Noli urges more transparency

MANILA, Philippines - Vice President and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) chairman Noli de Castro said the Philippines needs a more transparent and less discretionary regulatory environment that will enable businesses to plan their implementation schedules and project costs ahead of time.

Speaking during the Real Estate Festival 2010, De Castro emphasized the importance of an orderly business regulation.

 “Regulation is a tricky tool of public policy because it involves the use of government processes as replacement for market forces. Yet, we need to impose regulations to protect our consumers and ensure that development standards are followed,” De Castro said.

He admitted that while the government has successfully supported the housing sector through Pag-IBIG, the fund for shelter remains insufficient noting that there is a need to ensure sustainable flow of funds for housing and real estate development.  

“If we really want real estate development to sustain its take-off in the coming years, we should be able to harness funds from the private sector. The government should take a serious look at reforming our guaranty system and strengthening our guaranty institutions so that we can free much of these funds and channel them towards priority areas,” he added.

He urged members of the real estate sector to push harder in promoting the real estate and tourism sectors in the country as he cited a global trend that can help sustain the growth of these two sunrise industries.

 De Castro pointed the present global trend where the number of retirees are increasing and they are looking for places where they can stay.

“I have said once before that tourism has a big potential in the country especially if we can have retirees of other nations to choose the Philippines as their place of retirement,” he added.

The Vice President said the Philippines has beautiful places that only need to be supported with the proper facilities such as hotels, serviced apartments, well-developed and well-planned leisure estates, health and wellness enclaves, entertainment hubs and many others.

“A boom in tourism will bring a lot of opportunities for the real estate industry and that is why we have to be prepared,” he said.

Such preparation to be made, he said, includes the systematic and expanded information technology or IT-aided land use planning.