It is an honor to be speaking with you on the occasion of your first national convention. You are the Organization of the Socialized Housing Developers of the Philippines or the OSHDP and I hope that since you chose this rather challenging sector of the housing industry, some would even call it a problematic sector, you just don’t remain an acronym but an active partner of government in fulfilling the aspirations of our fellow Filipinos.
            There are those who have told me that doing business and engaging in social or socialized housing is a contradiction in terms. The two are of different motivations. One exists for profit, the other for almost altruistic reasons.
            And that is because the finance part of housing is the most difficult to control or rationalize. Shelter is a basic need but its cost is not basic. Few people can buy a house, or a house and lot, straight out. They must set aside part of their earnings to be able to acquire shelter. They must have, fundamentally, good finances, as well as good financial discipline.
            Building houses, either by government or you the private sector, and having people buy them, makes or unmakes economies. Let us not go into details. Let us just say part of the reason there is a global financial crisis today is the housing mortgage crisis in the United States.
            But let us also remember that building houses, or the shelter industry in general, is also the driver of economies. Economic conditions are often indicated by housing starts—how many people have begun to build houses. Because when you count them, you also count the factories that built the walls and posts and windows and door jambs, the developers that prepared the land, and the banks that lent the money to buy the houses, or to start building them.
            One can also include the carpenters, plumbers, and peons that worked to build and furnish the houses. Count in the furniture makers and sellers. The electrical company. The air-conditioning manufacturers. And so on. You have an idea of how many people and sectors of the economy are involved in housing.

            So housing can make or unmake economies. But the greater majority of the people, especially in the Philippines, are those that can’t buy houses. Businessmen like you keep looking for bigger markets to sell their goods. But the bigger the market you target in housing, the less money there is to buy your products. That is your dilemma. You cannot mass manufacture your products because there is no sales volume to plan or target.
            So why are you in this business? This socialized housing business?
            Your theme gives me some hope. “Sulong pabahay, ginhawang buhay: a stronger OSHDP-Government partnership in leaping forward through socialized housing.” That is a mouthful but it gives me the idea. It shows that you know what you are doing and that you cannot do it on your own. You need government to work with. And we are here to say, sure, let’s do it.
            But going back to the apparent contradiction between the profit motive and housing for those who really cannot pay for houses, where does OSHDP stand? 
            My suspicion is you are idealistic. That may again sound like a contradiction. After all, you are businessmen. But I would like to think that you are businessmen, but also, Mabuting Pilipino.
            Because if you are, then I would like to share with you a new interest of mine on this rather new notion of the Mabuting Pilipino. Or at least a Mabuting Tao even from outside the Philippines.
            I suspect that the computer software giant and one of the richest men in the world, Bill Gates, is a Mabuting Filipino or a Mabuting Tao.
            As you know from the media, after making his billions, Bill Gates is trying to do good. And that good is probably what could ease the contradiction in terms in “social housing.” No, Bill Gates is not joining Habitat or Gawad Kalinga. He just spoke his mind recently in Time magazine and explored what we already have and what he already knows.
            He calls this not-so-new idea, Creative Capitalism. This economic system, which some people have described as based on greed, has been improving the lives of billions of people, Gates says. And yet billions have also been left out—“stuck in poverty, suffering preventable diseases,” and I, as your new head of housing, would add, still lacking in shelter. Homeless. Roofless. Shivering in the cold.
            According to Bill Gates, “Governments and nonprofit groups have an irreplaceable role in helping them, but it will take too long if they try to do it alone. It is mainly corporations that have the skills to make technological innovations work for the poor. To make the most of those skills, we need a more creative capitalism: an attempt to stretch the reach of market forces so that more companies can benefit from doing work that makes more people better off.”
            In other words, continue what you’re doing but “stretch the reach of market forces.” This means, for you in the business sector, make profit while doing good.
            And don’t be scared of the irony that you must include in your target those who in fact cannot buy houses. I think that is how to create markets. I think that is how to start revolutions.
            Is Bill Gates dreaming? Or am I dreaming? Ang sabi nga ng mga nakatatanda, libre ang mangarap. But to dream is to be creative. Let me not speak, therefore, exclusively as a housing executive. Let me dream.
And I ask, How can we house the poor people who build our houses? How can we house carpenters, plumbers, and all the peons working among the scaffoldings of high-rises?
            And my answer is, strengthen lending to the new middle class—the OFWs mainly—but strengthen collection as well. Remember, when one does not pay in a home lending system, one is depriving that next person of his own housing loan. Keep the money circulating.
            When there is money turning around, more people can borrow, buy, and amortize houses. A strong middle class-based home ownership system will enable government, in partnership with the private sector, to address the housing needs of the less capable sectors of society.
            A well-repaid housing loan system will bring the dream of housing closer to those who cannot pay for it.
            That is the challenge. That is how we can build houses for those who build our houses.
            And I also say, let us restudy loan requirements and repayment terms. Review the whole system. Do we really need cash for loan repayments by carpenters and peons? Or what if we lend them their houses in exchange for their carpentry, plumbing, and labor?
            Let us set up the mechanisms. The poor homebuyers can buy with their services, the government can pay the businessmen and the developers with tax incentives. We must explore the details for this.
            How about the structure of the house itself? Is it really just a house or in fact a community that our lesser-capable compatriots need?
            How about inventors? Where is the local and native technology for walls, doorjambs, and fixture? Where is standardization of housing components? Do we always have to depend on imports? For all we know there might be export potential in the eventual development of a standardized housing components industry.
            And again, I ask, why not volunteers for the finance part of housing while the carpenters, plumbers, peons build the houses? Those who are not in finance could remain labor volunteers.
            And it will not be charity or dole-out. It will be paid housing loans. What we need is not charity but actual finance. Keep the money circulating within the system so the lending cycle continues. Because we do not want to encourage those who pretend to be poor to take advantage of the program.
            This, I think, is how to dream of this private and government partnership that is so important to this part of the housing industry and the whole economy.
            Without such a partnership, there is no housing sector that will drive the economy. And no housing sector that will signal the hope that the economy is improving.
            And making this dream a reality is nothing short of revolutionary.

            Thank you and again, congratulations on your first national convention.​