1.

Affordable housing refers to housing units that are affordable by that section
of society whose income is below the median
household income.Definition: Affordable housing refers to housing units that
areaffordable by that section of society whose income is below the median
household income.

2. Rising demand for low-cost

housing remains unserved
3.
4.

By Ehda M. Dagooc (The Philippine Star) | Updated September 5, 2012 - 12:00am

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CEBU, Philippines - Brokers in Cebu are encouraging the developers to build more affordable house
and lot or town units, rather than building more condominiums, as a huge part of the market is
demanding for this kind of products.
6. The Philippine Allied Chamber of Real Estate Brokers and Licensed Salesmen (PhilAcre) president
Anthony Leuterio said that while the sales of condominium is still upbeat, developers should also
consider the increasing demand for affordable housing packages that will be priced between P22
thousand to P28 thousand per square meter.
7. Everybody is doing condominium projects, he said although condominiums that are located in the
inner city locations are selling, the real demand now is for the middle earners needing housing units
that will give them amortization of P4,500 to P7,500 per month.
8. Economic housing, or affordable town house are the residential projects, which the market is needing
right now. Leuterio hopes that developers will be able to see this serious need, otherwise they will also
suffer from inventory glut, if they continue to build projects that are not needed by the market.
9. In a separate interview with economist Winston Conrad B. Padajinog, senior economist and dean of
the school of management at the University of Asia & the Pacific (UA&P), he said that the reason why
condominium projects are selling like hotcakes today, is not because developers are addressing the
need, but they are providing the needs of the investors who are buying condominium units for
investment and second home purposes.
10. However, he said buying condominium units as an investment may not be a good idea, as assessment
value of this particular product differs depending on the marketability, and other factors.
5.

11. Freeman ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch:

12. While renting is a good way to make money out of condo investment, he said renting rates is also
under pressure, depending on the demand, and location of the unit.
13. While Leuterio is showing the real demand in the market today at least in Cebu, for the strong need of
economic housing projects, Padajinog said that developers will have to think of innovative ways in
addressing this need.
14. According to Padajiong the issue of lack of land for horizontal house and lot projects can be addressed
by making partnership with the local government unit (LGU) in converting the old urban-poor areas into
housing projects that will be made affordable to the existing residents.
15. Urban area re-development is one of the opportunities developers can tap, aside from building projects
that can only be availed of the moneyed market, or those segments that do not really need shelter or
housing units.
16. Developers may partner with LGUs in offering a subsidized rate for the urban poor, so that the
existence of informal settlers will be minimized in the city.
17. Building medium-rise buildings also in the urban areas can help developers build affordable or
economic condominium-type residential projects, Padajinog said.

18. The obvious bias of developers in building only projects for middle and high end markets should be
addressed otherwise, the real estate industry will not achieve a balance growth performance.

19.
(CNN Philippines) Children run around barefoot across a
pile of garbage, while people take baths amid a stench theyve
become immune to these are ordinary scenes at Happy Land.
20.
The temporary relocation site for informal settlers is far from
happy, though especially where sanitation is concerned.
21.
According to residents of Barangay 105 Happy Land in
Tondo, Manila, the last time the government helped clean their
community was in 2013, when a bulldozer was sent to pick up their
garbage.
22.
But when the assistance stopped, they took it upon
themselves to clean their living space with whatever was available.
23.
At Happy Land, waterways are filled with human feces and
garbage accumulated over the years have taken the place of
cemented streets.
24.
Happy Land, along with other nearby communities, were
designated as temporary relocation sites for more than three
thousand families from the Smokey Mountain which was closed
down in 1995.
25.
The National Housing Authority (NHA) said that those families
were already relocated.
26.

The problem, however, was that other families replaced them.

27.
Many of the informal settler families staying in Happy Land
have been living at the site for a decade.

28.
"Hindi naman namin puwedeng sabihin na ilipat na kami dahil
wala pa namang lilipatan," said resident Gloria Luces.
29.
[We can't just tell them to transfer us because we don't have
anywhere to go in the first place.]

30.

Growing problem

31.

