My wife Alice and I were ninang and ninong recently to 24 couples who were married on the banks of Estero de San Miguel. The estero hasn’t been a famous venue for weddings, to say the least, but in the near future we may be surprised.
Consider the following issues that persistently hound us and get in the way of our ability to move toward more inclusive growth and development:
I must commend the housing project in Navotas, which is aptly called the Navotaas Residences, whose housing units were offered to deserving families that lost their homes, mostly shanties, in a fire. The would-be residents will pay for their own power and water consumption, and a monthly maintenance fee (a sort of rental fee) of P500 in exchange for their privilege to use the housing unit for 25 years, with an option to renew for another 25 years upon proof of faithful compliance with their obligations. I find such arrangement unique and truly pro-poor. I hope that such project would serve as a trailblazer in local governance, especially in Quezon City where I used to live.
The fish in the frying pan began to worry as he felt the pan grow warm. When it was hot, he said to himself, “This is not a good place for me,” and, gathering his strength, jumped out of the pan and into the fire. He quickly realized the fire was also not a place for him. Again he gathered his strength—it was harder this time—and jumped from the fire all the way to the edge of the estero. “Now I’m safe,” he said. But the people there told him no one is allowed within three meters of the water, and both people and fish found that they would be sent to Calauan 100 kilometers away. The fish quickly made one last effort and landed in the refreshing waters of the estero, newly cleaned by the people living on the banks. They called him the “3-jump fish.”
Like many government employees with fixed incomes and meager savings, my wife Karina and I have worried about not being able to help our children when they start searching for a permanent home of their own. Our situation is not very different from that of lower-middle-class employees in the private sector who hope to own a house at some point. Unless they work for a company with a housing plan, they usually end up renting apartments all their lives. Responding to this need, Hasik, the nongovernment organization that Karina headed in the 1990s, conceived of a housing collective for its staff that could serve as a model for young people who are just starting to save for a house.
Today is the day we toast another Filipino champion, a more impressive one that has been with us for some time now but has not gotten the same adulation as Manny Pacquiao. That champion has fought a foe far more fearsome than Floyd Mayweather, one that has never been beaten, one in fact that has TKO-ed every champion we’ve put up against it. That foe is poverty. And the one champion we’ve got that has locked horns with it, and will probably win against it, is Gawad Kalinga.
If it were a simple case of casting blame for the deadly battle that erupted last April 23 between some 1,500 residents of the Silverio Compound in Parañaque City and about 300 policemen who were tasked to enforce a court-ordered demolition of dozens of stalls maintained by the residents at a flea market in the compound, then the live TV coverage of the incident provides easy categorizations.
This refers to the news item “GSIS winds down home lending plan.’’ (Inquirer, 11/15/11) Kudos to the Government Service Insurance System! After winding down its internal shelter financing program, the new GSIS management has signed with the Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-Ibig Fund a credit facility agreement wherein the pension fund is providing an initial allocation of P5 billion to finance its members’ housing loans.
P-NOY sang the praises of National Housing Authority General Manager Chito Cruz during the turnover of housing units ceremonies to members of the Philippine National Police last June 30. He pointed to Cruz as proof positive that appointing a kaibigan/kaklase/kabarilan (I think Cruz fits into the first two) is not wrong. See, he said, Cruz [...]
