Baronda wants People’s Condos for Ilonggos

With the number of informal settlers growing up instead of going down despite years of finding ways to solve it by the Iloilo City Urban Poor Affairs Office (ICUPAO), Iloilo City’s housing problem remains a headache.

This is why Congressional candidate Julienne “Jam-Jam” Baronda of the National Unity Party (NUP) – Team Uswag sees the need to solve this “silent crisis.” She plans to engage all the sectors in formulating a long-term solution that will bring to the minimum if not totally eradicate homelessness in Iloilo City.

“The Senate has ratified last November 12 the Bicameral Conference Committee Report of Senate Bill No. 1578 and House Bill No. 6775 or an Act Creating the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, which was principally authored by Sen. JV Ejercito. The main goal of this proposed law is to ensure that no Filipino is left homeless. And this is what I want to bring to Iloilo City, the benefit of this measure that we hope Pres. Duterte will sign into law very soon,” explained Baronda, who helped craft the law as Chief Political Officer of Sen. Ejercito.

She said that she will enjoin all stakeholders to control the influx of migrants from the rural areas to informally settle in private or public spaces city and at the same time ensure that the existing dwellers in the city do not put up new shelters in the lots they occupy so that homelessness is controlled.

Baronda wants to provide the existing “homeless dwellers” or informal settlers with decent and affordable public housing by building People’s Condos as one of the solutions to the decades-old problem.

“We all know that lands in the city, even in the outskirts, are very costly. So we need to vertically maximize the lands that the government will buy. We will build condominiums. I will work hard for People’s Condos.”

Baronda envisions medium-rise condominium buildings that are green (environment-friendly with water harvesting and energy-saving features), culturally-sound and family-oriented (with spaces for communal activities, prayer and sports activities), and affordable at low-cost.

“The people in rural areas can enjoy wide lots but we in the urban areas need to maximize our land. That is why we see these condos being put up her in Iloilo City. We will build condos not for the rich but condos for the poor,” she said.

Baronda, a former elected city councilor and Sangguniang Kabataan federation president, vows to intelligently represent the Ilonggos in the House of Representatives and at the same time bring in projects that are life-changing. “I maybe young but I offer transformational, visionary and responsive leadership to the people,” she added.

She will work the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, should it be operational by then, towards this goal. The proposed department will consolidate the administrative functions of Housing and Urban Development Council (HUDCC) and the planning and regulatory functions of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB).

SOURCE: Iloilo Metropolitan Times

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