Gov't housing system, an abysmal failure

The government has terribly failed to implement an effective housing policy, which resulted to the alleged housing-loan auction anomaly currently being investigated in the Senate, Senator Richard J. Gordon (Ind.) today concluded.

Gordon, chairman of the Senate blue ribbon committee, came to this conclusion after Vice President Noli de Castro, concurrent chairman of the Housing and urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), admitted that the housing program is a failure under the unified housing loan program.

"The record is very clear. You lend money and people do not pay under a unified housing scheme. If it is not a success, if it is not paying then you are depriving the government. Pinapabayaan natin na hindi makabayad ang mga taong ito. Hindi nababawi ang capital, hindi napapaikot para makapagpautang pa sa mas maraming tao. Ilan lang ang nagpapasasa dun sa pinahihiram ninyong bahay. Iyan ang nakikita kong sitwasyon dito," he said.

"That is why I consider the housing policy of the government an abysmal failure. Mabuti nakita ngayon na malaki pala ang bukol (housing loan problem) na ito, lalaki pa ang bukol na ito, magiging cancer, eventually malulugi tayo. That is why walang nangyayari sa pabahay natin," he added.

The blue ribbon panel and the committee on urban planning, housing and resettlement are jointly conducting a further review of a joint-venture deal between the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporations (NHMFC) and Deutsche Bank Real Estate Global Opportunities (Global) amid concerns over violations in the auction of delinquent loans affecting 53,000 families listed as beneficiaries of a government-backed housing program.

Gordon pointed out that the government should come out with a better housing policy, similar to those implemented by past administrations, which were very successful.

"In the 1950's, in the 1930's, gumawa ang gobyerno ng mga Roxas District, Quezon City, Quirino District, Pandacan, Project 1 to 8. Mukhang nakabayad lahat iyan. That is a successful housing program," he said.

"Ngayon, nagpapautang tayo, meron pa tayong socialized housing, merong low-cost housing pero hindi tayo makasingil. Something is wrong with the housing policy. We have to have a better policy and you in the executive should give us better policies here," the senator asked the executive officials who attended the hearing.