URBAN poor groups led by Primo Isko, Barkadahan ng Marikina and the Samahan ng mga Lehitimong Taga-Kalayaaan (SALEKA) has demanded government to implement affordable housing for the poor during a protest rally in front of the Department of Human Settlement and Urban Development in Quezon City yesterday.
Leaders of the group said the government, given its limited financial resources, should go after and collect the P203 billion estate tax liability of the Marcoses and use it for such projects.
Aside from financing gap, the protesters blamed the government’s poor tax collection, and the practice of evading taxes by the rich as the reason for the country’s socialized housing backlog.
In their creative protest, the protesters showed the different faces of poverty — from pushing carts to gather and recycle wastes, sell junks, ice candy, cigarettes and the lack of shelter suffered by poor Filipino families because of lack or insufficient budget allotted for the purpose.
They said it is for this reason that they are now calling for the government to go after tax evaders, rich people who are not paying correct taxes starting with Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who is running for the highest position in the country.
The groups said whatever amount that can be collected from the Marcoses can be used for hundreds of thousands of socialized housing units, thus reducing the socialized housing gap.
Citing a study by the policy research group IBON Philippines, a total of 406,000 socialized housing units can be constructed with a budget of P500,000 per unit from the P203 billion unpaid estate taxes of the Marcoses.
“According to the DHSUD, the Philippines has a total of 6.8 million housing units backlog,” Nato Agbayani, Chairman ng Primo Isko. “P203 billion is such a huge amount. If properly used, this can greatly reduce the country’s housing backlog.
Aksyon Demokratiko presidential candidate and Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso first exposed the failure of the Marcos family to settle its tax obligation.
The 47-year-old mayor of Manila said given the opportunity to lead the country, such a huge amount of money can be used for “buhay at kabuhayan” programs or even socialized housing projects like Manila’s Tondominium and Binondominium.
