VP Carries The Torch For Mass Housing

Philippine Vice Prez and chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Jejomar Binay has signified his concurrence to the terms for the continued inclusion of mass housing projects as a priority sector in the 2011 Investment Priorities Plan (IPP) set to be approved by Malacañang.  HUDCC wants the price ceiling per housing unit to be Php3M and below for a mass housing project developer to be eligible for incentives.  However, the Board of Investments (BoI) is pushing to lower it to Php2.5M.

What's the big deal, you ask?  Eligible developers outside of the National Capital Region (NCR) will be entitled to a 4-year income tax holiday, while those within the NCR will be granted 3 years income tax exemption.  However, the Department of Finance is opposed to the continued tax perks for developers, although it supports a direct subsidy for end-users.

According to Binay, incentives are crucial because housing projects require large capital requirements.  If no incentives are granted, mass housing projects will not be attractive enough to investors.  He hopes that this will also aid in solving the housing backlog in the country which stands at 1.4M housing units, which is projected to hit 5.4M units by 2016.

Mass housing ain't so bad...  For a ceiling of P2.5M - P3M, that's not so bad at all!  Isn't a condominium a form of mass housing too?  It's all in the mind my loves.


Happy Mom's Day!
Jon

It Pays To Be Homeless in the Philippines

GK Hope Ball

Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay bears good news from his short visit to the United States: $350,000 raised during the Gawad Kalinga (GK) Hope Ball which will be used to fund the construction of 150 additional houses for 150 families.  Binay, who is the chariman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), added that also during the event, GK turned over 30 houses to 30 families.  He is enthused that GK is now a partner of the national government in addressing the issue of shelter, and that GK would play an important role in the government's bid to address the existing backlog of 3.7 million housing units.

So the homeless gets a house awarded by the government, which they in turn would sell off and go back to squatting on privately-owned lands.  It's like a sick joke, really.  Politicians really ought to have a code of ethics as well as a good set of balls; those squatters need to be dealt with, with compassion and resolve, and by force if need be.




I don't have my own house, does that count?

Jon

Informal Settlers: The scourge of the land owner

Laperal Compound in Makati City

Well, I'm not gonna delve into a philosophical tirade about informal settlers (or squatters), this is really just an update on the clash between informal settlers of the fire-razed Laperal Compound in Makati City (EDSA-Guadalupe) and the demolition team last April 28, 2011.  More than a dozen people were reportedly hurt in the clash between the clearing team and residents (meant to be used as a general term, I'm sure).  The "residents" threw rocks at members of the demolition team and police authorities who were involved in the relocation efforts.  The President has directed Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo to hold a dialog with the informal settlers and resolve the issue peacefully, and to ensure adequate resettlement.  Last Thursday, Robredo rushed to the site to help stop the violence but instead ended up in a word war with current Makati city mayor Jejomar Binay Jr.  Mayor Binay allegedly faulted Sec. Robredo for deploying only a small number of policemen to defuse tension in the area that has been declared a danger zone.

So landowners, make sure you fence your property if you're not going to put up a structure or a building yet; don't let up in paying your real estate property taxes either.  If you have informal settlers on your land, you can basically expect to spend more on relocating them, assuming you can get them to leave peacefully.


Fence it or lose it,

Jon