EDITORIAL - Shelter for all

National Shelter Month has just started – the reason, the government explained, why President Estrada has been distributing land titles to the poor during pro-administration rallies in recent days. Even this seemingly benign pro-poor presidential act has been hounded by controversy. Lepers at the Tala leprosarium complained that even their lands were given away by the President. Elsewhere, some titles were reportedly recalled by barangay officials as soon as the President left. In another area, a private owner is complaining that the land given away is under litigation.

Critics say the President is using the land distribution as a carrot for his rallies, and also to deflect flak from his "housing program" for his families. Since assuming power, the President has often said one of his administration’s priorities is housing for the poor. His shelter program, however, has been hobbled by the usual problems: lack of funds as well as inadequate services such as education, health care and livelihood opportunities in housing sites. Last year the problem was aggravated by his controversial ouster of Karina David as housing chief and her replacement with one of his close friends, Jose Luis Yulo, who didn’t last long in the job.

Now the housing program is again inching forward. But shelter clearly remains one of the biggest problems in this poor country. A drive around Metro Manila will show how serious the problem is: thousands of families live in cramped shanties near city dumps, along riverbanks, even under bridges. Some of them don’t even have shanties – they live under the shade of trees or sleep wherever the need hits them.

Outside urban areas, millions of Filipinos also lack decent housing. Even those who live in their own house and lot often lack basic services such as potable water and sanitation facilities. It takes more than four walls and a roof to call a house a home. Socialized housing needs all the support services to create viable communities – water, electricity, roads, health facilities, livelihood opportunities, access to markets and education. The national shelter program requires careful planning, and its success requires more than the half-baked distribution of land titles.