Press Release
January 3, 2009

Zubiri asks House of Representatives to help avert crisis
that could befall families living in rented dwellings

Having filed a bill extending the Rent Control Law, the Senate asked the House of Representatives to file a counterpart measure to avert a crisis that could befell families living in rented dwellings, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said with the lapse of the Rent Control Law last December 31.

"There are at least 1,542,538 families who live in rented dwellings. Majority who rent are in Metro Manila with 687,048 families; Southern Tagalog with 245,510 families; Central Luzon, with 137,028 families; Central Visayas with 90,536 families; and Southern Mindanao with 85,561 families. They need protection from skyrocketing rent and unreasonable ejectments," Zubiri said quoting the 2008 National Statistical Coordination Board data.

"Likewise, we don't want to increase the number of homeless; of which we have documented 631,451 families. If we can't provide dwellings by way of socialized housing units or,low rent, our fellow Filipinos will grab any opportunity to have a roof over their heads. Many are already cramped in houses with relatives who are also renting or worse, setting up shacks in more slums."

"Of 15,278,808 families, only 10,866,001 or roughly two-thirds live in houses owned / being amortized; 2,047,970 live free of charge in houses with the owners' consent; 190,748 live in houses free of charge without the owner's consent."

"With the growth of educational, financial, trading and industrial centers in various parts of the country, many students, workers and job seekers naturally move to these areas. Most likely, they rent dwellings near schools, work and business opportunities. Most of them are concentrated in the cities of Manila, Makati, Cebu, Davao and Zamboanga and armies of renters are increasing in emerging centers such as ecozones and ports around our archipelago."

Zubiri said the Rent Control Law extension also keeps the viability of the small mom-and-pop apartment business by allowing the reasonable cap of 10% on yearly rent increase. The extension would make a winner of everybody - those tapping the business opportunity and those forced by necessity to rent.

Zubiri stressed that he had already been assured by Senator Biazon of support for the Rent Control Law extension. Biazon, Chair of the Committee on Urban Planning, Housing and Resettlement, had always been at the helm of housing issues and deals with the resettlement and relocation in the North and South Rail modernization projects.

The government implements its shelter mandate through housing agencies and financial institutions namely the National Housing Authority (NHA), Home Development Mortgage Fund (HDMF), Home Guarantee Corporation (HGC), Socialized Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Social Security System (SSS), Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), and PaglBIG.

In Senate Bill 2884, which he filed, Zubiri said, "the government implements its housing construction mandate by supporting private sector projects through the grant of housing loans and support to developers eyeing the big market of housing rental, dormitories and rent-to-own types of investments and projects."

He adds that many Filipinos cannot afford to buy new houses built by government and private housing developers. Likewise, the concentration of employment opportunities, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure have forced people to fight for their own place in the mega-cities and growth areas in the provinces.

Zubiri reiterated his commitment to devise ways to provide a decent home to every Filipino family especially those belonging to the lower income brackets.

News Latest News Feed