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HOW much housing contributed to the encouraging figures that the
economy chalked up recently has yet to be highlighted. Still, there
is no denying that a real estate boom of sorts is going on, not just
in the capital region, but also in other parts of the country.
According to rule-of-thumb reckoning, real
estate development and, in particular, medium and low-cost housing
create a 16.6-percent multiplier effect on overall economic growth.
Building homes is such a complex enterprise that
it requires the participation of so many sectors. All the elements
needed to put a roof over a family’s head come not just from
developers, architects, engineers and construction workers, but also
from manufacturers of everything from concrete nails and aluminum
sidings to window panes and paint.
In some countries economic growth or decline is
tracked through such indicators as “housing starts.” In fact,
the looming US recession that has got the rest of the world spooked
can in part be traced to problems related to financial abuses in
America’s real estate sector as summarized in the NINJA—for
“no income, no jobs accounts”—problem. But that’s another,
more knotty story.
Suffice it to say that in our case the shelter
sector is not just building homes but also helping boost the
national economy. And build homes we must for a population that this
year demographers forecast would hit 90 million—including
“informal settlers,” the latest politically correct euphemism
for “squatters.”
Providing shelter is such a multifaceted
activity that it requires an entire government bureaucracy to get it
going. That the proverbial ball has begun to roll should be credited
to Vice President Noli de Castro. As housing czar, the Veep has
surprised even many of his detractors.
De Castro is on top of several shelter agencies,
including the Housing and Urban Development and Coordinating
Council, National Housing Authority, Home Development Mutual (Pag-IBIG)
Fund, National Home Mortgage Finance Corp., Social Housing Corp. and
Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board.
Dismissed by critics as just a “former news
reader,” De Castro has shown remarkable administrative talent and
managerial skills.
From relocating tens of thousands of squatter
families that for decades occupied both the north and south Luzon
railroad tracks to bringing Pag-IBIG housing loans to record levels,
De Castro and his team are making us believe that the country’s
humongous housing problem can be licked.
There’s hope, after all.
Schismatic Liberals
Schism continues to afflict one of the
country’s oldest and most distinguished political parties. This
month the Liberal Party observes its 62nd anniversary. Instead, the
two factions claiming party leadership have decided to celebrate the
milestone on separate dates.
The wing led by Environment Secretary Lito
Atienza got together Jan. 19. The faction under Sen. Mar Roxas is
set to hold its assembly on Wednesday, Jan. 30.
What split the LP was the call made in July 2005
by then-Senate President Franklin Drilon and other party members for
President Arroyo to resign in the wake of the “Hello, Garci”
scandal. Atienza and his wing have remained loyal to GMA.
Last November Drilon and company appointed Roxas
as party president. They did so by virtue of a Supreme Court
resolution, which they claimed affirmed their hold on the party.
However, former Northern Samar Rep. Harlin
Abayon, an Atienza partisan, insists that the Drilon bloc got it all
wrong.
“The Supreme Court resolution recognized that
the LP constitution was validly amended but there is nothing that
says they can start removing members of the LP and change the
composition of the policymaking body,” Abayon was quoted saying
recently.
In November, too, the Drilon bloc announced that
Roxas is its 2010 presidential bet. Meanwhile, some members of the
wing led by Atienza have urged him to launch his own bid.
Atienza reacted with reluctance: “This is not
the time . . . to talk about 2010. Let us first fix our party before
we talk about our candidacy.”
He said that this year his faction would work
toward patching up differences with its party rivals. “We would
work to unite the Liberal Party now,” Atienza said. “This is an
urgent matter.”
Atienza, however, set a deadline for
reconciliation. “Come 2009 we have to decide and know what
direction we would take because we also have to consider the
political future of our local leaders,” he said. “We need time
to prepare our party’s candidates for 2010.”
Atienza added: “If by next year we remain
divided, I am confident that we would be able to field a qualified
candidate for the presidency.”
If the schism persists, the Liberal Party would
in all likelihood have and two presidential candidates—with either
bet eroding the other’s chances of winning.
Breakthrough boo-boo
I do not know what happened, but here I am
apologizing for an error I did not commit. When I emailed my column
for January 28, I wrote down the title of Enrico Antiportada’s
novel as A Light in the Cane Fields.
Lo and behold, when I opened my copy of The
Manila Times last Monday I was shocked to see the words “TITLE
MUST BE ITALICS” preceding the novel’s title.
Anyway, this gives me the excuse to reiterate a
portion of the item about the book—written by Antiporda, a
California-based Filipino author—that was named a semifinalist in
the Penguin Books/Amazon.com American Breakthrough Novel Award.
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