CEBU - Senate President Manuel Villar yesterday took a break from the heating debate over budget insertions in the Senate by flying to Cebu to be the keynote speaker in separate events.
During the opening of the annual convention of the Subdivision and Housing Development Association at the Marco Polo Plaza, Villar encouraged housing industry players to “moderate the greed” and to remember the fundamentals to survive in the industry.
He advised the more than a hundred participants to apply the phrase that was popularized by NBN-ZTE broadband deal whistleblower Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada.
“Relax lang, remember the basics, be moderate on costs, tipid on operation costs and don’t be too aggressive… reserve your energy since this industry will still go along way and will stay long after were gone,” Villar said.
The Senate president has recently been accused by colleagues in the Senate as the one responsible for a second P200 million peso allocation for the C-5 road extension project, which resulted in double funding for this infrastructure project in the 2008 budget.
Villar, however, vehemently denied all the accusations against him.
At the Marco Polo Hotel, Villar told participants that despite the very challenging time, the housing industry in the Philippines has a very huge backup market with over 3.2 million Filipinos still do not have a house of their own.
“We fill up a fundamental need which is shelter, there is still a very high demand for such, so I assure you the industry is on solid ground, there is no need to be pessimistic at this time,” Villar said.
He challenged the stakeholders to be inspired by the very important role of providing homes for the homeless and not by the returns that is expected from the business.
Citing his own experience, Villar said he started with his Camella Homes Romantic Models and the thought of his squatter home, which were quite unreachable at the beginning.
“But we look back and learn from the past, we study it so that we will be inspired and guided when the worst comes,” said Villar, who claimed to have been engaged in the housing business for more than 33 years already.
Before flying back to Manila, Villar also delivered a speech at the University of San Jose-Recoletos where he encouraged students to strive harder to achieve their goals and uplift the country.
“To improve what you’re doing… itaas ‘nyo nang konti. If we do that, this nation will be able to move economically, politically and socially. Then, we will be able to restore the pride and dignity of the people,” he told the students and all those who were gathered during the forum.
Elaine Bathan, dean of the USJR’s school of law that hosted the forum, said in an interview that it has always been a regular activity to hold such forums for students, not only those from the legal department, being a part of their advocacy to instill “public responsibility” to them. — Ferliza C. Contratista and Liv G. Campo/WAB (THE FREEMAN)