GMA can do an Imelda and resurrect Bliss housing Recto

President Arroyo has been told to do an Imelda and resurrect Bliss-type medium-rise housing condos in inner cities as part of a multi-pronged effort to reduce the housing backlog.

Sen. Ralph Recto said the Bliss template in vertical urban housing is appropriate today in areas where land is not only scarce but expensive.

When land is limited, then the only option is to build medium-rises, Recto said. Maximizing land use would put people near their workplaces and schools, preventing long commutes that snarl traffic and use much gas.

Land could not be a problem, Recto said, as an inventory of vacant lots done in 2001 by the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council revealed the availability of 3,200 hectares in government-owned land suitable for housing all over the country.

These could be good sites for Serendras for the poor and the middle class, Recto said referring to an upscale medium-rise condo clusters sprouting in an upscale part of Taguig City.

Constructed in the heyday of Martial Law, several Bliss projects in Quezon City are still standing, proof that they were not shabbily constructed, Recto said.

"Some, especially those in Quezon City have appreciated in value and are choice quarters for many employees and students," Recto noted.

New version of Bliss condos could incorporate upgrades on the concepts and designs of the structures, he added.

"If we can design new communities along the pattern set by Bliss, then we can perhaps transform these into self-contained neighborhoods, with the housing units revolving around a small commercial area, a well-sculpted park and sports center," he suggested.

For this year, the Arroyo government targets the construction of up to 500,000 shelter units, a big number when ranged against the accomplishments of the preceding years, Recto stressed.

"One way for housing projects to boom is to provide a state-funded shelter program, which will target a niche not served by private developers. The natural market here is the more than 1.3 million civil servants and the OFW families," the senator added.

Recto suggested that state companies and agencies that continue to earn money may as well invest in the new Bliss projects to serve the housing needs of their officers and rank-and-file.

"There can be a Pagcor Bliss or PCSO Bliss or even Bliss for millions of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs)," he added.

"While we're at it, the housing system may even draw support from local government units (LGUs) that have some cash to spare," Recto said.