Pacquiao's Housing Promise is Actually a Constitutional Mandate

Why are so many Filipinos ignorant of the Constitution? It is one thing to be dismissive of it and call it nothing but a piece of paper like President Duterte. But it is a whole other thing to be ignorant of its contents and consider oneself an informed citizen. Take this one instance. This week Manny Pacquiao said if he were elected President in 2022 he would build subdivisions for squatters.

https://www.manilatimes.net/2021/06/13/latest-stories/pacquiao-to-build-subdivisions-for-squatters/1803105

Senator Emmanuel "Manny" Pacquiao vowed to end squatting if he becomes President.

He pledged to build subdivisions and buildings for squatters.

"No one will live in a squatter (area) especially in Metro Manila," the boxing champ said in a virtual interview with broadcaster Anthony Taberna in his YouTube channel "Tune in with TUNYING" on Sunday evening.

People across the internet, mostly the DDS crowd, have been guffawing and mocking Manny over this proposal. Take Thinking Pinoy's snarky reply as an example.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=353133249547614&set=a.283010229893250&type=3

Dear Senator Manny Pacquiao, 

Good day. 

May I have a copy of the feasibility study that your office must have had conducted prior to issuing this statement?

If possible, can you include a computation of our prospective budget deficit should this be implemented, along with the possible sources of financing, and its ramifications on our country's creditworthiness, in the event that we might have to do some debt restructuring after a few years?

I bet you already took into consideration present realities, including the ongoing economic recession. 

And while we're at it, can you identify the areas where most of the informal settlers will be situated? I have seen your SALN and I'm certain that you can't pay for the requisite land yourself, so I want to know which areas you may exercise the government's Power of Eminent Domain, and how you will alienate that land in accordance with the law?

Sabi mo kasi, "subdivision" e, unless you plan to relocate informal settlers in NCR to some backwater. 

You can send a soft copy of the said proposal to tp(at)ThinkingPinoy.net

Sincerely,

TP

Is RJ Nieto really so stupid as to think that Pacquiao would pay for this project out of his own pocket? Granted those are good questions to ask about such a project so why not ask the government which is tasked with doing this very thing?  It appears that none of Manny's detractors are aware of that fact. It is in article 13, section 9 of the Constitution.

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/constitutions/1987-constitution/

SECTION 9. The State shall, by law, and for the common good, undertake, in cooperation with the public sector, a continuing program of urban land reform and housing which will make available at affordable cost decent housing and basic services to underprivileged and homeless citizens in urban centers and resettlements areas. It shall also promote adequate employment opportunities to such citizens. In the implementation of such program the State shall respect the rights of small property owners.

This mandate is currently being carried out by the National Housing Authority (NHA) and the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD). The NHA was organized  in 1975 but it is the descendant of the People's Homesite Corporation (PHC) which was founded in 1938.

The National Housing Authority (NHA) is the sole national agency mandated to engage in housing production for low income families. It traces its roots to the People’s Homesite Corporation (PHC), the first government housing agency established on 14 October 1938 and to the National Housing Commission (NHC) which was created seven years later, on 17 September 1945. These two agencies, the PHC and NHC, were eventually merged on 4 October 1947 into the People’s Homesite and Housing Corporation (PHHC). 

In the years that followed, six (6) more housing agencies were created to respond to separate and distinct shelter requirements, namely: the Presidential Assistant on Housing and Resettlement Agency (PAHRA); the Tondo Foreshore Development Authority (TFDA); the Central Institute for the Training and Relocation of Urban Squatters (CITRUS); the Presidential Committee for Housing and Urban Resettlement (PRECHUR); the Sapang Palay Development Committee (SPDC); the Inter-Agency task Force to Undertake the Relocation of Families in Barrio Nabacaan, Villanueva, Misamis Oriental. 

Eventually, on 15 October 1975, the National Housing Authority was organized as a government-owned and controlled corporation, by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 757 dated 31 July 1975. All other housing agencies were abolished by the said decree. The NHA took over and integrated the functions of the abolished agencies- the PHHC and the six (6) other housing agencies. The creation of the NHA is the second attempt of the government to integrated all housing efforts under a single agency, twenty-eight years after the merger under the PHHC. 

https://nha.gov.ph/about/history/

Since 1938 the government has been tasked with hosting the people. How has that gone so far? Not every good as there are still squatters and homeless people everywhere. Squatters live in the most filthy of conditions in "houses" that go up in flames the moment a faulty electrical wire sparks. Resettlement areas set up by the government are not much better. The causes of this are nothing to get into in this article. The point here is that those who are descrying Manny's plan of housing everyone is completely unaware that such a project is exactly within the purview of the government.  It is their constitutional mandate. It would appear that way too many Filipinos are ignorant of their country's own constitution.

