Kadamay asks Duterte to drop Housing dept.

Kadamay called on President Rodrigo Duterte to junk the proposal to create a new Housing department, saying it will endanger urban poor Filipinos.

The urban poor group's call comes a month after the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office transmitted the proposed legislation to Malacañang last January 16 for the president's signature.

Once the bill seeking to create the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development is signed into law, all housing agencies will be consolidated into one bureau.

Kadamay says this will cause massive layoffs of government employees while "the DHSUD itself will gain unprecedented powers counter to the benefit of the poor."

"Tiyak na mapanganib ang panukalang DHSUD. Iisang ahensya na lamang ang magtatakda ng lahat ng demolisyon sa buong bansa. May kapangyarihan ding basta nalang itaas ang singil ng amortisasyon sa pabahay," Kadamay Chairperson Gloria “Ka Bea” Arellano says in a statement.

The group says part of the powers of the DHSUD is to increase the amortization fees in relocation areas every two years based on what it deems to be the "prevailing economic condition."

Bills that are not signed or vetoed by the president lapse into law after 30 days.