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.
Quezon City boasts and prides itself in having the biggest revenue among Philippine cities, not to mention the additional and special assessment it imposed on real property owners supposedly to fund housing projects for informal settlers. Isn’t it very ironic that a not-so-rich city like Navotas compared to Quezon City, can afford to build housing projects for its constituents without any special and additional assessments on real property owners?
But probably, it’s a matter of priority. Quezon City should do more substantive development projects rather than superficial ones like plastering city walls and sidewalks with the letters HB (Mayor Herbert Bautista’s initials) and then, following a public backlash, spending another fortune in precious taxpayers’ money to remove all these HBs—a “double strain” on the pockets of poor Juan de la Cruz. Wake up “little” QC!
—PATRICIA THERESE MIRADOR,
BF Resort Village, Las Piñas City,
cheesemirador@yahoo.com.ph