Social housing budget for Mindanao, Visayas set

DAVAO CITY — Newly appointed National Social Housing Finance Corporation (NSHF) President Arnulfo Ricardo B. Cabling is looking at an additional P2-billion budget, equally divided between the Visayas and Mindanao, as well as a re-organization that will involve deploying more staff to implement programs outside the capital.

“We have to balance the funds since we also have informal sectors in the provinces,” Mr. Cabling said in an interview here, noting that the Aquino administration allocated a P50billion fund for illegal settlers in the National Capital Region through the five-year High Density Housing project.

At the same time, Mr. Cabling said he is preparing to reorganize the NSHF given its concentration of personnel in the National Capital Region with 250; but only six regular employees in Davao City, three regular and three temp staff in Cagayan de Oro, and almost the same staff size in Zamboanga and other provincial offices in the Visayas and other parts of Mindanao.

He stressed the need to farm out positions to bring services to the people in the countryside.

Mr. Cabling, who used to head the committee on housing when he was a Davao City councilor, met with members of the city council here last week as part of the initiative to ensure that local government units will give legislative support for the planned socialized housing programs.

He pointed out that the NSHF needs the commitment of the local councils since areas with informal communities need the Preliminary Approval and Locational Clearance ( PALC) from local governments before the NSHF can provide funding.

“We have to fast- track and focus on the underprivileged community because they are the ones affected by development and dislocation and demolition problems that goes with it,” he said.

He noted that a corresponding education campaign needs to be undertaken for informal settlers, as there are cases wherein they do not want to accept government housing projects because they do not understand that such service is not absolutely free and minimal fees will have to be paid.

In Davao City alone, there are up to 100,000 informal settler families.

The NSHF head said while there are private sector developers who are addressing the lowcost housing backlog in the country, very few are really targeted towards the poorest.

Mr. Cabling said the NSHF will also be studying how it would be able to impose stricter compliance to the law requiring property developers to allocate 15% of either the total area or total cost of their residential projects for socialized housing development.

“We are still looking for ways to make sure the developers comply with the 15% requirement,” Mr. Cabling said.

The requirement is contained in Republic Act (RA) 10884, or An Act Strengthening the Balanced Housing Development Program, which amends RA 7279 or the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992. —