PGMA's Speech during the Housing Conference of the Philippine Government Employees Association (PGEA)

Heroes' Hall, Malacanang (30 April 2002)
Maraming salamat Secretary Mike Defensor sa iyung pagpapakilala sa akin. At maraming salamat dahil masunurin ka, bumibilis ang ating housing program.

Please sit down.

Binibining Ocampo, ang ating national President ng PGEA; Ginoong Minoto, ang namumuno sa Social Ministry ng Couples for Christ; Deputy Executive Secretary Tale; Winston Garcia, pangulo ng GSIS; Romero Quimbo, ang namumuno ng Pag-ibig -- 'di ba pag-ibig 'yon? -- at Dr. Ponciano Jeres, ang vice president ng PGEA; mga delegado sa komperensiya ng housing needs ng government employees; other government officials; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen:

Magandang hapon sa aking mga kapwang naglilingkod sa ating bayan.

binabati ko ang Philippine Government Employees Association sa pagsasagawa ng pagpupulong na ito tungkol sa pabahay para sa mga kawani ng pamahalaan. Kayo ang huwarang Government Employees Association. Kasi hindi niyo sinisikap ibagsak ang gobyernong pinanggagalingan ng inyong hanapbuhay. Ang ginagawa ninyo ay maghanap ng paraan upang lumawak ang biyaya ng inyong mga kasapi, kagaya ng ginagawa ninyo itong araw na ito. Kaya sa aking malaking paghanga sa inyo, inimbita ko kayong gawin itong pulong sa tahanan ng pilipinas, sa tahanan ng gobyerno, sa tahanan ninyo, ang Malacaņang Palace.

Kinikilala ko ang Philippine Government Employees Association bilang tunay na kinatawan ng dakilang manggagawa sa gobyerno. Kayo ay patunay na ang mga manggagawa ng pamahalaan ay patuloy na nagsisilbi hindi lamang sa mga pangangailangan ng publiko kung hindi maging sa mga kasamahan ninyo sa pamahalaan.

Sa aking State of the Nation Address noong isang taon sinabi ko, na layunin ng pamahalaan magkaroon ng tahanan ang sanlibong manggagawa taun-taon. Ang ginagawa ninyo ngayon ay malaking tulong upang makamit natin ang layuning ito. Kaya naman binibigyan natin ito ngayon ng matamang atensyon.

Dapat lamang na tugunan ang pangangailangan ng pabahay ng lahat ng manggagawang pilipino, pribado man o publiko.

Alam kong gustong-gusto ninyong mapabilis ang serbisyo ng pabahay at masigurado na abot-kaya ito ng bawa't empleyado. Sa ngayon, malaking porsiyento ng ating mga kawani ay nabibilang -- gaya ng sabi ni Ms. ocampo -- sa lower salary grade na rank-and-file. ang mga ito, kung hindi man nangungupahan ay nakitira sa mga kamag-anak -- at gaya ng sabi ni Ms. Ocampo -- iba pa nga ay nakatira sa squatter area.

Ang pangangailangan sa pabahay ay isa rin sa prayoridad na isyu ng mga manggagawa sa pamahalaan na inilahad noong nakaraang disyembre 4 and 5 -- gaya ng sabi ni Ms. Ocampo -- sa National Convention of Government Employees sa PICC. Kaya naman, gaya din ng sabi niya, sumang-ayon agad ako sa pgea na kailangang pabilisan natin ang programang pabahay para sa mga kawani ng gobyerno.

Inaasahan ko na ang komperensiyang ito ay magsisilbing pagtulungan natin liwanagin at tugunan ang mga isyu at pangangailangan ninyo sa pabahay.

Kaya inaatasan ko ang HUDCC, Pag-ibig at GSIS na ibigay ang lahat ng suporta hindi lamang sa tagumpay ng conference na ito kundi sa pagkakaroon ng kongkretong resulta ng mga susunod pa ninyong hakbangin.

