17 proclamations proposed to benefit 7,000 families
The Presidential Commission on Urban Poor has expressed hope on Tuesday the Duterte administration will set the stage for inclusive change by approving several proclamations releasing government-owned lands for socialized housing.
“We have 17 proposed proclamations in Mindanao that are expected to benefit landless and homeless 7,000 families,” said lawyer Ferdinand Iman, chief of operations of the PCUP’s Mindanao regional office. “We have great hopes President Duterte will at least sign several of these.”
The basis for the urban poor’s engagement is Executive Order 1313 that mandated the disposition of government lands not used for their purpose for 10 years for socialized housing.
Of the 35 presidential proclamations issued since the enactment of the Urban Housing and Shelter Act (Republic Act 7279) of 1992 (with the late Urban Poor Sectoral Rep. Rey Magno Teves among the authors), none was issued during the Aquino administration.
“It breaks my heart (to know that Mindanao has not been issued a single proclamation during the previous administration),” said lawyer Noel Felongco, chair and Chief Executive Officer of the PCUP.
“Parang napabayaan na ang Mindanao,” he told a Mindanao-wide consultation in Zamboanga City. “This is regrettable since the biggest share of Gross Domestic Product comes from Mindanao.”
But Felongco sees hope in the Five-Year Urban Poor Development Plan of the Commission as a mandate from President Rodrigo Roa Duterte which will serve as a roadmap to help the urban poor sector.
“In 2022, PRRD aims to reduce poverty incidence to 14% from 21.6 % and that all Filipino will have comfortable life,” he said.
He expressed optimism that the present administration will positively provide the answers to the sector’s problems and issues.
Felongco said the small budget of PCUP would not be a hindrance for the Commission to do its job in serving the urban poor sector.
“Walang imposible basta tayong lahat sama-sama at tulong-tulong sa pagkamit ng ating adhikaing mapanatag at kumportableng buhay para sa lahat ng Pilipino”.
He said that it is his fervent wish that at the end of the day, the urban poor communities will be ably provided more than a glimmer of hope in their continuing struggle to attain affordable land and housing of their own.
The Housing and Urban Development Council is the lead agency in coordinating all government plans, policies and programs for the housing sector.
But it is the PCUP that provides the forum for the crafting of presidential proclamations for urban poor communities to gain access to unused government lands, in addition to its mandate in coordinating and monitoring the implementation of policies and programs for the urban poor.
