By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
The country’s housing numbers paint a dire picture: 3.7 million informal settler families, with half a million in Metro Manila alone, and a housing backlog projected to hit 22 million by 2040. The Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Program (4PH) ambitiously seeks to deliver one million units annually until 2028, with monthly payments as low as ₱1,500, made possible by government subsidies. But Senator Cynthia Villar seems unimpressed.
In last week’s Senate deliberations on the 2025 budget for the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), Villar lambasted the agency’s focus on condominium projects, claiming these aren’t affordable for the poor and are better suited for middle-class earners.
Citing her hometown of Las Piñas, she argued that poor families like tricycle drivers and vendors cannot sustain monthly amortizations of ₱2,400 to ₱3,000, let alone condominium upkeep. She proposed selling lots instead at ₱500 per month, even if building homes on those lots remains an uphill financial battle for the poor.
Senator Risa Hontiveros defended the DHSUD’s plans, explaining that medium-rise condos were designed to keep informal settlers in communities where they work and live. With payments starting as low as ₱1,500, the program integrates livelihood proximity and urban poor needs, prioritizing accessibility over luxury.
Condos, Hontiveros stressed, are not indulgent; they are a necessary solution for dense urban areas with limited space.
Yet, Villar’s counterarguments remained adamant, suggesting that the agency’s priorities were misplaced and hinting at corruption. Her tone suggested moral superiority, positioning her as a lone champion of the poor.
But her rhetoric collapses under scrutiny. The Villar family, which controls housing giants like Vista Land and Golden MV Holdings, has built an $11 billion fortune selling homes to Filipinos — homes that tricycle drivers and vendors could only dream of affording.
Villar’s opposition to condominium housing under the government’s 4PH program smacks of irony as glaring as the billboards of her family’s sprawling real estate empire. If her concern truly lies with the poor, why hasn’t her family empire already addressed the crisis she now condemns? Instead, she derides government efforts while profiting off a housing market that leaves millions behind.
The real question isn’t whether these projects are pro-poor. It’s whether Senator Villar’s priorities align with the public good — or her family’s bottom line. We’re all for Sen. Villar pushing for affordable housing for the poor. But, when the poorest among them hear this, talk can sometimes sound so cheap.
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