EXCLUDE GEO-HAZARD ZONES IN HOUSING PROJECTS -- KOKO

Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, PDP Laban President, urged today private realtors as well as the various government housing agencies to exclude flood and landslide-prone areas as location for socialized housing programs for the poor.

"Putting relocation and socialized housing sites in geo-hazardous areas is, of course, unconscionable because that is tantamount to endangering the lives of their occupants," said Pimentel before members of the National Real Estate Association.

The senator also called on the National Home Finance Corp. and the Social Housing Finance Corp. to exclude geo-hazard areas in the government's Community Mortgage Program (CMP).

He said that the government has come up with geo-hazard maps precisely to steer the public away from areas that may endanger them during natural calamities like earthquakes and typhoons.

"It's illogical to be building communities on known geo-hazard sites, thus I urge that they be excluded in CMP projects," said Pimentel. "People need housing but not at the expense of their safety and well-being."

Philippine history is replete with community projects gone haywire, like the Cherry Hills subdivision landslide which claimed many lives in Antipolo City in 1999.

It also posses the burden of ownership of these geo-hazard areas to the poor (from the private owners), Pimentel added.