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Wednesday, March 05, 2003
Cebu needs private-sector led house committee
By Antonio V. Osmeña
Estatements
RAPID SHIFT. Mayor Tom should be serious about providing for the adequate shelter needs of qualified Cebu City residents. The rapid shift from farming to manufacturing and commerce as a mode of livelihood has caused an equally rapid movement of the population from farming regions to urban centers.
Since 1976, local politicians have been complacent about the shelter needs of the urban workers and the poor. They have made it a dilemma for the local government to get involved in the socialized shelter program.
The necessity to provide shelter for a population, literally on wheels, caused not only Metro Cebu but cities all over the country to grow sporadically and generally without forethought or community plan. The hasty development of residential, commercial and industrial areas, and the inadequacy of interconnecting highways, byways and modes of transport underlie most of the urban housing “ills” which local and national legislation during the past six decades have been attempting to alleviate and cure.
There are other causes, of course, that hampered normal urban growth, which is the perennial politicians’ conflict of interest. Housing problems no doubt differ in magnitude and intensity among the various regions, areas and communities, but everywhere these problems may be traced to the existence of neighborhood blight and slums and their effect on community housing, health and safety and in many cases the inability of low- income family groups to secure adequate and decent housing facilities due to inadequate or lack of organized home financing facilities, policies and practices.
Practically the whole of Metro Cebu contains slums and other blighted or deteriorated areas. Most people, especially our politicians, know what a slum is when they see one, and few indeed would not want to do away with them.
HOUSING COMMISSION. Our political and civic leaders generally are aware of the unsound social and economic effects of slums and blight, but then, none seem politically strong enough to cope with this major civic liability. It is hoped that our elected officials, with the leadership of Mayor Tom, will legislate the establishment of a local housing commission, which would be an apolitical organization. The private sector should be extended strong authority to operate such housing commission. Councilor Carillo, who is the chairman of the city’s socialized housing program, should initiate the legislation on the housing commission.
The Cebuano community should not and cannot rely on the national agency to extend financial aid for socialized housing. The initiative should now come from local people.
Studies will show that in blight and slum conditions, the ratio is as high as 10 to one in civic costs expended in “servicing” slums compared with tax revenues collected from these areas. Many of these reports emphasize that slums are breeding grounds for major crimes, juvenile delinquency and drugs, which become a menace to community health and safety, and warrants the designation of such slum areas as the “cancer of the body politic.”
Who among our leaders has voiced concern by stating that “slums have no excuse for being and should be eliminated by wise and concerted effort”?
Will President Gloria Arroyo publicly state that “Filipinos cannot afford slums” and that “the government must see that every family has the minimum standard of decent shelter”?
GMA has declared “war on poverty” and is committed to the awesome task of stamping out ignorance, technological unemployment, and many other causes and harbingers of crime. Perhaps the local housing commission should sponsor legislation for low-rent public housing. Under this form of legislation, housing is erected with public funds or foreign funding, and is owned and operated by government or an instrumentality of government, such as a municipal housing authority. These local bodies can purchase land (through condemnation proceedings when necessary), borrow money, and build and operate housing for low-income families.
(March 5, 2003 issue)
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