Over the years, families in the area had multiplied.

32.
And as the Happy Land community grew bigger, so did the
garbage.
33.
Some shanties were even built on top garbage causing
flooding problems.
34.
Elsa Belaysa, a resident, explained how some people in their
community had no idea how building houses on top of trash would
affect them and their neighbors.
35.
"Hindi nila alam, kumakatas na diyan sa pader yung kanilang
mga tubig kasi nagtayo sila diyan. May basura basta tinayuan nila
ng bahay, hindi nila tinanggal ang basura. Ngayon wala nang kanal
roon, dito na lahat katas. Kawawa naman kaming naglilimas dito,
araw araw nalang limas limas," she lamented.
36.
[They don't even know that water is seeping into their walls.
They just built their houses on top of that trash, they didn't even
clear it first. Now that there's no proper sewage system, the water
is finding its way here. And we have no choice but keep the
flooding at bay by scooping the water out.]

37.
Residents also complained about a lack of a waste disposal
system a problem which poses health risks, especially to
children.
38.
To survive, many of the people living in Happy Land have
also become scavengers. They've learned to scour through the
garbage of their neighbors and pick up food wastes of nearby fast
food chains just to have something to eat.
39.
According to the NHA, it is in the process of selling its
property where the temporary shelters are. The agency said that
residents will be given permanent homes as part of the deal.
40.
While negotiations are underway, the NHA recognized that
the families living in Happy Land are facing a big garbage problem.
41.
"Basically its not our responsibility, although it's our property.
Their living there is without the authority of the NHA. They invaded
that space, but still, it is our concern because we don't want the
people staying there to develop various diseases and be in harm's
way," said Engr. Vic Balba, head of the NHA.
42.
Balba also stressed that "it is the prime responsibility of the
local government to take care of its constituents."
43.
But Manilas Urban Settlements Office pointed it's finger back
at the NHA.
44.
"I think NHA is more in a position to discuss the status of
Happy Land because they own the property," said Victoria Clavel of
Manila City Hall's Urban Settlements Office.

45.
Manila tourism consultant Carlos Celdran, meanwhile, said
that officials shouldn't be too focused on relocating the families
because many informal settlers tend to come back even after
they're relocated.
46.
"The problem is not the housing, the problem is these people
have no skills and no jobs," Celdran said. We have to really stop
and think about what we can do to help these people rise from
where they are because its more than just moving them."
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MOVE.PH

Informal settlers:
Integration, not just
relocation
For as long as economic activity is heavily concentrated in a few urban areas, no
one can really blame the poor for wanting to leave their relocation sites in
exchange for brighter prospects in the city centers

JC Punongbayan
Published 10:04 AM, Aug 12, 2013
Updated 10:04 AM, Aug 12, 2013

Society is governed by two types of laws: the laws enacted by

governments and the laws of supply and demand.
This distinction can explain why people sometimes behave differently from the intended outcomes of
policy.
Take for example the imposition of a minimum wage. While it is almost always intended to benefit
poor workers, the minimum wage can result in a disincentive to hire among employers and, hence,
higher unemployment especially among young and inexperienced workers. (See a previous
article on the Kasambahay Law.)
Never-ending tension
The interaction between the laws of government and the laws of economics is also apparent in the
seemingly never-ending tension between the government and informal settlers (squatters in
colloquial terms).
For instance, in an effort to declog waterways in Metro Manila, the current administration (through
the Department of Interior and Local Government or DILG) has started a massive resettlement
project to move around 60,000 informal settlers situated along major waterways like Pasig River,
Tullahan River, and San Juan River.

Yet another project aims to relocate thousands of families situated near Agham Road in Quezon
Citys North Triangle area to give way to a new central business district.
Decades of experience suggest that such efforts, by themselves, will not be fully effective in
permanently relocating the poor away from city centers. This is despite the presence of otherwise
unattractive urban features like higher housing rents and natural hazard risks. Poor informal settlers
just keep coming back to the city.
But why exactly?

