A 150-square meter lot in General Santos City for PhP334,000. A PhP710,000-

duplex in Mandaue City. A house and lot in BF Homes, Las Piñas for PhP1.7 million. A lot in San Fernando, Pampanga for only PhP84,000.

These are just a few of the properties up for sale at the three-day 2008 Housing Fair, which opens today, October 29, at the SM Megamall Megatrade Hall 1 and 2 in Mandaluyong City.

Organized by the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), this year’s housing fair will offer over 10,000 properties nationwide—residential lots, house-and-lot packages or condominium units—at discounted prices, and which may be purchased through low interest loans.

To be sold on an “as is, where is”

basis are the foreclosed properties of participating government financing institutions (GFIs) and shelter agencies, Home Guaranty Corporation (HGC), Pag-IBIG Fund, National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Social Security System (SSS) and Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

The event is open to government workers, private sector employees and overseas Filipino workers.

This is the third year that the government is holding a Housing Fair, first held in October 2006 at the Glorietta Activity Center in Makati City upon the direction of HUDCC Chairman Vice President Noli “Kabayan” De Castro, with government employees as the primary target market.

This year, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Memorandum Circular 160 directing the conduct of yearly Housing Fairs, as part of the National Shelter Months celebrated on October.

According to Vice President De Castro, the Housing Fair aims to aid—as a form of non-wage benefit—all Filipino workers to acquire affordable housing units.

It also aims to fast-track the disposition of properties acquired by the key shelter agencies and GFIs.

“We know that many Filipinos are looking for affordable homes they can buy, while our shelter agencies and GFIs have a large inventory of acquired properties. The Housing Fair brings the sellers and interested buyers together in one place,” he said.

Before Housing Fairs were held, acquired properties usually remained

2008 Housing Fair opens today

Shelter agencies and government financing institutions increased their sales of

acquired properties through the Housing Fairs conducted since 2006, with combined revenues reaching PhP4.7 billion to date.

The Pag-IBIG Fund, the biggest home financing institution in the country, made up the bulk with 14,830 units sold worth around PhP4 billion.

The first Housing Fair was held in October 2006 at the Glorietta Activity Center in Makati City. It was organized by the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) as directed by its Chairman, Vice President Noli De Castro, with government employees as the primary target market.

The unique program provides a one-stop marketplace where homebuyers can choose from the acquired properties of participating institutions, which were available for sale at discounted prices and through

loans with liberal terms.Vice President Noli De Castro said

that both buyers and participating finance agencies benefit from the Housing Fairs.

“Through this, financing agencies could dispose of their acquired properties. Homebuyers, on the other hand, get to enjoy the low-interest housing loans with longer payment

periods,” he said.Foreclosed properties usually

remain as idle assets for long periods due to limited avenues for disposition and lack of awareness on the part of buyers.

Since 2006, five other Housing Fairs have been held, some of which were organized for specific sectors.

Last year, sector-specific Housing

Fairs were held for personnel of the Philippine National Police/ Department of Interior and Local Government and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

A bigger event was held in October for government workers, private sector employees and OFWs.

Two Housing Fairs have been organized earlier this year, one for the Department of Education personnel and the other as part of the Independence Day celebration.

On August 4, 2008 President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Memorandum Circular 160 directing the conduct of yearly Housing Fairs as part of the National Shelter Month celebrated every October.

This year’s Housing Fair is scheduled on October 29 to 31 at the Megatrade Halls 1 and 2 of SM Megamall. Participating agencies and GFIs include Pag-IBIG Fund, Home Guaranty Corporation, National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, GSIS and SSS.

Housing Fairs generate P4.7B revenue

S P E C I A L S U P P L E M E N T O C T O B E R 2 9 , 2 0 0 8

This Special Supplement is produced by Media Central, Inc. for the 2008 Housing Fair, October 29-31, 2008, SM Megamall Megatrade Hall 1 and 2, Mandaluyong City. Copyright © 2008 Media Central, Inc. and Pag-IBIG Fund.

Danilo R. dela Cruz, Jr.Publisher

Arnold A. Altamiraeditor- in - Chief

Danilova R. MolintasManaging editor

Chrysler de GuzmanCreative direCtor

Godwin S. Neronasr . l ay- out artist

Shaira LunaPhotogr aPher

idle assets for a long time due to limited opportunities for disposition and lack of awareness on the part of buyers.

This year, the HUDCC reported that participating agencies and GFIs have earned combined revenues of PhP4.7 billion through the Housing Fairs since 2006. The Pag-IBIG Fund is the biggest seller with 14,830 units sold worth around PhP4 billion.

