MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 6, 2012) – Filipino urban poor groups have demanded from the Aquino government sufficient space for their settlement, and that they should be included in the country’s long term land use and development plans.
“Land is the platform for most, if not all, human activities from the time we are born to the time we die,” said Von Einsiedel, urban planner and president of Consultants for Comprehensive Environmental Planning, Inc. during a recent forum attended by representatives from Urban Land Reform Movement, the Pambansang Katipunan ng mga Samahan sa Kanayunan, and other affiliated urban poor groups.
Von Einsiedel stressed the importance of an effective land use policy to the administration of housing and urban settlements that will greatly impact the poor. He pointed out that the solution to the growing problem of urban settlements should be socially and environmentally viable.
“The existing situation does not look good,” he said, citing rapid urban population growth together with massive urban expansion and densification.
He also said that a large number of urban poor are without proper housing and basic services. He said that in order to provide solution to this dilemma, local governments should strictly implement laws on urban housing like the Republic Act 7279 or the Urban Development Housing Act, more popularly known as the Lina Law, which was passed in 1992.
The Lina Law sought to provide solution to the need of the urban poor for proper and humane settlements by addressing their access to land and housing, relocation, demolitions, and promoting private sector participation in housing.
According to Von Einsiedel, one provision of the law that is commonly overlooked is the provision of whereby developers of proposed subdivision projects shall be required to develop an area for socialized housing equivalent to at least 20% of the total subdivision area or total subdivision project cost, at the option of the developer, within the same city or municipality, whenever feasible, and in accordance with the standards set by the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board and other existing laws.
“We need also to balance the need of human activities to the carrying capacity of the environment. This will be addressed by a land use policy that everyone should adhere to,” Von Einsiedel said.
The National Land Use Act aims to ensure settlements development which will provide improvement on existing settlements or any proposed development of certain areas for settlement purposes. It also involves the spatial distribution of population, identification of the roles and functions of key urban centers, determination of relationships among settlement areas, and the provision of basic services and facilities of identified major settlement areas or growth centers.
Von Einsiedel also called for the proper use and management of the P50 billion allocation of the Aquino government each year until 2016 for housing projects in Metro Manila. This is on top of the P10 billion housing budget for informal settlers living in dangerous areas in Metro Manila, and the P5.5 billion fund for the resettlement of informal settlers living in high-risk or calamity stricken areas in Rizal, Laguna, Bulacan, Pampanga, and Metro Manila.
“We should be able to come up with affordable housing programs and come up with funds to provide subsidy for the poorest of the poor,” Von Einsiedel.
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