Housing vs. commuting

For one thing, the desire to live and work in city centers can depend largely on the relative
attractiveness of living in city centers versus subcenters.
Consider the plight of an informal settler family living in the middle of Quezon City and being offered
cheap housing in a relocation site somewhere in Balagtas, Bulacan. Lets assume for a moment that
they refuse to give up their present employment or business in the city center.
On the one hand, housing does cost cheaper in Bulacan relative to Quezon City. That is, the price of
housing per square meter goes down with each extra kilometer farther away from Quezon City and
nearer Bulacan.
On the other hand, the total cost of commutes to and from the city center will become higher. In the
absence of a light rail transit (like the proposed MRT-7 to run along Commonwealth Ave), the familys
commute can take hours via tricycles, jeeps, and buses. Imagine a poor family doing this costly
commute 5 times a week.
Taken together, the farther the family is from Quezon City, housing prices go down while the total
commute costs rise. For as long as an extra mile of commuting costs more than the extra decrease
in housing prices, the poor informal settler family will choose to remain in the city center and refuse
offers to live in the suburbs.
From this cost-benefit decision calculus, the way to induce the informal settler family to live outside of
city center is straightforward: Increase the attractiveness of living far away by reducing the relative
cost of commuting.

While a light rail transit can help in this regard, subsidizing commute costs for the poor (given high
upfront infrastructure costs) will be hard to justify on a long-term perspective. (Even today, there is
aneffort to reduce the high subsidies allocated to the MRT-3 running along EDSA.)
Benefits of clustering
Another way to incentivize informal settlers to live in the suburbs is by making these places viable
areas to live and work in. Hence, we obviate the need to reduce (or even subsidize) commute costs
to and from the city centers.
This can be done by recreating in the suburbs what the poor are looking for in the city centers: The
benefits and opportunities which arise from the clustering of economic activity.
Indeed, great things arise when firms and establishments of similar or different trades locate near
one another. Firms can reduce their costs by sourcing their materials from nearby suppliers; they can
learn about emergent market trends and copy each others production techniques; they can also
benefit from the pooling of clients and attract more foot traffic than if they were separated and
isolated.
On the other hand, workers also benefit from interactions with workers of other firms. In the event of
job layoffs in one firm, searching for a new job will be less difficult since they can immediately find
alternative employment in nearby establishments and rely on referrals by friends and colleagues
nearby.
These and many other benefits (collectively known as agglomeration economies) explain the
emergence of malls (e.g., SM City), new cities (e.g., Santa Rosa in Laguna), urbanized districts (e.g.,
Bonifacio Global City in Taguig), and economic zones (e.g., SBMA in Subic).

MASSIVE RESETTLEMENT. To declog waterways in Metro Manila, the Aquino administration starts
a massive resettlement project to move around 60,000 informal settlers situated along major
waterways. Photo from Shutterstock
Urban slums
Urban slums, too, can be thought of as communities arising from the benefits of agglomeration
economies. A visit to one of the larger slum communities in the metro will show that these areas are
not so much a homogeneous collection of residential units, but are in fact dynamic, thriving centers
of business, too.
From wet and dry markets, bakeries, laundry shops, internet cafes, barbershops, parlors name it,
theyve got it. Businesses in these communities also locate themselves such that theyre visible to
people going to and fro schools, offices, and transit terminals much like how mall establishments
strategically locate where foot traffic is highest.
The clustering of economic activity results in benefits and opportunities which everyone, including
the poor, will naturally seek to partake in. The fact that the poor are willing to overlook things like
congested houses and natural hazard risks in slums suggests that residing in these areas must
deliver immense benefits to their lives, enough to overcome the costs of these inconveniences.

