Adoption of Slum Improvement as a National Housing Policy

June 11, 1977

LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS NO. 557

WHEREAS, a large number of our people are living in an environment of filth and degradation in slums and other blighted communities — a situation which is incompatible with the New Society;

WHEREAS, the traditional approach to the housing need which envisions a house and lot for each and every family is exceedingly expensive and can be undertaken by the Government only on a limited scale;

WHEREAS, the lack of adequate community services and facilities, makes a slum and other blighted communities unfit for living; cd i

WHEREAS, there is an urgent need to improve the quality of life of our people living in slums and other blighted areas;

It is, therefore, the declared policy of Government that:

1. Slum improvement, otherwise known as upgrading of sites and services, is recognized as an acceptable approach to meeting the housing need of the country and the primary strategy for dealing with slums, squatter areas and other blighted communities in urban areas.

2. Slum improvement shall consist basically of upgrading or introducing, where there are none, basic community facilities and services such as roads, footpaths, drainage, sewerage, water and power systems, schools, barangay centers, community centers and clinics. A complementary socio-economic program including but not limited to, health, sanitation, nutrition, manpower training, family planning and economic opportunities particularly the provision of employment among resident families, shall be undertaken to induce improvement in the quality of life of the people within the area.

3. Relocation and Resettlement of families shall be undertaken only to complement a slum improvement program in the locality or where the families are staying in areas considered dangerous to public safety or are needed for infrastructure program of the Government. Whenever relocation is to be undertaken, the resettlement area must be located in a place where affected families shall have easy access to their places of work. New areas far from the urban core may be developed into resettlement sites provided that provisions for economic opportunities (such as the development of an industrial estate) are undertaken prior to the development of housing. The transfer of families to such resettlement areas must be premised on the availability of a pre-developed site complete with basic community facilities and services.

DONE in Dasmariñas, Cavite, this 11th day of June, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Seven.