Gabriela hits zero allocation for mass housing

Two lawmakers have denounced the zero allocation for mass housing in the proposed national budget for 2019 even as billions are being “parked” in several agencies including the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) as “pork barrel funds.”

“There is not a single centavo for the construction of mass housing units in the 2019 national budget despite the country’s 5.7 million housing backlog but there are billions allotted for pork barrel funds. This is the budget proposal coming from a President that has vowed ‘malasakit’ and of ridding corruption in the government,” Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas said in a statement Thursday.

She was referring to the recent ruckus over the nearly P52-billion insertion in the proposed national budget which had been realigned to other DPWH projects and other state programs by the House.

READ: House funnels P51.8B budget ‘insertion’ to health, agri, education

Brosas warned that the “brazen persistence of corruption” combined with the “neglect of the housing crisis by the Duterte regime” would fuel more occupations of idle public housing units and foment more protests among the growing ranks of the homeless.

Gabriela Rep. Emmi de Jesus, for her part, insisted that the nearly P52 billion “pork barrel funds,” which are supposed to be realigned to the DPWH, should instead be allocated for mass housing projects catering to poor families and to other social services.

“Sa halip na ilagak itong pork barrel sa mga proyektong pang-imprasktraktura na bulnerable sa korapsyon at magdudulot ng demolisyon ng mga komunidad, dapat itong ilaan sa pagtatayo ng mga disenteng pangmasang pabahay na hindi pagtutubuan ng National Housing Authority (NHA),” De Jesus said.

House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya, Jr. has earlier said the realigned P51.8 billion would be itemized into specific state projects during the chamber’s period of amendments on House Bill No. 8169 or the General Appropriations Bill for 2019.

“The approved amendments in the budget will be itemized. There will be no post-enactment identification which is prohibited. Spelled out dapat,” he said.

READ: Andaya says P52B realigned funds to be itemized

Brosas and De Jesus said the 2019 budget for shelter agencies, which stands at an aggregate amount of P2.86 billion, is actually composed of housing loans subject to interest rates and of funds for resettlement and demolition of communities.

For 2019, P360 million has been allocated for the NHA or P2.9 billion lower than its budget this year.

The NHA admitted during the pre-plenary budget hearing that a portion of this amount will be used for the resettlement of families to be affected by the Supreme Court mandamus on the Manila Bay coastal cleanup, which is technically for the demolition of communities.

Meanwhile, P1.8 billion is allotted as housing loans dispersed across the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation, Home Guaranty Corporation, and Social Housing and Finance Corporation.

The remainder of the P2.86 billion fund for “housing and community development” is allotted for the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) which are operating as GOCCs and are engaged in ventures with the private sector, they added.