In other words, for as long as there are agglomeration economies to be enjoyed in city centers, the
incentive of living in urban areas will exert a powerful pull over the poors decision where to live and
work. Such pull can be powerful enough to overcome any piece of legislation or policy aiming to
permanently relocate them to far-flung areas with little or no such agglomeration economies.
New business districts
Perhaps, then, a better way to look at the problem is not to simply relocate informal settlers hither
and thither, but to integrate them in the urban landscape by developing agglomeration economies in
more and more areas outside of metropolitan areas.
In other words, there should be a concerted effort to promote the development of business districts
with high growth potential and substantial job creation in areas around and outside metropolitan
areas like Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao.
To some extent this is already happening, what with the emergence of high-growth areas like Cavite,
Laguna, and Batangas south of Metro Manila; Iloilo City in the Visayas; and Cagayan de Oro City in
Mindanao.
However, there are currently not enough of these emerging business districts around the country to
accommodate the millions of people still living in poverty. Bringing the benefits of economic
clustering closer to the regions (and hence, the poor) would be a perfect way of promoting inclusive
growth and alleviating regional inequalities.
Dont blame the poor
Given the powerful economic incentives of living in the cities, mandating the full and permanent
resettlement of the urban poor to the hinterlands will be as futile as King Canute ordering the tides of
the sea to retreat through law or decree.
For as long as economic activity is heavily concentrated in a few urban areas that is, growth is
geographically exclusive and not inclusive no one can really blame the poor for wanting to leave
their relocation sites in exchange for brighter prospects in the city centers.
Until development is brought to these suburban areas, that is the poors way of partaking in the fruits
of economic growth. Rappler.com

JC Punongbayan holds a masters degree in economics from the UP School of Economics. He is

also a summa cum laude graduate of the same school. His views are independent of the views of his
affiliations.

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Filed under:Metro Manilainformal settlersrelocationUrban poor

7 Comments

Sort

666 days ago

YulDorotheo
It has been said many times before (and I agree) that we need to develop our countryside, so that people stop
migrating to Metro Manila in search of the mythical golden goose.

Reply

Share
+1

663 days ago

Ely
Stop calling them Informal Settlers! They are S-Q-U-A-T-T-E-R-S, lazy and all!

Reply

Share
0

666 days ago

Amillah Rodil
People will not stop migrating to Manila just because there are more places like Cebu or Davao. We need to face the
issue head on and accept that poor people will be in cities just like everyone else and will keep increasing unless we
find ways to give them space. We need to start talking about real solutions. And asking the right questions, like: why
is there no housing that poor people can afford? (Actually why is there no affordable housing even for lower middle or
middle class?) Why isn't land available? Why can't I rent a house for 1, 000? (roughly the affordability level of urban
poor families per month). The main question I think is how we can make our cities more inclusive? Developing the
countryside has always had the assumption that some people ought to be somewhere else, not here. But, as the
article says, people do want to be in the city. And the principles of agglomeration determine that some cities will have
primacy more than the others, and will keep attracting more people, rich or poor, regardless of the state of the other
places. Also, even if migration is lessened, the 12M people in Metro Manila will still double in say, 30-50 years and so
we will also have double the population of informal settlers that we have now. We really need to look at the problem
where it's at -- inside the city -- and solve it from there.

Reply

Share
0

666 days ago

Amillah Rodil
How about integrating them in the city? People are where they are. This is a theory that will not solve the reality that
exists now. The suburbs of Manila have expanded enough. Quezon City, Marikina, even Makati, all used to be
'countryside.' Did their development prevent informal settlers? No.

Reply

Share
0

666 days ago

Alpha
Another angle of why people flock to the cities, is because the services(even the most basic of it) needed in the
country sides, are either insufficient or incompetently offered.....one thing also is connectivity, people of the country
side want to be heard, and if they will make the journey every time, to the cities just to be heard....will both take time
and cost....so they find ways to have a place in the cities to be near the place of connectivity.......but, as it
was...centers of commerce should be distributed, to improve both connectivity and avoid congestion in the cities....
Unless a more sufficient and sustainable condition is made in the country side, the reasons for the exodus to the
cities will never be fixed......the roots of these causes are visible and real...it is the probable answers to address these
problems, that are not yet seen and clear.

