Leni Robredo as head of HUDCC? Sagot nya sa presscon sa America: "The first three weeks as housing chair, all I have ever done, was try to compile all the data that was needed." Leni Robredo speaking at a presscon of National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) in Pennsylvania, USA.
At eto ang mahaba nyang sinabi which can be summed up as "ngangey"! Compile pa more! LOL
LENI: I do not know if you are familiar of the housing portfolio. It is not a department but a coordinating council and if you look at its mandate, it is just that.At ano ang balak nya for the next six years? Yung mga nasa laylayang pinangako-an nya, "ngangey" din! Her realistic answer is hintaying may masamang mangyari sa Presidente! So what was her political ads during the elections all about? Laylayan anyone? LOL
To coordinate the efforts of the 6 agencies under it. There is still a lot to be done in terms of policy is concerned. There is a lot to be done as far as institutionalization of processes and mandate is concerned.
The way HUDCC stands now as a coordinating council does not really give it any mandate. But it does not mean that I can’t do enough to at least solve the housing backlog.
The first three weeks as housing chair, all I have ever done, was try to compile all the data that was needed. Nakakadismaya lang na you know, I think over the years, HUDCC has not been really able to fulfill much of its mandate in the sense that if we are expected to do policy works on housing and if we are expected to coordinate our efforts, we should at least have the basic data.
Pero noong hinanap ko na po ang data, walang data yung HUDCC na ilang bahay ba talaga ang kailangan. Wala siyang data na ilan ba talga ang informal settlers. Wala siyang data na ilan bang lupa ang available sa housing. Wala lahat.
It’s as if I started from scratch. Right now, I can’t do much kasi wala pa pong na-appoint na mga heads sa mga key shelter agencies except the NHA na may acting chair pero all the other wala pa na-appoint kaya di pa kami makapag-board meeting.
I want to do much as far as Housing is concerned. I tried to ask for the accomplishments of the shelter agencies under my council.
Mayroon akong basic na mali na nakita. It seems like all through these years, ang basis ng pagbilang ng accomplishments ng opisina namin ay kung ilang bahay ang natayo.
I was telling my staff na it was not an accomplishment at all. It is just an activity, the accomplishment should be ilang pamilya ang natulungan as far as housing is concerned.
Iyong ginagawang bahay is in accordance to a comprehensive urban development plan and it seems that there is no urban development plan at all so I had to remind my staff na hindi ba iyong opisina namin hindi lang housing? Hindi ba iyong opisina namin housing and urban development?
I think very basic iyong problema dahil patayo lang nang patayo ng bahay. In fact government have spent so much already as much as housing is concerned. Over the past six years sa term ni president Aquino nagbaba ng 50 billion just for the relocation of houses.
Ginamit naman iyong pera in terms of relocation of houses pero hindi siya na-maximize dahil patayo lang nang patayo pero walang comprehensive development plan.
The good thing about it is that we discovered that there is an existing study done by the World Bank, a very comprehensive study and we can start from that. Parang nagpa-study pero hindi naman nagamit so sabi ko para hindi naman tayo mag-start from zero, we will be starting from the study of World Bank.
Pero sabi ko hindi na tayo puwede doon sa piecemeal. Ang sabi ko we have to make a comprehensive development plan. Make a six-year plan kung ano ang achievable at targets.
It’s basically a change of mindset, a change of policy and institutionalization of the entire organization. We have been looking at several models to take inspiration from.
When I went to Thailand to receive an award, I requested for a meeting with the Housing Ministry of Thailand. You know Thailand was able to solve their housing problem in ten years.
Kapag pumunta kayo sa Thailand ngayon wala nang squatters, wala nang street people. They have been very successful in that field and I think their model is something we can replicate.
Singapore’s model can also be replicated. Singapore nagsimula sila public rental.
Just to update you, ano problema ngayon? Magpapatayo ang gobyerno ng pabahay, huhulug-hulugan ng mga tao pero iyong mga tao karamihan maghuhulog ng ilang beses pero they wont pay anymore and because ownership has been turned over to them already.
Iyong fund hindi nagiging revolving. So na-stastall ang problema ng gobyerno.
In Singapore and in Thailand what they did was public rentals. There was a certain threshold in income level na kapag hindi mo inabot ito, public rental ka muna. Pero kapa kaya mo na, mag-eelevate ka into something bigger.
I think that model can be replicated in the Philippines. Not exactly that model but I think we can tweak it to make it more appropriate for the condition. We have to think outside the box already.
Alam mo sa atin gusto single detached. That is the ideal but we have to realize that we do not have enough space to do that especially in Metro Manila.
What is the situation now? Housing backlog is 5.6 milliion. 1.4 of that is informal settlers and 40 percent of that is in Metro Manila and we do not have enough land in Metro Manila anymore.
Kaya huwag na tayong mangarap ng single detached. Dapat high rise na or at least midrise.
Over the years also ang government nagpasunod ng offsite off-city relocation kasi mahal na nga ang lupa sa Manila. But it proved to be unsuccessful in the sense na nabibigyan ng bahay iyong mga nasa Metro Manila sa labas ng Manila.
Pero because there are problems with employment and transportation etc., kinukuha ng mga pamilya iyong mga pabahay sa labas pero bumabalik sila sa Manila. Binebenta nila iyong bahay kaya sabi ko we have to be very realistic.
Mas mabuti siguro in-city relocation or at least near city. Iyong may mga trabaho, isali na lang sa isang comprehesive development plan.
In other words, there is so much that needs to be done. Kulang na kulang ang oras.
How do you plan to be a different kind of vice president?
LENI: I do not know if you are familiar with our Constitution pero if you look at our Constitution, the vice president has no real power except to wait for something to happen to the president.