By
Angelica Katheryn Carballo
0915-9260371/akcarballo@gmail.com
MANILA, PHILIPPINES -
In a forum held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Makati City, urban poor
groups demand that sufficient space be allocated for their settlement, and that
they should be included in long term land use and development plans of the
government.
Representatives
from Urban Land Reform Movement, Pambansang Katipunan ng mga Samahan sa
Kanayunan, and other affiliated urban poor groups attended the forum entitled
“Planning for Urban Settlements and Development - Will there be SPACE for the
Urban Poor through the National Land Use Act?”
Joining
them is Nathaniel von Einsiedel, EnP, urban planner and president of
Consultants for Comprehensive Environmental Planning, Inc. who talked about the
current situation and probable solution to the problematic set-up of urban settlements.
“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, who stressed the importance of an effective land use
policy to the administration of housing and urban settlements that will greatly
impact the poor.
Von Einsiedel also
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 (UDHA), more popularly known as the Lina Law,
which was passed in 1992. The law was introduced by former Senator Joey Lina.
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 twenty percent (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,” von Einsiedel added, “this will be addressed by a land use policy
that everyone should adhere to.”
The National Land Use Act
(NLUA) 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.
The urban planner
also called for the proper use and management of the P 50 billion peso
allocation of the Aquino government each year
until 2016 for housing projects in Metro Manila. This is on top of the P10
billion peso 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 added.
Von
Einsiedel is a registered professional
Environmental Planner (EnP), a registered professional architect and accredited
by the United Nations, World Bank, and Asian Development Bank as an Urban
Development and Management Specialist.
He has
worked in government, with international assistance organizations, the academe,
and the private sector. He served as Regional Director for Asia-Pacific of the
United Nations Urban Management Program from 1990 to 2004 where he directed
technical assistance projects in 22 cities across 11 Asian developing
countries. He was the founding Commissioner for Planning of the former Metro
Manila Commission, and also served as Deputy General Manager/Chief Urban
Planner of the Human Settlements Development Corporation.