Reply

Share
0

666 days ago

Paul Edward Alvarez
Most of what you're saying are already done and known. i think this post is not well ingested with details (ie. transport
issues are being addressed with upcoming trains)
- get people in the city to help the poor like clean up their environment, and KEEP cleaning it. the problem is that
people/companies stop after one "community activity" - do clean up activities coupled with sweat and perseverance.
ASSIGN NSTP and highschools to clean up places monthly or stuff like that - SIMPLE
- get the people living there to clean up themselves, if they don't shape up and clean up they move out -SIMPLE
- for the poor in urban slums, have you ever talked to them? most of them were misinformed how easy life in the
metro is and that is one of the ruling sentiments, most of them think that education is key though so that should be
the primary concern, why not let schools house them? again, if they don't shape up and clean up they move out
-SIMPLE

worst thing that happens - it's pretty sad that most of these have become "professional squatters" and just take
advantage of charity

Reply

Share
0

666 days ago

Joseph Albert Muyo
I agree with this article. :)

Reply

Share
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Philippine Standard Time:
Tuesday, June 9, 2015 12:25:25 PM

source: PAGASA

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OFFICIAL
GAZETTE
THE REPUBLIC
THE PHILIPPINES
P600M
to help
secureOF
housing
for informal OF
settlers
February 23, 2014

From the Department of Budget and Management

Secretary Abad: Resettlement to boost LGU housing aid for informal settlers
In line with the Aquino administrations commitment to inclusive growth and
development, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) released
P600 million in January to the National Housing Authority (NHA) for the
relocation of 2,069 informal settler families (ISFs) currently living in Pateros
City, Metro Manila.
The P600-million release represents a portion of the P50-billion ISF Fund
appropriated for the NHA-led Five-Year Housing Program for Families Living
Along the Danger Areas in Metro Manila. The fund release has been charged
against the P5.49-billion budget of NHA allotted for the program this year.
One of the Aquino administrations goals is to give marginalized families
ISFs in particularsafer and more secure housing, away from areas that
compromise their health or are vulnerable to the effects of natural disasters.
The relocation program serves a three-fold purpose: supporting our local
government units (LGUs) in providing housing and assistance, ensuring the
safety of families living in danger zones, all while improving sanitation and
disaster-preparedness in problem areas in Metro Manila, Budget Secretary
Florencio Butch Abad explained.
Residing along the rivers and waterways of Pateros, the ISFs are from
barangays Tabacalera, Magtanggol, San Pedro, Sta. Ana, Aguho, Martirez,
and San Roque. Barangay Aguhowith the most number of ISFs comprising
786 familieswill receive P227.9 million in resettlement aid. All familybeneficiaries in Pateros will be resettled at Phase 5 of the Southville 9
Housing Project in Pinugay, Baras, Rizal. The number of ISF beneficiaries and
the funding for each barangay are as follows:
Origin (Barangay)

No. of ISFS

Cost

Tabacalera

75

P21,750,000

Magtanggol

61

17,690,000

San Pedro

86

Sta. Ana

516

149,640,000

Aguho

786

227,940,000

Martirez

150

43,500,000

San Roque

395

114,550,000

Total

2,069

24,940,000

P600,010,000

Since the P50-billion Five-Year Housing program was launched in 2011, a total
of P20.1 billion has already been released for it, of which P10 million was
released to NHA in 2011 and another P10.1 was released in 2013. Benefiting
a total of 104,219 families, the program gives every family a house and lot
packageeach worth P290,000in the assigned resettlement area.
Together with the local governments of Pateros and Rizal, the relocation
program supports the Aquino administrations plan to strengthen our disaster
risk and LGU management initiatives. More important, however, is the fact
that relocating families from flood-prone areas to safer communities will help
open up opportunities for livelihood, education, and other key public services
for the beneficiaries. Its not just a matter of ensuring these families safety;
its also a matter of ensuring a better, more fruitful future for them in the
long term, the Budget Secretary added.
dbm.gov.ph
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Innovation needed in
informal-settler housing

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By: Anna Marie A. Karaos, John J. Carroll

