Virus spurs migration from cities

THE Covid-19 pandemic could spur a temporary migration of informal settlers living in congested cities to more spacious rural areas, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said.

In a hearing on Wednesday by the Senate Committee on Urban Planning, Housing and Resettlement, Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said congestion is one of the factors for the rapid spread of the coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

Chua said, however, that this was only temporary and that in the medium to long term, the government still expects that economic considerations will be the primary motivation for migration in the country.

“That is why in the Balik Probinsiya, where Neda is vice chair, we have proposed a framework wherein we will move toward a more balanced regional development so that more people will have the option to stay where they want, in the provinces if they want, without having to be forced to go to the cities and live in congested areas, [where] housing [facilities] are below standards. That is our objective, to create more balanced opportunities,” Chua said.

Neda Undersecretary Rosemarie G. Edillon added that this temporary migration will be taken into consideration especially in the upcoming Census of Population and Housing (CPH) to be conducted in September.

Edillon said the temporary migration may have caused differences in the “geographical distribution of settlements” in the country.

Apart from the census, this will also figure in the changes now being made to the Philippine Development Plan (PDP), the country’s medium-term socioeconomic blueprint.

The updating of the PDP, Chua said, will require revisiting the country’s macroeconomic targets, especially in light of the Covid-19 situation. The changes in these assumptions will affect the government’s ability to meet

its development aims.

Data issues

AT the Senate hearing, the chairman of the Committee on Urban Planning, Housing and Resettlement, Sen. Francis N. Tolentino, noted a mismatch in the data on informal settlers of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) and the National Housing Authority (NHA).

Tolentino said based on the submissions of DHSUD, the ISFS reached 3.7 million as of 2019 while the NHA estimated that ISFS only reached 1.3 million.

“DHSUD’S [number is] 3,753,537 [while] NHA, 1,037,865. So, your numbers are different even if you belong to just one department],” Tolentino said.

NHA General Manager Marcelino

P. Escalada Jr. said the 1.3 million estimate of NHA accounts for a third of the 5.6-million housing backlog nationwide.

However, if the DHSUD data is followed, that would account for over 50 percent of the total housing backlog.

“We stand by our number. We validated this based on submissions coming from the LGUS and verified by our RMS in 2017,” Escalada said. “If it’s 3 million, that’s already 50 percent [of housing backlog] and that is already very alarming.”

Tolentino said the agencies should discuss the numbers gap, and agree on which baseline to use, especially in the upcoming national road map for housing being done by DHSUD.

In August 2016, Vice President and former Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) chairman Maria Leonor

G. Robredo said the government lacked sufficient data on housing.

In terms of the list of homeless Filipinos, particularly in cities, Robredo said only Las Piñas, Quezon City and Valenzuela have updated lists.

Robredo said she is reaching out to local government units (LGUS) to prepare their own list so the HUDCC can integrate the data into the housing program being envisioned by the government.