Lacson vows to solve PH housing woes

Sen. Panfilo Lacson (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)

MANILA, Philippines — Stopping the alleged misuse of public funds can be the best “pragmatic” solution to the country’s problems on housing, and not a carefree promise of providing housing units as some politicians make, presidential aspirant Sen. Panfilo Lacson said on Friday.

“It is easy to say, ‘if I win, I guarantee all of you will have a house.’ We cannot do that because we did our computation. If we are going to deliver 5.3 million houses, it would take at least P500 billion from our national budget in one year [and] it will eat up our national budget,” he said.

Lacson was responding to a question on how they would help informal settlers in urban areas like Antipolo.

“We did a computation: to build a house, a small housing unit—24 square meters—in a high-rise building, it would cost P580,000 each. If it’s detached, a 24-square meter home in a 40-square meter lot, it would cost P750,000 each,” he said.

Instead of doling out free housing units, Lacson said a better way of solving the problem is for the government to come up with “productivity-enhancing state policies” that, he said, would be conducive to the social and economic development of its citizens.

The government can provide ample funding for such policies by getting rid of corruption and stop the loss of an average of P700 billion annually.

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