VP Binay takes oath as housing czar

President Benigno Simeon Aquino III (5th left) poses with Vice President Jejomar Binay and his family after he was sworn in as chairman of the Housing Urban Development Coordinating Council in Malacanang on Tuesday. Jay Morales

President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III on Tuesday swore in Vice President Jejomar Binay as the country's housing czar. Attending the oath-taking ceremony in Malacañang were members of Binay's family, including his wife Elenita and his son Jun Jun, the mayor of Makati City. It took Binay, who ruled Makati City for decades, a few weeks to accept the chairmanship of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC). He had expressed his preference for the Department of Interior and Local Government, but Aquino gave the portfolio to award-winning former Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo. Aquino's defeated runningmate, former Senator Manuel "Mar" Roxas II, is still contesting Binay's victory and has filed an electoral protest before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal. The HUDCC was formed in 1986 by Aquino’s mother, the late President Corazon Aquino, “to serve as the highest policy making body for housing and coordinate the activities of government housing agencies."
As housing czar, Binay will oversee the activities of government housing agencies such as:

• the National Housing Authority (NHA), the agency that builds houses for all sectors and manages government estates for resettlement of informal settlers;
• the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), which sets standards for housing projects and as a judicial agency, handles disputes between subdivision property owners and developers;
• the Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF), more popularly known as the Pag-IBIG fund, a trust fund that allows members to secure housing loans;
• the Home Guaranty Corp. (HGC), which provides government guarantees for loans that bankroll housing projects;
• the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. (NHMFC), which buys secondary mortgages; and
• the Socialized Housing Finance Corp. (SHFC), a semi-private government entity that manages funds for socialized housing.

Aquino and Binay immediately proceeded to their meeting with the Cabinet after the oath-taking ceremony. — LBG, RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV