Ms. Ronadale Zapata
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VP rallies support for socialized housing for poor
KABAYAN BELIEVES ROBUST CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IS SIGN OF HEALTHY ECONOMY
13 November 2005



Vice President Noli ‘Kabayan’ De Castro, concurrent Chairman of the Housing and Urban Development
Coordinating Council (HUDCC), underscored the importance of the local construction industry especially its contribution to job employment and a healthier economic state in his speech before participants and guests of the PHILCONSTRUCT 2005 held at the World Trade Center. The event was led by organizer Philippine Constructors Association, Inc.


In proving his point, Vice President De Castro cited the multiplier effect of local housing projects, a main component of the construction industry. Because of this multiplier effect, every peso spent for one housing unit is equivalent to 16.6 pesos added to the gross national product as a result of the various industries involved in the construction of the housing units.


The Vice President mentioned that among the other sectors benefited a rising construction industry are suppliers and sellers of cement, steel bars, wood, nails, iron sheets and other construction materials. Also benefited is the manual labor sector as construction is a labor-intensive activity. For a major housing project could give employment to more than a million urban and rural construction workers. For example, to build a low-cost housing unit, no less than eight workers are needed for an estimated three weeks or a total of 124 man-days. And after the house has been built, painting and finishing touches are undertaken after which furniture and other appliances are then purchased.


Vice President De Castro took the occasion to gently remind his audience that even as the four-day trade show would showcase the latest trends in construction materials, equipments and technologies, they should also remember that there are still many Filipinos whose needs are very simple and basic: four sturdy walls, a roof with no leaks, and the security of having a place to call home.


Philippine construction has truly gone a long way. And yet, the culture of crude, do-it-yourself construction still exists among our less-fortunate kababayans. Ang tinutukoy ko po ay ang mga tinatawag nating informal settlers na nagtatayo ng kanilang bahay sa mga lugar na hindi naman nababagay tirhan. Gamit ang materyales na makukuha nila sa tabi-tabi. Such is the landscape of poverty housing.


The Vice President explained that these informal settlers build their shanties along railway tracks, on esteros, under bridges and other places they do not own. He sympathetically refers to their attempt to have a roof over their heads as a kind of construction dictated by necessity, desperation and limited means.


He announced that the national shelter program for both the informal and formal sectors is incorporated in the medium term Philippine development plan and that the housing needs of some one million families for 2005-2010 would need 217 billion pesos with top priority going to the poorest of the poor and 68 percent of the total target dedicated to socialized housing.


Faced with these challenges, Vice President De Castro then courted support from the Philippine Constructors Association, Inc. for these programs for the poor the same way as private groups built classrooms, multi-purpose halls and basketball court, donated roof paint and provided livelihood programs for the new villagers of the Northville communities which were built for informal settlers relocated by the Northrail project.


Ref no. VPMEDIA 05-174