“This is good for the financial condition of both the sellers and buyers. The sellers get more liquidity from disposing their idle assets. The buyers get great savings through housing loans with amortizations that could be lower than monthly house rentals,” the Vice President added.

For buyers interested in brand new homes, the Housing Fair also have exhibits featuring the housing projects of private developers. Suppliers of home furnishings and interiors will also showcase their products and services.

Interested parties may contact the HUDCC hotline at 0917 815.5369, call (+632) 812-6495 or visit www.hudcc.gov.ph for more information.

CondoCentral | 41

FREESPECIAL SUPPLEMENT OCTOBER 29, 2008

Published by

2008 Housing Fair opens Today

Housing Fairs

generaTe p4.7B

revenue

Man of theMassesvice presidenT & Hudcc cHair noli de casTro

Elitists and academics alike are loathe to admit it, but Vice President Noli de Castro is a true man of the masses. In truth he

is, of our current crop of leaders, the man most in touch with the pulso ng masa.

Twenty years as the news anchor of Magandang Gabi, Bayan have made him an icon in the eyes of the Filipino masses. He is their Kabayan who might as well hold the patent to the phrase “Magandang Gabi, Bayan.” For him they feel both an admiration, and an honest rapport.

Such unsolicited publicity (the young Noli had simple dreams, wanting only to be a teacher or an animal doctor) has led him to top the 2001 senatorial race. In 2004, he also won a stunning 15 million votes in the vice-presidential contest.

More, close to three decades as a broadcast journalist have kept him in touch with the secret aspirations of the ordinary Juan and Juana de la Cruz.

This shouldn’t come as any surprise. After all, Noli is a man who is of the masses—in a very real sense, compared to even Joseph Estrada or Fernando Poe Jr., whose “masa” images were in reality just that: illusions created by the characters they played on the big screen.

As for Noli, he graduated with a distinctly unsnobbish degree—Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Banking and Finance—from the down-to-earth University of the East. This was even his second choice. His first was to be an animal doctor, prodded by a common man’s desire to help his hog-raising mom.

And, like most ordinary Filipinos, Noli was forced to tailor his simple dreams to whatever was more affordable.

Orphaned at 11, the young Noli had to help his mother, a simple farm woman in Pola, Oriental Mindoro.

“As a boy, I saw my mother’s frustration every time diseases attacked her hogs. It meant loss of income. So I told myself I would like to be an animal doctor. I wanted to take up veterinary medicine.

“But as fate would have it, I had to shift to banking and

finance after my first year, because vet med was expensive and there were four of us in college then.”

After graduating in 1971, he began his career as a broadcaster. Working as a field reporter for Johnny de Leon, a popular radio announcer at that time, Noli went on to became a radio announcer in RPN’s DWWW station from 1982 to 1986.

After the ouster of Ferdinand Marcos, de Castro joined ABS-CBN. He got his break in television as the segment host of Good Morning, Philippines’ “At Your Service”.

In a move that his supporters say was providential, Noli soon joined dzMM, the radio station of ABS-CBN, as the anchorman of Kabayan. It was in this popular show where he gained the nickname “Kabayan Noli”.

In 1987, Noli became host of Magandang Gabi, Bayan and anchorman of the news and public affairs hit, TV Patrol. Twelve years after, he rose to become overall head of production

of TV Patrol and vice president of dzMM. The rest is history. Were these simple twists of fate, or acts of God? Was

destiny calling? For such experiences have molded a man who is, despite

fame, wealth and power, no snob. Today just a breath away from being the President, Noli

has a folksy humor. He speaks like the man-on-the-street, is accessible to them, and exemplifies in more ways than one, the traits of the common Pinoy: Along with the multitudes, he joins the Black Nazarene procession every year. His favorite food is the simple pinasingawang gulay, and while his seatmates in government are partial to designer barongs, Noli is often in a simple plaid shirt and jeans on any work day.

Who can better represent the ordinary folk in the lofty corridors of power?

In this country where the elite have ruled with impunity for decades, all the while plundering the nation’s coffers and keeping the poor in a rut, that fact alone—that Noli is of the masses—may tip the balance.

OCCUPIED, anD sEEmIngly satIsFIED. The Vice President is concurrently Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) chair and Presidential adviser on OFWs.

The job of the vice president, as the banter goes, is to wait for the presidency to be vacated. Condo Central discovers that behind the merry mien,

Kabayan is in no joking mood

MassesMan of the

CondoCentral | 43

Whatever happens in 2010, I intend to continue serving

our people — as a public servant and as a good

citizen of our republic.