As of this writing, the more than 400 delegates who converged in Baguio City from October 12-15, 2016 to take part in CREBA’s 25th annual national convention must be back in their project sites and work places, sleeves rolled up, raring to seize countless opportunities in today’s real estate market and waiting with great anticipation to benefit from new learnings and mutually-beneficial alliances gathered from the event which concluded with such resounding success.
Through this major national real estate event, the vision of “A Home for Every Filipino” being advocated by the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Associations, Inc. (CREBA) gained higher ground and drew the support of government and industry icons.
That support can be gleaned from the participation of lawmakers, key shelter agency heads, government officials and industry experts and its sponsorship by leading firms in various sectors.
All roads led to the CAP Trade and Cultural Center in Camp John Hay for this national event involving government and private industry stakeholders from CREBA’s close to 30 chapters nationwide.
Cong. Alfredo B. Benitez, chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Committee at the House of Representatives led government officials who joined the convention as guest speakers.
Also supporting the convention are leading industry players Boysen and Vistaland, whose generosity for CREBA has been a major element in the success of the Chamber’s annual convention since 1991.
Other event sponsors include DMCI Project Developers, PLDT, Pag-IBIG Fund, R-II Builders, Loyola Memorial Parks and Gardens, E. Ganzon, Inc., Forming Access and Support Inc., Cignal TV, Eastern Petroleum Corporation, Megaworld, New San Jose Builders, and V.V. Soliven Group.
The 4-day activity was dotted with plenary sessions, fun and colorful fellowship nights, guided tours, business-matching activities, and presentations on market trends, technologies, private sector proposals, government plans and policies, and emerging opportunities, all geared towards providing “a home for every Filipino.”
Ranged against that vision, however, is a housing backlog of at least 5.5 million units that threatens to balloon into even bigger proportions if it remains unaddressed by both the public and private sector. CREBA estimates that overcoming such deficit requires the production of at least 500,000 housing units a year over the next 2 decades.
To attain that, CREBA has been seeking a 5-point agenda for housing that will establish (1) long-term and affordable funds for socialized and economic housing; (2) affordable homes for employees in urban areas; (3) lands for human settlements, agriculture and the environment; (4) efficient housing regulations; and a (5) full-fledged Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide housing concerns the keen attention it deserves at the highest levels of government.
CREBA’s 5-point housing agenda has been drafted into various bills to either amend, rationalize, streamline or beef up existing laws and policies on housing.
Putting this 5-point agenda on stream – from legislation to full implementation – demands the support and cooperation of various sectors as it also involves the proper and prudent use of resources of both the government and the business community.
A major step in that direction was the CREBA national convention where all the concerned sectors were gathered under one roof to pull their acts together in doing their share towards providing “a home for every Filipino.”
Published in the Manila Bulletin October 2016
