De Castro admits GMA shelter scheme failed

A day after President Arroyo glowingly claimed achievements in improving the lives of Filipinos in a national address, Vice President Noli de Castro admitted the government’s unified housing program was an utter failure.

De Castro said before the Senate that the failed program had cost the government an estimated P53 billion to P63 billion in collectibles from some 53,000 delinquent housing loans.

Mrs. Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) had scant mention of the vital government shelter program in which she said “housing policies were designed to lift up our poorer citizens so they can live and raise a family with dignity.”

De Castro, however, said before the Senate blue ribbon committee currently investigating the joint-venture deal between the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. (NHMFC) and Deutsche Bank Real Estate Global Opportunities (Global) which resulted in the alleged housing-loan auction anomaly, the failed shelter program ended up in the pileup of unpaid debts from beneficiaries.

The said undertaking by NHMFC is under probe for alleged violations of the law in NHMFC’s sale of delinquent loans to Global at huge discounts.

Special purpose vehicles (SPAVs) are formed for specific short-term purposes which in the case of Global is to buy off NHMFC’s bad debts at a discount. The SPAVs then try to collect whatever they can from the debts acquired.

De Castro, concurrent chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) in which the NHMFC is under, told former colleagues that there are no available measures to address delinquent loans, the reason why the numbers are now piling up.

“The record is very clear. You lend money and people do not pay under a unified housing scheme. If it is not a success, if it is not paying then you are depriving the government. We’re practically condoning these people who owe the government, the reason why there’s no capital left,” Sen. Richard Gordon, blue ribbon committee chair said.

“I consider this housing policy of the government an abysmal failure. The problem is bound to grow and eventually the government will be incurring bigger losses. That is why we have no effective housing policy. This is a lamentable situation. I am disappointed,” Gordon added.

While the senator was quick in assessing the situation as an indication of ineffective system and weak leadership, he immediately absolved De Castro of any liabilities, saying that the housing program mess dated back long before the Vice President took the helm at HUDCC.

Gordon, however, said De Castro also has the responsibility to recover the loans made by the government.

“I asked him what happened to the housing program and he said it was a failure so that means he had to do something to fix it. I asked him, how would you grade it, he said its a failure. I agreed with him, it’s a total failure,” he commented.

In defending the NHMFC, De Castro proposed to the committee the possibility of enacting a legislation on automatic foreclosure.

De Castro noted the lack of existing laws that would penalize those who would default on their loans and sanction the concerned government agency implementing the policy.

“There’s no law yet that will carry such process. That’s why I suggested if it’s possible to impose an automatic foreclosure, possibly after year of default in payments,” De Castro said.

Gordon pointed out that the government should come out with a better housing policy, similar to those implemented by past administrations, which were very successful. “Something is wrong with the housing policy. We have to have a better policy and you in the executive should give us better policies here,” the senator told NHMFC officials who attended the hearing. –Angie M. Rosales, Daily Tribune