Monday, November 03, 2008 Mati's housing summit set By Ben O. Tesiorna
THE City Government of Mati is set to hold its first ever housing summit this December.
The summit is aimed at consolidating the various programs, activities, and directions of the local and national governments, along with other sectors with regard to issues concerning housing.
Richard Villacorte, Mati's acting city administrator, said the housing summit is just one of the six sectoral consultations that the City of Mati is holding as part of its vision-mission process for the youngest city of the Philippines.
Villacorte said the Housing Summit will focus on three areas: strengthening the housing stakeholders, narrowing the gap between land acquisition and actual occupation of housing beneficiaries, and development of housing business in Mati.
The summit is tentatively scheduled on the first week of December and this early, 27 national agencies have already confirmed their participation in the summit.
Villacorte said they will also be providing booths for the participants so they could display their products and services to the public.
During the summit, the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the city's Urban Poor Ordinance will also be unveiled. Villacorte said Mati will now become one of the few local government units that have an adjudicating body -- Mati City Housing Board -- that would resolve housing issues in the city.
The city just held its Water Summit and Mining Summit. Other scheduled summits are education, tourism, and infrastructure.
All data generated from the six summits will now become the prime input for the City of Mati's 20-year Master Plan.