Nasisiyahan ako na nandito si Winston Mismo -- hindi ko tuloy nakilala. pumayat sa kanyang isang taong trabaho sa GSIS -- Kaya Winston, dahil bihira tayong magkasama, makinig kang mabuti sa aking mga instructions, at sundan mo ako:

Number One, I am directing GSIS to work with PGEA to facilitate the access of government employees to affordable housing programs and provide sources of funds. facilitate is the operative word here. Meaning, I don't want red tape. meaning, I don't want the GSIS to dictate and limit the number of designs the government workers want to adopt. The rules for lending should only revolve around the amount of the housing loan, not the kind of housing because that should be the prerogative of the individual government employee. In fact, if an employee wants a more expensive model than the loan provides for so be it, as long as the employee is willing to finance the difference from other sources.

Also, when I had the last commission meeting of the Presidential Commission on Mass Housing before I abolished it, when we saw that the amount of money that GSIS is actually spending for housing is quite small compared to verbal commitments, and when we examined why -- one excuse was given, that because GSIS does it through conduits -- private banks and because many private banks are quite conservative due, among other things, to the red tape which has been reduced, and also because of their bad experience during the asian crisis and also the 2001 crisis, they're quite reluctant to lend out their money as long as they still have many non-performing assets. But I said, well, that's because they have their own obligations to their stockholders. But in that meeting I said, if the private sector is still reluctant then expand your conduits to include Pag-ibig itself as a conduit.

So I'm reminding you, Winston, that Pag-ibig should be a conduit and I think when Pag-ibig is made a conduit then the money will go out faster to our government employees. okay? good.

Now on HUDCC -- ah eto si Mike Parati kong nakikita naman. kaya lang I'll just make public the instruction so that you'll be happy -- I believe, Mike that the government employees want to identify a land area for Presidential Proclamation to be developed and declared as a housing site for government employees. So I am endorsing this request of PGEA to implement a housing project for low-salaried government employees to be incorporated in the preparation of a masterplan for the lungsod silangan area. Eh 'yon ang kanilang ano... request, 'yon ang ini-endorso ko. kaya lang gusto kong malaman, meron bang masterplan 'yung lungsod silangan area? so meron 'yon. ayun, may mga cases, kasi ang iniisip ko, kung wala naman talaga 'yung masterplan, kung marami 'yung sabit, this is one fall back.

Earlier, I instructed the DOJ to start transferring Bilibid Prison from Muntinlupa to the military reservation in Tanay. But in case your master plan doesn't push through -- and we have to know that in a few month's time -- one option is for that portion of the military reservation that was supposed to be for the Bilibid, we can reallocate it to government housing, but we need a decision soon on that because we also cannot hold the DOJ hanging. so no need of this. Okay. Good, no need of this. Kasi kung hindi ipapalipat ko na naman sana 'yung preso from Tanay to Fort Magsaysay instead. Ang naiisip ko lang kasi Fort has plenty of land. Iniisip ko lang kasi kawawa naman 'yung mga pamilya ng mga preso if they have to go all the way to Fort Magsaysay. So if you have your land then at least we don't have to do that, and DOJ can continue working on transferring Bilibid to Tanay which is much easier for their families to visit. Okay.

Ngayon sa Pag-ibig: I am instructing the Pag-ibig to allocate the unoccupied housing units available for disposition under the rent-to-own scheme to PGEA members.

Ngayon hindi ibig sabihin may quota kayo, ha. Because the PGEA does it on a "first come-first served" basis. So while Pag-ibig cannot allocate a quota to PGEA because of the "first come-first served" basis, what Pag-ibig should do is to provide PGEA regularly with the list of available rent-to-own units on a weekly basis. O, puwede raw I-prioritize. meaning, if two applications arrive, other things being equal, 'yung government employee ang mauuna -- 'yan ang ibig sabihin ng prioritizing.

Kaya iyon namang mga PGEA, dapat dumalo kayo sa briefing ng rent-to-own tuwing sabado sa Atrium building sa Makati, kasi doon parati ina-update 'yung availability.

