Condo housing for the poor

The proposal to build a condominium for urban poor settlers of province-owned lots in Cebu City covered by Provincial Ordinance 93-1 should be studied well if only to resolve their plight and that of other displaced families.

The proposal was floated by Provincial Board (PB) Member Grecilda Sanchez-Zaballero, who pointed out that the province can also earn by setting up commercial establishments at the ground floor.

Cebu City Councilor Alvin Dizon welcomed the proposal while Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella said his primary concern was that rates would be affordable.

We have yet to hear the responses of Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III in dealing with the problem of delinquent 93-1 lot owners.

Since Mayor Rama is considering a proposal by Japanese investors to set up a retirement facility in the South Road Properties (SRP), he has to consider the parallels.

The Japanese government imposes restrictions on property ownership on both investors and its nationals due to the limited habitable land area in Japan. Among their solutions is to encourage companies to build condominiums for their employees.

Due to Cebu City’s status as the premier city in the south, the cost of real estate is high, more so in its centerpiece property, the SRP. The migration of people from the rural areas and outside Cebu to the city is a trend that will continue.

A proposal to provide housing for Ordinance 93-1 lot occupants, while promising, has to consider cost factors.

Perhaps the tenement building, development and maintenance of this urban poor condominium could be a joint venture between the city and the province government.

The idea of inviting commercial establishments in the ground floor is a realistic strategy. Policy makers will have to also decide whether settlers would be allowed to set up their own businesses in the building.

The bigger concern, of course, is the settlers’ capacity and discipline to pay for their housing units . Low-income families that occupy the project should understand that they have to meet monthly payments and not fall into delinquency, which got them in the problem with the Capitol in the first place, when affordable land prices were offered during the term of Gov. Vicente dela Serna but taken for granted.

Other settlers sacrificed each year to fully pay their amortization to the province. The delinquent ones who will benefit from new arrangements ahead should give back to the government and, ultimately, to taxpayers whose money would be used to provide them decent housing.

That would be only fair.