Creba Speaks
By CHARLIE A.V. GORAYEB
MANILA, Philippines — The Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) is one of several agencies of government undertaking a revisiting of its policy through the reform of the implementing guidelines governing the modes of compliance to Section 18 of R.A. 7279 or the Urban Development Housing Act (UDHA).
We, in the Chamber of Real Estate & Builders’ Associations, Inc. (CREBA), adhere to our position that any form of alternative compliance should serve to make it easier and attractive for the private sector to comply, and still be able to attain its social objectives.
CREBA commends the HLURB for providing developers more avenues to comply with the law, and at the same time effectively uphold its mandate to deliver housing units for the marginalized beneficiaries.
A World Bank report showed that the Philippines has one of the highest rates of urban growth in the developing world – 5.1 percent in the last four decades. About 60 percent of the population is currently urban, data from the United Nations said.
The Greater Metro Manila area has over 12 million people. This accounts for 36 percent of the total urban population. An additional 10 percent of the urban population are situated in the next four largest metropolitan regions as identified by NEDA: Metro Cebu, Metro Davao, Metro Cagayan de Oro and Metro Angeles.
CREBA has presented a package of proposals for the private sector to efficiently do its share in helping address the staggering 3.7-million units housing backlog.
One of these is to urge government to encourage the construction of socialized and low-cost residential condominiums with a minimum floor area of 20 sqm, and the project is located in urban or urbanizing areas.
We invite the government to consider this type of development as an alternative mode of compliance to the balanced housing requirement of the UDHA with all the applicable incentives as provided by existing laws.
These include income tax holidays, exemption from VAT, and such other incentives for BOI-registered projects.
Projects may come in either of the following packages: (1) Socialized five-story walk-up condominiums with a maximum ceiling price of P750,000 per unit; or (2) low-cost six to 12-story condominiums with elevator with a maximum ceiling price P1.2 million per unit.
This targets the urban dwellers who prefer locations near urban development centers, where walking or short travel from place of residence to work, education, and other purposes is vital to the budget. At the same time, this will provide low-income earners access to safe and decent shelter in the city that they can eventually own.
Building vertical residential communities is as timely as it is extremely necessary to start creating opportunities out of the growing scarcity and increasing cost of land in the cities.
With a burgeoning population of close to 100 million as of 2010, which is growing at the rate of 1.9 percent every year, it is easy to infer the enormity of the demand for social and other basic services in the next few decades.
Along with food and clothing, shelter is considered one of mankind’s most basic needs. But the land under our feet cannot be multiplied to match our needs. To optimize the use of land and multiply its benefits, we must plan ahead and begin building vertical communities where families can grow and thrive as a social unit, now before it’s too late.
In order to realize the effective increase in the annual housing target of at least 300,000 new houses annually, government must rationalise the incentives program for housing. This will ensure that all incentives offered by specific agencies are synchronized and are easy to avail of.
To assist the private sector in fulfilling its role in the production and delivery of socialized housing units, the government must perform its mandate as catalyst for growth and national development.
It must therefore eliminate red tape, particularly in the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) where documentary requirements are duplicated and provisions of related laws are ignored. This has been one of the biggest stumbling blocks to socialized and low-cost housing delivery. What is needed is less bureaucracy.
That means, quicker release of the necessary licenses and permits, more loanable funds from government financing institutions, and better incentives for real estate developers. There should also be a clear identification of lands that may be set aside for residential, agricultural, commercial, industrial, and other equally vital uses that are already governed by various existing laws