Ngayon GSIS, National Home Mortgage Finance and hgc should adopt the rent or lease-to-own scheme of Pag-ibig and extend this to government employees.

And subject to COA rules, I am approving the GSIS proposal that instead of selling foreclosed residential properties, GSIS should sell its abandoned housing units at discounted amounts to its members. I understand GSIS has identified 3,000 abandoned units which it took out from developers. So please confer with the commission on audit at the soonest possible time to work out how this can be done without being construed as violating the law.

Ang official government conduit or representative to COA is the DBM. So I would suggest, Winston that you work with Emi Boncodin to work with the chairman of COA regarding this.

One of the achievements of this administration is that we have reduced interest rates to an all-time low. We achieved this through fiscal discipline that kept our budget deficit down to a 147 billion. But this all-time low in treasury bill rates should translate into lower interest rates for the consumers and the Filipino families. I have appealed to the banking sector to translate their lower borrowing rates to lower lending rates. Sa private sector banks makakaapila lamang ako because this is a free enterprise society and I cannot impose on them what interest rate they will charge, but the public sector financial institutions are under the president of the Philippines, and I am telling them they must set the example. Thus, I am instructing all the government lending agencies, particularly the GSIS, to exercise modern financial management that will reduce your lending rate for housing loans. I won't tell you how much because you have to exercise your financial management, but certainly the rates you are charging now are the rates that were being charged when interest rates were very high. But interest rates are low now and the consumer, the lowly worker, including the government worker should be able to feel the blessings of our fiscal program.

I understand that GSIS is also planning to extend a restoration loan to member-buyers at an average of a100,000 to 150,000. Well, if this is possible without sacrificing the goal of reducing interest rates then go ahead. But this is my advise and prioritization instruction -- rather than spreading your administration over so many programs, I think you should concentrate on providing the basic, the housing itself. Let us target the whole housing sector, including GSIS a 100,000 housing for the workers including government workers. and if we provide that, never mind the other side programs. That's the most important thing, let us focus on the basics. So this is my instruction for GSIS -- mabuti nandito si Winston, paminsan-minsan nakikita ko siya.

So this is what I believe will help us to achieve our targets for this year and thereby reduce poverty even among our government employees.

Sa inyo naman sa PGEA meron akong hihingiin. sinabi ko na gusto ko na magkaroon ng good governance, and on my first working day -- the first Monday I was President -- I defined the pillars of good governance: moral ascendancy in the leadership -- that's my instruction to myself; an ethic of transparency in all government actions -- kaya sina Emi Boncodin, the cabinet members, they have to work on the systems; the third is an ethic of effective implementation by the bureaucracy at all levels -- kayo 'yon. 'yon ang hinihingi ko sa inyo.

At dahil dito -- mabuti nandito si Joe Tale baka makatulong 'yung kanyang organization din -- ilang beses ko na sinasabi publicly that to promote an ethic of effective implementation I want values formation, programs to be revived in the various government agencies, but not necessarily conducted by the head of the government agencies.

I have told the various evangelical groups, Catholic Charismatic, Couples for Christ, kung sino bang gumawa ng values formation, ang kausap niyo ay ang PGEA.

Kaya 'yon, what the government would like to do for you is to give you housing and other benefits to improve your standard of living; what the government asks from you is good governance and an ethic of effective implementation in the bureaucracy. and we are empowering you to work out those programs yourselves, kasi malaki ang tiwala ko sa PGEA.

Muli, mga kaakibat kong nagtatrabaho sa gobyerno, congratulations dito sa inyong housing agency. at sana itong mga instruction na binigay ko sa ating mga housing and related government agencies ay masunod nang mabuti dahil pinag-isipan ko itong mga instructions na ito dahil ito ang makakabuti at makakapabilis sa housing program para sa ating mga manggagawa.

Maraming salamat at good luck sa inyong lahat.

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