NEW AGENCY FORMED TO HELP URBAN POOR
MANILA, October 19 , 2004 (STAR) By Marichu Villanueva - A new body will coordinate government efforts to provide land, housing and business opportunities for the urban poor.
In an executive order dated Oct. 12, President Arroyo created the Urban Asset Reform Project Management Office (UARPMO).
She designated Deputy Executive Secretary for Finance and Administration Susan Vargas to lay the groundwork for the new office.
"Asset reform" is a general term for the redistribution of resources such as land. It is a catch-all for issues like land reform, the redistribution of ancestral lands and the provision of capital for the poor.
EO 371 provides for an undersecretary to head the UARPMO, which will source its assets from the former Official Development Assistance (ODA) Absorption Office.
The ODA Absorption Office was among the 14 agencies attached to the Office of the President abolished by EO 357 last Sept. 14.
The office was created by Mrs. Arroyo under EO 102 to oversee the implementation of all ODA-funded projects after complaints by the international donor community over the low absorption or usage of the grants and soft loans extended to the Philippine government.
The office was headed by presidential adviser Marita Jimenez, who has since been appointed Philippine representative to the Asian Development Bank, a major source of ODA.
Among the functions of the UARPMO under EO 371 is "to develop the proven ideas" of Peruvian economist Dr. Hernando de Soto on empowering the urban poor by making them the legal owners of the land they are occupying.
De Soto was hired by Mrs. Arroyo to advise her on the anti-poverty programs of her administration.
In her latest directive, Mrs. Arroyo underscored the need for a special body to oversee the anti-poverty programs considered essential to the "Social Reform Agenda" of her administration.
She tasked the UARPMO to prepare a framework for the transformation of assets not covered by the country’s legal system into liquid assets and to extend the titling system to cover so-called informal settlements.
EO 371 also provides for the UARPMO to build up the capability of the Presidential Commission on Urban Poor (PCUP) to facilitate the conversion of assets in the informal sector to increase livelihood and business opportunities for the poor.
Mrs. Arroyo issued EO 364 on Sept. 14. placing the PCUP, along with the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples, under the control and supervision of the newly renamed Department of Land Reform.
Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi
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