Urban poor ask space for settlements, calls for passage of the National Land Use Act

By Angelica Katheryn Carballo

0915-9260371/akcarballo@gmail.com

Urban planner Nathaniel von Einsiedel

explains the importance of proper land

use policy to the rights and lives of 

urban poor settlers in a forum on land 
use policy entitled " “Planning for 
Urban Settlements and Development - 
Will there be SPACE for the Urban Poor

through the National Land Use Act?”

last December 4, 2012 at the Mandarin

Oriental Hotel in Makati City. (By AKC)

MANILA, PHILIPPINES -  In a forum held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Makati City, urban poor groups demand that sufficient space be allocated for their settlement, and that they should be included in long term land use and development plans of the government.

Representatives from Urban Land Reform Movement, Pambansang Katipunan ng mga Samahan sa Kanayunan, and other affiliated urban poor groups attended the forum entitled “Planning for Urban Settlements and Development - Will there be SPACE for the Urban Poor through the National Land Use Act?”

Joining them is Nathaniel von Einsiedel, EnP, urban planner and president of Consultants for Comprehensive Environmental Planning, Inc. who talked about the current situation and probable solution to the problematic set-up of urban settlements.

“Land is the platform for most, if not all, human activities from the time we are born to the time we die.” said von Einsiedel, who stressed the importance of an effective land use policy to the administration of housing and urban settlements that will greatly impact the poor.

Von Einsiedel also pointed out that the solution to the growing problem of urban settlements should be socially and environmentally viable.

“The existing situation does not look good,” he said, citing rapid urban population growth together with massive urban expansion and densification.

He also said that a large number of urban poor are without proper housing and basic services. He said that in order to provide solution to this dilemma, local governments should strictly implement laws on urban housing like the Republic Act 7279 or the Urban Development Housing Act (UDHA), more popularly known as the Lina Law, which was passed in 1992. The law was introduced by former Senator Joey Lina.

The Lina Law sought to provide solution to the need of the urban poor for proper and humane settlements by addressing their access to land and housing, relocation, demolitions, and promoting private sector participation in housing. 

According to von Einsiedel, one provision of the law that is commonly overlooked is the provision of  whereby developers of proposed subdivision projects shall be required to develop an area for socialized housing equivalent to at least twenty percent (20%) of the total subdivision area or total subdivision project cost, at the option of the developer, within the same city or municipality, whenever feasible, and in accordance with the standards set by the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board and other existing laws.

“We need also to balance the need of human activities to the carrying capacity of the environment,” von Einsiedel added, “this will be addressed by a land use policy that everyone should adhere to.”

The National Land Use Act (NLUA) aims to ensure settlements development which will provide improvement on existing settlements or any proposed development of certain areas for settlement purposes. It also involves the spatial distribution of population, identification of the roles and functions of key urban centers, determination of relationships among settlement areas, and the provision of basic services and facilities of identified major settlement areas or growth centers.

The urban planner also called for the proper use and management of the P 50 billion peso allocation of the Aquino government each year until 2016 for housing projects in Metro Manila. This is on top of the P10 billion peso housing budget for informal settlers living in dangerous areas in Metro Manila, and the P5.5 billion fund for the resettlement of informal settlers living in high-risk or calamity stricken areas in Rizal, Laguna, Bulacan, Pampanga, and Metro Manila.

“We should be able to come up with affordable housing programs and come up with funds to provide subsidy for the poorest of the poor,” von Einsiedel added.

Von Einsiedel is a registered professional Environmental Planner (EnP), a registered professional architect and accredited by the United Nations, World Bank, and Asian Development Bank as an Urban Development and Management Specialist.

He has worked in government, with international assistance organizations, the academe, and the private sector. He served as Regional Director for Asia-Pacific of the United Nations Urban Management Program from 1990 to 2004 where he directed technical assistance projects in 22 cities across 11 Asian developing countries. He was the founding Commissioner for Planning of the former Metro Manila Commission, and also served as Deputy General Manager/Chief Urban Planner of the Human Settlements Development Corporation.