Measure on informal settlers’ relocation gets House approval
The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill that would establish an “onsite, in-city or near city resettlement program” for the country’s informal settler families (ISFs).
House Bill (HB) 5144 or the “Onsite, In-City, Near City Resettlement Act” which earned 161 favorable votes for its approval, was hailed by various urban poor groups as a humane approach in addressing the housing problem in the country.
Principal author Rep. Alfredo Benitez (LP, Negros Occidental) said House Bill 5144 offers one of the solutions to the country’s worsening housing backlog, adding that similar proposals have proven to be effective in other countries.
Benitez, chairman of the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development, lauded the House leadership for supporting the House panel’s bid to prioritize consideration of the measure.
HB 5144 aims to upgrade informal settlements by fully integrating these areas into the city’s or an urban community’s settlement programs.
The bill amends Republic Act 7279, as amended, otherwise known as the “Urban Development and House Act of 1992.”
HB 5144 consolidates three legislative measures authored by the following: Reps. Luis Ferrer IV (NPC, Cavite); Emmi De Jesus and Luzviminda Ilagan (Party List, GABRIELA), and Fernando Hicap (Party List, ANAKPAWIS). Resigned Rep. Walden Bello was also an author of the measure.
‘In city resttlement’ Benitez said the bill defines ‘in-city resettlement’ as a relocation site within the jurisdiction of the city where the affected ISFs are living while ‘near-city’ refers to a relocation site in a city other than the city of the affected informal settlements, adjacent to the present settlements of the affected ISFs.
HB 5144 empowers ISFs by making them active partners of government in the planning and management of their own resettlement with specific focus on their housing needs and aspirations.
According to Benitez the bill helps guarantee the sustainability and viability of resettlement projects for ISFs by assuring access to services and employment opportunities in case on-site resettlement cannot be undertaken.
The bill provides for the formation of the affected ISFs into a beneficiary association that will formulate a ‘People’s Plan’ through a process of an adequate and genuine consultation in coordination with the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP).
The ISF association is authorized by the measure to develop and implement the ‘People’s Plan’ which shall include a Relocation Action Plan with the assistance of civil society organizations and concerned government agencies.
People’s plan refers to the plan formulated by the beneficiary-association in coordination with the PCUP with or without the support of civil society organizations.
Other components
HB 5144 provides that the plan should contain a site development plan, including non-physical development components such as self-help housing cooperative, livelihood, selfhelp development, and capability building.
The local government unit (LGU) is mandated to implement the relocation and the government agencies involved in the provision of basic services and facilities to provide through a memorandum of agreement that the recipient LGU where the resettlement site is located.
The Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDC) and the Department of Finance, Bureau of Local Government Finance shall formulate the implementing rules and regulations on the cost-sharing mechanism necessary to fully implement the provision of such other basic services and facilities.