@inquirerdotnet
02:58 AM March 19th, 2012
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It takes more than presidential will and money to make a propoor initiative succeed.
Apart from having an efficient and honest implementing bureaucracy that understands
the purpose of the reform, innovation is a major ingredient of success. Without it,
implementing institutions are bound to magnify what is wrong with the existing systems
and make the problem worse. Innovation is the hallmark of reform.
Last year, President Aquino announced that his administration would allocate P10 billion
every year until 2016 for the housing of informal settlers in so-called danger zones in
Metro Manila. This initiative was a response to the advocacy of urban poor groups for a
policy of in-city housing for urban informal settlers as an alternative to distant or off-city
relocation. An estimated half a million families are expected to benefit from this
initiative.
The size of the budget, P10 billion annually or P50 billion up to 2016, is explained by the
high cost of in-city housing, especially since the administration prefers multistory
housing so as to maximize the use of limited land. The urban poor, who previously had

been instinctively averse to this type of housing design because of cost, safety and
maintenance issues, have come to accept it as a reasonable solution.
Bolstering the urban poors confidence that the administration was ready for innovative
housing approaches was the Presidents appointment of Interior Secretary Jesse
Robredo, known for his propoor housing programs in Naga City, as the government
official responsible for the program.
The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) organized and convened
technical working groups and contracted consultants to come up with solutions to the
tenure and housing problems of informal-settler communities. It recommended the incity housing program and budget based on the technical studies and numerous
consultations with affected communities.
Urban poor communities and their organizations celebrated the announcement of the
in-city housing program, considered unprecedented because of the radical departure
from the longstanding policy of off-city resettlement and the large budget being
committed by the executive branch for its implementation. More than that, the money
for the first year was swiftly released and is now lodged with the National Housing
Authority (NHA).
Encouraged by the announcement of the P10-billion fund, urban poor groups, assisted
by nongovernment organizations, started to identify prospective sites and beneficiarycommunities and to formulate peoples plans for multistory housing. The Urban Poor
Alliance even submitted to the DILG a proposed menu of tenure and institutional
modalities for the program, consisting of community-initiated, local-governmentinitiated and NHA-initiated schemes. The idea was to mobilize as many project initiators
and players as possible, not only to increase the scale and speed of program
implementation but also, and more importantly, to encourage inventiveness, healthy
competition and cost efficiency through a multiplicity of approaches.
In Brazil where nonconventional housing approaches have been tried with some
success, large-scale public housing projects built by contractors that were making lots of
money while compromising the quality of housing had been gradually replaced by
community-built and -managed medium-rise residential buildings. In one such project in
Sao Paolo, residents were responsible for allocating housing funds, sourcing and
purchasing building materials, organizing themselves into committees and construction
teams, and selecting the technical advisers to assist them. A combination of grants,
subsidies and loans was provided. A certain percentage of the budget was allocated for
community organization and social preparation.

A more modest scheme that can easily be applied here is providing loans to poor
communities that already have land tenure to enable residents to build on their existing
houses a second or third floor, which they can rent out to other poor families. There are
similar schemes that can achieve the objective of providing in-city housing to informal
settlers, not necessarily through ownership. The question is how open are the housing
agencies to such innovations.
At a recent workshop attended by government agencies, guidelines and standards to be
observed in accessing the P10-billion housing fund were reportedly discussed. It is
usually a bad sign when regulations are made the first order of business when
implementing a supposed reform program. Regulations, especially when turned into
absolutes, as bureaucrats are wont to do, run the risk of stifling innovation. The first
year should be a time of flexibility, experimentation and learning. As different project
ideas are tested and experience is gained on what works better and what safeguards
are needed, the agencies will have a better basis for formulating standards and
guidelines.
When one considers the government-built housing units in the resettlement sites in
Rodriguez (formerly Montalban), Laguna and Cavite, or the medium-rise residential
buildings in Smokey Mountain and Vitas, built by contractors that supposedly passed
NHA technical standards and bidding procedures, one cannot help but want alternatives.
Would the same standards that gave us the badly built resettlement and medium-rise
housing units be used for the P10-billion fund? It is understandable for agencies to rely
on their tried and tested rules, even if everyone else can see that their outputs leave
much to be desired. The best way to kill a reform initiative is to do things in the usual
way.

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TAGS: Aquino administration, housing programs, Informal settlers, Metro

Manila urban poor,President Benigno Aquino III
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