Phinma to start construction of housing project in Davao

MANILA, Philippines — Phinma Community Housing (CoHo) is set to start its first housing project in Davao City this month, aimed at providing more than 500 families with row houses.

The community housing project is targeted for low-income wage earners, with house and lots priced at about P850,000.

Through the project, Phinma chairman and CEO Ramon del Rosario Jr. said the group hopes to address the very pressing need for affordable housing by building homes for the underserved markets.

“Business should also be a force for good. Our society is faced with so many problems, and so many of those problems can be better addressed if the business community puts its resources together… to try and address those issues,” Del Rosario said.

“We’re trying to do that in education and we’ve made some headway there, but today we would like to explore how we can do housing for the underserved in a meaningful way, and hopefully, in a scaled-up way,” he said.

Phinma CoHo is Phinma’s newest business unit centered on socialized housing.

Last March, Phinma’s board approved the investment of P250 million in Phinma CoHo for its initial capital expenditures, purchase of land and working capital.

The Phinma Group sees significant opportunities in its newly organized community housing segment as the vehicle for its renewed thrust in the underserved socialized housing sector.

Phinma CoHo president and CEO Luis Oquiñena said that businesses are integral in the multi-sectoral push to provide affordable homes for Filipinos amid the country’s massive housing backlog that affects millions of families.

Oquiñena said that private sector could influence policies and foster partnerships that make housing more accessible, particularly for low-income workers, through collaboration with the academe, government agencies and civil society.

“It’s not just about building houses–it’s about creating homes these families can call their own. At the heart of this is really the community…building the community that will support the needs and the lifestyle of the working family. This is how we want to build the heart of Phinma Community Housing,” Oquiñena said.

At the policy front, he suggested improving access and financing for homes by making loan takeout easier for buyers, accelerating and modernizing housing development by streamlining permits, adopting sustainable low-cost technologies as well as increasing government investment in affordable and climate-resilient housing.