VP NOLI SAYS US ECONOMIC CRISIS WON'T SLOWDOWN RP HOUSING
October 3, 2008

Vice President and Housing and Urban Coordinating Council (HUDCC) chairman Noli 'Kabayan' De Castro said that the economic crisis in the United States will not slowdown the housing sector in the Philippines.

Speaking during the national convention of the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association (SHDA) in Cebu last Friday (September 26), De Castro said that the lessons learned by local housing from its past mistakes have made the sector stronger today.

"The housing sector have gone through a similar crisis in the past. In fact, we are a decade ahead of the Americans in creating a housing mess," De Castro said.

De Castro was referring to the time when the Unified Home Lending Program collapsed and the Asset Participation Certificates or APC-funded projects crumbled.

Looking back, the housing czar said that the situation could have been averted if the proper regulatory environment was in place or if the major financial institutions managed risk-taking in a prudent manner.

"In other words, if good governance principles were truly practiced , maybe the financial crisis could have been averted," he said.

But as far as the financial crisis in the US is concerned, De Castro is confident that housing in the country will not fold up.

"We've been there before and back. We know better," he said.

As precautionary measures however, De Castro said he has already asked the National Housing Mortgage and Finance Corporation (NHMFC) and the Home Guarantee Corporation (HGC) to study the market environment very closely.

Such effort to monitor the market, he said, is related to their plans to issue the first mortgage-backed securities since the recent events may have an impact on the undertaking.

He said the NHMFC and the HGC also need to review the housing policies to find out if there are loopholes tha can lead to financial poblems in the future and to identify measures that could be put in place.

Nevertheless, De Castro said everything is in place to keep the housing sector moving forward. In fact, he said reforms are being stepped up especially in areas where red tape is involved such as in the processing of housing permit.

Currently, red tape is being addressed by the One-Stop-Shop, and the Office of Primary Responsibility systems of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB).

He also added that there is the continuous disposition of the remaining non-performing assets to beef-up housing fund. In relation to this, De Castro has invited the developers to support the mega housing fair of HUDCC on October 29 to 31 at the SM Mega Mall.

The Vice President also vowed to sustain reforms for a more effective implementation of the national program for the informal settlers such as the beneficiary-led resettlement policy of the National Housing Authority (NHA) and the targeted subsidy initiatives under the Community Mortgage Program (CMP) which will be initiated by the Social Housing and Finance Corporation (SHFC).

"Under these policy and programs for the informal settlers, clients with greater need would be targeted and prioritized, thus paving the way for a more efficient use of the government's limited funds for housing," he said.

On the part of developers, De Castro is urging SHDA to keep on serving the country and the Filipinos.

"Only your sense of duty and patriotism could inspire and guide you in your partnership with government in our shared goal of building affordable, and quality homes between now and the year 2010," De Castro stressed.

"What you build for our countrymen are not just investments --- you are building for them the home of their dreams," he said.

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