House and Lot For Sale

Looking for a new house?

Look no further!

It may look like an abandoned house the owner declined to maintain which has resulted in busted windows and weeds as taller than a man which are surely hiding snakes and rodents and spiders and lizards and cat turds from curious cats who slipped through the bars to chase the mice and stopped to take a look at the place but looks can be deceiving. Rest assure this house is in a very nice and secure neighbourhood.  There is a guard 24 hours a day and all the other houses are well kept.

You will of course have to do some trimming. Pull some weeds, put in some glass windows. But it's not much work and when you finally move in, you won't regret it. In fact you will thank the owner of this lot for not keeping it up because it will give you some work to do.

What are you waiting for? Call now!

The Best Laid Plans...

In the rest of the world a man's home may be his castle but in the Philippines a man's home is his prison. No Filipino feels safe unless they are behind a wall of concrete topped with metal spikes topped with barbwire.

In a normal world one would think this lady's house is already fortified and secured. But this is the Philippines where you can trust no one. Every effort at safety must be taken.

Look at those guys working hard to secure this lady's home. Keep up the good work, boys!

All that barbwire isn't going to do a bit of good if her husband keeps forgetting to shut the front door at night!

A Rather Lovely House

Look at this house.  It's rather quaint don't you think?

It's got a nice white exterior with red trimming. There is plenty of flora to beautify the place. A lovely hedgerow adorns the front along the cement wall.

It's also surrounded by a filthy moat filled with slimy garbage and foul waste water.  Run-off water from storms and washing clothes and probably from the toilet as well. A breeding ground for mosquitos and a bath house for rats. 

Gross.

Remember: in the Philippines appearances are always deceiving.

Fortifying the House

In the Philippines it is not enough to have a large fence or 10 dogs to prevent break-ins.  No you have to go full supermax prison complex. 

It's absolutely ridiculous. Did these people not feel safe before?  They have more than a few dogs that are constantly barking whenever they smell someone walking past. Why the need to top their fence with barbed wire? Is there that much of a threat in the neighbourhood that this needs to be done?  Not even New Bilibid Prison has this much barbed wire!

New Bilibid Prison

Nor does Batang City Jail.

Batang City Jail

But you know what place does?  Colorado Supermax Prison!

ADX Florence aka Colorado Supermax Prison

That's right! In order to feel secure in your home in the Philippines you must model your home after the home of notorious terrorists such as Zacarias Moussaoui, Richard Reid, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Theodore Kaczynski, Eric Rudolph, and Ramzi Yousef.

I guess this lady across the street is screwed.

A typical Filipino house

This is a typical Filipino house.  No, it's not the house that's typical about this house.  Filipinos live in everything from mansions to shanties constructed out of leftover wood and garbage.

What's typical about this house is the concrete and barbed wire fence.  Every single house in the Philippines is constructed like a mini-pentenitary.  The walls are concrete, the floor is hard concrete or tiles, the window have bars, and the outer wall is a huge concrete fence topped with shards of broken glass and barbed wire is strung along the whole perimeter.  There is also a large gate for vehicles to enter and exit.

No one gets in and you are safe inside your fortress.

Here's another example: 

A little different but still the same idea.  A concrete fenced topped with barbed wire.  The only difference is this one has a metal grate.

But why?  Why do Filipinos feel the need to enclose themselves in a mini-fortress?  What are they sacred of?  

They are scared of each other.  Filipinos don't trust one another.  Everyone is potential thief.

I live in a "gated community" but the gates are open 24/7 and only manned during the day.  There is a river marking the border of the community on the far back side and people have crossed it during the day to case the neighbourhood and return at night to break into people's homes. This "gated community" is wide open.  It is gated in name only.

During the day there are strange delinquent children walking around, vendors hawking fish, a constant flow of traffic, people coming to play basketball at the basketball court. Some of the farmers even have their carabao graze in the areas where the grass is tall. During Christmas carollers come by and even beggars knock on the door with envelopes asking for cash.

Innocent fish vendor or spy sent by a robbery syndicate to case the neighbourhood?

With all this unrestricted activity is it any wonder people turn their homes into prisons?

Plenty of houses here have been broken into. Cell phones, computers, washing machines, and thousands of pesos have all been stolen.  

Why would someone keep thousands of pesos in their home you ask?  Because the Philippines has a a cash economy.  There are banks.  There are credit cards.  But regular folks don't use them.  They literally stuff their cash under their pillow or in a hole in the floor. 

A man's home is his castle but in the Philippines it is also his prison.

Read all about crime in the Philippines here: http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Philippines/sub5_6f/entry-3908.html.