also detail the other terms that the government and ISFs would agree on with regard to the housing units.
Aside from data obtained from the Metro Manila mayors, Robredo said the HUDCC continues to await for the Land Registration Authority’s (LRA) inventory of available government lands for relocation. She said earlier the LRA merely submitted a map of the government land and that it did not contain hectarage, use, and whether informal settlers live there. The HUDCC also could not yet come up with a list of ISFs in Metro Manila.
HUDCC said these figures are “crucial” to enable the government to finally craft a comprehensive road map for housing in Metro Manila. The HUDCC estimates the number of ISFs based on the National Household Targeting System, which is being used for the Conditional Cash-Transfer Program.
Apart from using government lands for in-city relocation, Robredo is also keen on making policy adjustments to the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Section 18, or on Balanced Housing Development of Republic Act 7279, otherwise known as the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992 (UDHA). Based on the IRR, developers of subdivisions must allocate 15 percent of their project for socialized housing, while condominium developers need to reserve 5 percent for the poor.
“I asked HLURB [Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board] to review their policy and come up with an amendment so that compliance to the 5-percent and 15-percent [requirement] on balanced housing strictly will be for this poor,” Robredo said.
The Vice President said she has also asked the HLURB to review its policies to improve the access of the poor to affordable housing facilities. Currently, the poor, especially those who are not part of the formal sector, could not tap housing facilities from the Pag-Ibig Fund, which is available only to its members.
The HUDCC earlier said the poorest 30 percent of Filipinos nationwide cannot afford socialized housing in the Philippines. The HUDCC report stated that socialized housing in the Philippines, which includes building a house and buying land, cost a maximum of P450,000.
But this appears too high a price for the income of Filipinos in the bottom 30 since, more often than not, their expenses are higher or slightly lower than their incomes. Based on the 2015 Family Income and Expenditure Survey, the poorest 30 percent have an average income of P86,020 to as much as P132,983 every year.
Image credits: Saiko3p | Dreamstime.com, AP