The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Daryl Rose Virtudazo
The newly elected president of the Chamber of Real Estate & Builders’ Associations Inc. (Creba), Charlie A.V. Gorayeb, said he will still push for the creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (DHUD) as one of the five-point agenda of his administration.
Gorayeb said that although Creba has been pushing for the creation of the DHUD for two decades already, they will not abandon it because their proposal demonstrates the clear possibility of addressing the 5.5-million housing backlog and cope with future demand by achieving an annual housing-production target of 500,000 units over a span of 20 years.
The five-point agenda being adopted by Creba has been drafted into various bills to introduce new measures or amend, rationalize and beef up existing laws or legislative pieces that were filed or remain pending in previous and present Congresses.
These include providing long-term and affordable funds for socialized and economic housing by amending sections of the Republic Act 7835, or the Comprehensive and Integrated Shelter Finance Act (Cisfa). Creba also aims to make homes more affordable for employees in urban areas by amending the balanced housing provisions of Republic Act 7279, or the Urban Development and Housing Act (UDHA).
The association would like to ensure the just and equitable allocation of lands by instituting a national land use policy and pushes for efficient LGU housing regulations by empowering local housing boards.
Creba is the Philippine umbrella organization of the real-estate and housing industry, composed of property developers, builders, contractors, suppliers and manufacturers of construction materials, real-estate service practitioners and other professionals and entities engaged in over 70 allied fields.
With close to 30 chapters and because of its relentless advocacy programs and initiatives, it has become the government’s strongest ally in pursuing a truly rational and affordable national housing program.
Gorayeb has served nine terms as Creba national president. He has also served five terms as chairman of the board. These distinctions earned him the Creba Hall of Fame Award.
He was conferred lifetime recognition by the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Association for Planning and Housing (AAPH) in 1988, of which he serves as vice president for the Philippines. Gorayeb was appointed international director for 2016 of the Chicago-based National Association of Realtors (NAR), which has chosen Creba as its exclusive cooperating association in the Philippines since 2011.
The new Creba directors and officers will be sworn in on February 29, 2016 during dinner at the Dusit Hotel in Makati City.