Osmena: Pnoys land use agenda

By Antonio V. Osmeña

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III’s declaration to implement land use planning is a must today, as hodgepodge development unfolds in the country.

Several states in the US, including Hawaii, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Washington, Vermont, Florida, California, Pennsylvania and Oregon, have attempted to develop and in some cases have implemented laws for land use planning and control.

Japan is the only country with comprehensive planning and zoning. The entire nation is divided into five major land use zones: urban, agricultural, parks, nature reserves and forests.

During the 1960s, Belgium, West Germany and the Netherlands passed laws establishing guidelines for land use, but left the actual planning to the localities.

Canada has also developed a fairly comprehensive land use planning program. It’s about time the Philippines has its own land use planning program in order to protect its

environment. To maintain its pristine environment, there is a need to set ecological planning as a goal.

After PNoy’s declaration of a land use program, it is the responsibility of Congress to legislate both urban and non-urban land use and control plans. The first step in the development of a comprehensive land use plan is to gather geological, biological and sociological data on each province and the use of each parcel of land. These data are used to make projections about how Filipinos may need to use the land in the future, and this information is evaluated to determine the best present and future use

for each parcel of land.

Four major methods are used to make projections and develop a land use plan: (1) extrapolation of existing trends, (2) reaction to crisis, (3) systems analysis and modeling and (4) ecological planning. The steps involved in the development of a comprehensive land use plan require a strong political will and sufficient funding for its success.

To illustrate, our country’s desire to boost tourism raises the need to isolate areas where the environment should remain pristine and where no industries that could cause pollution will be allowed to enter.

The artificial political boundaries of cities, towns and provinces bear little relation to the natural airsheds, watersheds and ecosystems in each region.

As a result, land use planning and control in one area may be undercut by lack of planning or by planning with opposite goals in surrounding areas.

The environmental destruction of our country’s resources is one of the major concerns of PNoy. There should, in fact, be ecological land use planning that consists of: (1) making an environmental and social inventory; (2) determining goals and their relative importance; (3) producing individual and composite maps; and (4,5,6) developing, evaluating and implementing a comprehensive plan.

The problems associated with ecological land use planning include difficulties in getting reliable scientific, economic and social data; assessing aesthetic and ecological factors; lack of effective means for implementing land use plans; and political conflicts between those with differing ethical views on how land should be used.

In ecological or any other form of land use planning, decisions to grant permits for residential, commercial, industrial or any other use are normally made by the nation’s thousands of separate city governments.

Unfortunately, these local governments do not have the money, staff and information needed to do comprehensive land use planning.

The political leaders of the Province of Cebu should have the foresight to support PNoy’s declaration to implement a nationwide land use plan, by setting up in Cebu an advisory council of government, to draw up and coordinate integrated land use plans for the entire island.

It is time for Cebu’s civic, professional and trade organizations to lobby the government to support the council for expertise and funds, and to legalize the authority to implement decisions.

Cebu’s self-proclaimed environmentalists could help make ecological inventories of their natural communities and the plant and animal life they contain.

Such information can be useful in development comprehensive land use policies at the provincial, regional and national levels.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on August 4, 2010.

Socialized Housing's New Issues.

By Charles E. Buban

Philippine Daily Inquirer

WE MAY NOT realize it, but improving the standard of living here in the Philippines may depend on one sector that as of now receives meager support from both the government and the private sector.

“Indeed, socialized housing is one sector that seldom gets attention despite the fact that its revitalization may alleviate the condition of around 30 million Filipinos who are currently living near or below the poverty line,” notes Linda Tan, president of the Organization of Socialized Housing Developers of the Philippines.

Tan admits that even for the country’s top property developers, little is devoted to socialized housing considering the many challenges involved, seeing little return on their investment is just one of them.

“This is why, in 1995, small property developers and those with substantial investment in socialized and low-cost housing projects formed the OSHDP. Aside from strengthening our collective voice, our organization believes someone must take up the cudgels for the sector otherwise a third of Filipinos would forever remain renting their homes or living as squatters and in subhuman conditions,” says Jefferson Bongat, OSHDP vice president.

According to Bongat for this year, OSHDP has several issues it would like to tackle with the housing authorities and lending institutions:

1 More sources of funds for those availing socialized housing units. “Currently, the only reliable source of loan is the state-administered Home Development Mutual Fund, also known as Pag-Ibig Fund. In fact, it offers the lowest interest rates in the market: 6 percent for loans up to P400,000 and 7 percent for loans above P400,000 to P750,000,” says Sonny Ducay, OSHDP director and PRO.

This means borrowers in the P400,000 housing loan package will only have to shoulder a monthly amortization, for 30 years, of P2,398.

According to Ducay, this monthly payment may already be manageable for a family earning about P7,400 a month.

“It was also great that Pag-Ibig Fund has increased its total budget for its housing loan programs in 2009 to P84.5 billion in order to cater to the strong demand for low-cost housing. While we expect a similar increase in allocation this year, we also would like banks to formulate a similar package that would allow our borrowers to avail a more accommodating housing loan package. These families also deserve to be trusted,” Ducay says.

2 Exemption from “cash advance” that utility providers ask developers of socialized housing projects. One of the major challenges a developer has to deal with these days is the need to shell out additional money to initially shoulder the cost of installing the needed facilities before service could be provided. For example, Meralco would require “cash advance” for the posts, cables and transformers before electricity will be provided.

The same goes with water providers who require a similar arrangement before water could start to flow into the houses.

3 Price stability of building materials. Ducay says the continuously rising price of raw materials—cement, steel, etc.—affect property developers, big or small.

“But the impact is much more pronounced in small developers whose budget is just enough for the project,” Tan says.

To remedy this, OSHDP is now talking to its members for the possibility of collating their requirements for the year so OSHDP could purchase materials in bulk to receive discounts.

4 Providing incentive for materials suppliers including hardware. OSHDP believes socialized housing projects should be regarded differently.

According to Bongat, the group will formulate a proposal to the Board of Investments and the Department of Finance that would provide a reward system like tax incentives to suppliers who would give much lower or discounted price of their products.

5 Using solar-powered street lights. Bongat reports that OSHDP has approached a China-based firm specializing in inexpensive solar-powered products including solar street lights.

“It’s not only just love of the environment. If we could put up solar-powered street lights on our socialized housing projects, then the poor families that will live there will have less bill to worry about. In fact, we could eventually build a self sustaining community that will rely less on the power grid,” Bongat says.

6 Centralizing land allocation for housing development. While there are advantages of assigning the job of identification and allocation of land for housing development in the hands of local government units, OSHDP believes that not all local zoning officers are knowledgeable enough to perform their mandate.

“It’s a highly technical task that if you are not qualified, there is a huge chance of ruining your community’s zoning. It’s no wonder that we have members who complain about being given a property that is beside a cemetery, which is of course, not very attractive if you are selling your project to a prospective homebuyer,” Ducay explains.

He reports that together with other organizations involved in the housing sector, OSHDP has been pushing for a more streamlined, consolidated and unified activity.

“This will result in less number but more qualified people to deal with not to mention effective and efficient delivery of service,” Ducay says.