70% decrease in housing budget an ‘injustice’: Drilon

FILE: The 70 percent cut in the budget of the National Housing Authority (NHA) from PHP15.3 billion this year to PHP4.4 billion in 2018 is an “injustice”, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said Tuesday. (Photo: Senate of the Philippines/Facebook)

MANILA — The 70 percent cut in the budget of the National Housing Authority (NHA) from PHP15.3 billion this year to PHP4.4 billion in 2018 is an “injustice”, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said Tuesday.

Drilon made this remark during the interpellation of the budget of the housing sector on Tuesday emphasizing the huge budget cut is the “wrong policy thrust” since it is crucial in addressing “the poorest sector of our society.”

Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito, Chair of the Senate Committee on Urban Planning, Housing, and Resettlement, cited the agency’s alleged low absorptive capacity as a reason for the decrease as proposed by the Department of Budget and Management in the 2018 national budget.

However, Drilon disagreed with the DBM explaining that the absorptive capacity of the NHA is being blamed for the refusal by the economic managers to provide sufficient budget for the housing sector.

“We should not let our people suffer from these alleged inefficiencies of a bureaucracy, which is even open to question,” Drilon said.

“Social problems will just continue to worsen if we continue to commit criminal neglect in our treatment of the housing sector,” he added.

Contrary to claims that the agency has a low absorptive capacity, Ejercito pointed out that the NHA has obligated 85 percent of its funds in 2016.

Drilon, meanwhile, asked both the committee and chamber to restore the proposed budget of the housing sector for next year to its current level especially since housing backlog is expected to reach 6 million by 2022.

Ejercito, earlier said that the backlog is currently at 1.2 million.

“With that kind of backlog, why are we not providing enough resources to our housing sector?” Drilon said.

He proposed to use the “excess fats” in the proposed PHP3.77 trillion 2018 national budget to address the current housing backlog.

Ejercito, meanwhile, proposed for a special provision that would enable NHA’s fund utilization to be extended for two more years to give NHA elbow room of three years to fully use their funds.

“I believe this would be more fair and practical for the NHA since the process in constructing housing units usually takes too long. This bureaucratic process is the reason why NHA’s funds cannot be disbursed within one year,” Ejercito said.