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Friday, November 11, 2005
Council passes housing program
TO SOLVE the housing backlog for the marginal poor and underprivileged citizens, the City Council enacted an ordinance establishing the Comprehensive Socialized Housing Program.
Councilor Edgar Cabanlas, author of the ordinance, noted that previous socialized housing programs have failed to accomplish the mandate to provide socialized housing benefits to targeted beneficiaries.
He said this is because beneficiaries eventually sell out their units due to difficulties in paying monthly amortizations and occupy another area as squatters, thus repeating the cycle of housing problem.
The City Government's Piso-Piso Program will benefit the people and secure them from threats of demolition and eventually create a wholesome community.
To qualify, beneficiaries must be Filipino citizens, at least 21 years old, head of the family with at least one dependent and a physical resident of the city prior to March 1992.
Those who are qualified to be beneficiaries of the program are households affected by infrastructure projects of the government; those living along creeks and riverbanks and on road right-of way; families issued with court ejectment orders for demolition, landless City Hall employees and those recorded in the master list of socialized housing registration conducted in the urban and rural barangays in 1994 and thereafter.
Under the law, lots awarded to beneficiaries shall not be transferable except through hereditary succession. Any awardee who sells, transfer, leases or disposes of his rights or acts as brokers shall be disqualified from any shelter or resettlement program.
It also requires urban poor associations to disallow the entry of occupants in the area after the EMD has conducted a socio-economic survey.
The ordinance imposes a fine of P5,000 or six months imprisonment at the discretion of the court to any provision of the ordinance.
The Estate Management Division (EMD) of the City Planning and Development Office is primarily responsible for the efficient implementation of the ordinance.
For this purpose, the city government will earmark P1 million for the EMD within two months after the approval of the ordinance.
The amount of P200,000 shall be earmarked as additional budget for the office every year thereafter, of which any excess will be used for the purchase of additional lots under the program.
(November 11, 2005 issue)
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