Good afternoon, distinguished guests.

            It is my pleasure to welcome all of you to the official seat of the Vice President’s office, the Coconut Palace. It is a privilege to host today’s roundtable discussion and I wish to thank each one of our guests for honoring our invitation.

            The timing of this gathering could not be more fortuitous for we congregate on the eve of the Fourth Asia Pacific Housing Forum, almost a week before the international community celebrates World Habitat Day.

            Some of you have come from distant shores to join us this afternoon and it seems that against the toll exacted by jet lag, our mutually shared effort to address the need for decent and adequate shelter around the world prevails.

            The Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes that shelter is a basic human right. That right seems distant to over a billion people across the world who have yet to know a permanent roof above their heads. Certainly, we are meeting today against a backdrop of some of the most compelling issues affecting the world’s population.

            The statistics are alarming if not chilling.

- over 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 dollars a day;

- water problems affect half of humanity;

- 4 out of 10 people in the world have no access even to a simple latrine;

- of the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, 1 out of 3 are without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water, and 270 million have no access to health services;

- a quarter of humanity is still without access to energy; and

- while half of the world’s population live in cities and towns, 1 billion people live in slums.

            Our region is acutely aware of these realities and all our nations own our fair share of these challenges. The tragic irony is that while Asia accounts for a third of the world’s GDP and is home to some of the globe’s fastest growing economies, 500 million of its people still live in slums and millions more reside in sub-standard dwellings.

            The link between poverty and housing issues becomes indisputably clearer with each day. Absence or lack of income remains a foremost obstacle for people needing access to sustainable and decent housing options.

            The inequities in our societies are further accented by the fact that the poor have the least chance of accessing housing finance. Without the means to acquire decent homes, families will either build houses in unsuitable areas, or be compelled to devote the lion’s share of their income to house rentals, with very little left for food, education, healthcare, and other basic services.

            In our corner of the world, we have witnessed the various shades and strains of this universal challenge to humanity. The shelter issue has worsened in many parts of Asia, and ancillary global concerns such as climate change and rapid urbanization amplify the urgency with which we must all act.

            Based on a UN report, people in Asia-Pacific are four times more likely than those in Africa to be affected by disasters caused by natural hazards; and 25 times more likely than those in Europe or north America. This confluence of factors has woven a complex web that governments and planners must work with in designing solutions for people lacking decent and affordable housing.

            In the midst of this landscape, we convene with three objectives in mind:

            First, to share national experiences and best practices in poverty housing interventions;

            Second, discuss policy tools and mechanisms on innovative sustainable housing solutions and disaster risk reduction interventions toward promoting resilient communities; and

            Third, promote exchanges and opportunities for greater collaboration through PPP or public-private-people partnerships.

            This ambitious enterprise is what brings us together and I am pleased that today’s table boasts of some of the greatest men and women from all walks. To help us achieve our objectives, we are joined this afternoon by eminent policy makers from the region, leading business people, and representatives of international organizations, and civil society leaders.

            Our guests this afternoon are:

1. Secretary Kishore Thapa of the Ministry of Urban Development of Nepal

2. Mr. Kimihiro Hashimoto, Deputy Director-General, Housing Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport & Tourism of Japan

3. Deputy General Director Sareth Boramy of the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction of Cambodia

4. Mr. Yoshinobu Fukasawa, Regional Director for Asia Pacific of U.N. Habitat

5. Dr. Jerry Velasquez, Senior Regional Coordinator of the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction

6. Former Foreign Minister Krasae Chanawongse, current chair of the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center of Thailand

7. Mr. Donghee Shim, Chairman of the Board of the Korea Housing Guarantee Co., Limited

8. Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International

9. Henry Cisneros, former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary and now Executive Chairman of Cityview

10. Fernando Zobel de Ayala, President and Chief Operating Officer of Ayala Corporation, and Chairman of Ayala Land

11. Dr. Liu thai ker, Chairman of the advisory board of the centre for Liveable Cities in Singapore

12. General Manager Chito Cruz of the Philippine National Housing Authority

            Also with us this afternoon is Ms. Maria Ressa of rappler.com who will serve as our moderator, and Atty. Jay Layug who is our rapporteur in this roundtable discussion.

            The heads of key shelter agencies of the Philippines likewise join their heads, hearts and hands with us. They are: 1. Secretary General Celia Alba of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council;

2. President Manuel r. Sanchez of Home Guaranty Corporation;

3. Commissioner Antonio M. Bernardo of Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board;

4. President Felixberto U. Bustos, Jr. of the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation;

5. President Darlene Marie B. Berberabe of Pag-IBIG Fund; and

6. President Ana R. Oliveros of the Social Housing Finance Corporation.

            We do not aim to deliver overnight success through our labors today. But it is my earnest hope that the seeds of this first collaboration will spur a vibrant and sustained string of cooperation and dialogue among all parties. We shall begin well and in time, the shelter and development goals we seek shall become logical conclusions of the collective journey we embarked on today.

            I look forward to sharing the deliberations and outcomes of this roundtable with a wider audience at the Asia-Pacific Housing Forum tomorrow.

            Thank you.