Okay, first off, let me apologize for the journalese headline. There's really no other way to write it except "More people putting up more buildings" or something like that. With that out of the way, let's get to the story at hand.

Well, this increase in building permit applications bodes well for the Philippine economy, particularly concerned industries such as real estate and construction. Despite fears that the global financial crisis is putting an end to the construction boom, the government, led by Vice President Noli de Castro, remains optimistic that the property sector can weather the storm and continue to grow.

Here's an excerpt from a Business Mirror article on De Castro's reaction:

Vice President and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council chairman Noli de Castro, reacting to the "boom's over" prognosis for the Philippine property sector, said the housing sector would be able to weather the global financial storm arising from the subprime problem in the United States.

De Castro made the rebuttal after the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines noted that the "boom's over" for the real estate industry in the Philippines, as indicated by the entry of speculation into the local property sector.

The Vice President explained that the growth of the real property sector in the Philippines was fueled by the favorable policy environment in the housing sector and the Filipinos' desire to own a home.

It seems that De Castro is right as the latest National Statistics Office report on private building construction shows.

The report says approved building permits nationwide have reached 25,145 in the second quarter of 2008, indicating an increase of 9.3 percent compared with 23,003 applications during the same period in 2007.

Similarly, an increase in applications for both residential and non-residential building construction have been observed.

"Residential building construction went up by 16.9 percent to 18,451 from 15,781 approved building permits during the same quarter of 2007. Non-residential constructions, likewise, increased by 7.5 percent to 2,707 from 2,518 recorded during the same quarter of 2007," the report adds.

Six provinces posted more than a thousand applications each. This list includes Bulacan, with 1,377 applications, Cavite (1,719), Laguna (1,014), Rizal (1,108), Cebu (1,069), and Davao del Sur (1,077).

Here's a piece I wrote for the Business Mirror a couple of years ago. I still find it relevant, so I'm reposting it here. My apologies for the lack of visuals.

With the demand for sturdy low-cost housing steadily rising, attributed in part to the dream of Filipino migrant workers to own their own homes in the motherland, property developers are turning to foreign technologies—such as prefabricated materials—that allow the fast-tracking of construction, thereby cost-efficient.

Not Hilario N. Abbatuan, though. This mechanical engineer from the north says he is sticking to indigenous technologies for housing and good, old and solid concrete to do the job.

Abbatuan, fondly called Larry by friends and family, says he can finish a house in as short a time as 24 hours through a system he has developed—the H.N. Abbatuan Form System.

“With my system, I not only finish a unit faster than the conventional method of constructing a house—from laying down concrete for a foundation to the installation of galvanized iron sheets to form a roof—the house also comes out cheaper by about 30 percent,” Larry says.

Forming dreams

The use of the word “form” in the system’s name is not without basis, Larry explains. It turns out the system relies heavily on forms—much like molds—that dictate how a house will be built and how it will look like.

Larry says the proper name for the system is “cast-in-place” since the foundation, walls and roofdeck—yes, almost all the units he has built since the founding of his company, H.N. Abbatuan Builders, have solid concrete slabs as roofs—are literally cast in place using the forms or molds.

“The Abbatuan System entails the designing of a complete house form that allows the simultaneous concrete pouring of walls, partitions, beams and columns. The effect? Uniform distribution of strength for the whole house,” he explains.

The system does not use hollow blocks and plywood girders, two elements vital in the conventional way of constructing a house that Larry labels as “unnecessary expenses.”

“Construction sites are very chaotic and materials often get bruited about. Hollow blocks, being very weak, crumble easily when care is not exercised. At the end of a construction period, a contractor usually finds himself straddled with the loss of hollow blocks and, thus, more expenses,” Larry points out.

“It’s the same with plywood and other lumber. Once it’s used to form a cast to hold and form concrete, the wood is virtually useless—it can’t be used again,” he adds.

Fast and furious

The Abbatuan Form System is also labor efficient, requiring only 12 workers to build a single 36 square meter to 72 square meter house in 24 hours. Larry also boasts that his company can build a medium-rise apartment building, from foundation to roof, in about 90 days.

Larry’s claim has been proven several times in the recent past, at housing sites in Quezon City, Manila, and Muntinlupa with the help of local governments.

He has also participated in building homes for the less fortunate through the National Housing Authority, which has recognized his system with a certificate under the Accreditation of Indigenous Technologies (AITECH) program of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council.

The goodwill he has fostered with the government, however, is not without its downside. Larry recalls a time he built a mass housing project for a local government but did not get paid.

“I even got sued. But the circumstances leading to this problem is a different story and cannot be talked about—for now,” Larry explains.

At present, Larry is engaged in projects in General Santos City, where he hopes to recover from the aches of projects that failed “through no fault of mine.” He is also on the prowl for a good challenge, someone who can dare him to a contest on who can build a house the fastest.

“I want the chance to prove that the Filipino can innovate and use the products of his considerable intellect to help his countrymen. I am surprised—and disheartened at the same time—to learn that many Filipinos still turn to everything foreign for solutions to their woes,” Larry says, referring to the foreign housing technologies now flooding the market.

“What the Abbatuan Form System proves is, what foreigners can do, the Filipino can do better,” he adds.

Many are the folks that rush headlong into buying a property because of reasons known only to them but later retreat when the lot, house, or building fails to live up to expectations.

So before you seal the deal on that hot piece of real estate, learn from the mistakes of others and start composing and ticking off the checklist on your very own guide to buying property.

Location: The property you are eyeing should match your requirements. For example, in choosing a home for your family, you should consider the basics, including proximity to your workplace and the children’s school, accessibility to basic needs, like groceries and markets for foodruns and churches for spiritual quickfixes, safety and security, and environment. You should also think about the property’s resale value, especially if you see your family moving some time in the future. Nobody wants a property that is expensive to maintain and with no buyers in sight.

Family size or number of dwellers: Another critical factor in choosing a property is the size of your family or the number of persons expected to stay there. Obviously, a four to five bedroom house is a mansion to a three-person family composed of father, mother, and child. Similarly, a one to two bedroom condominium unit is not really the ideal abode for seven persons.

Type of property: While weighing the needs for room or space of your family and the location of the property, you should also ponder on what type of property you need—not want—to purchase. With the multitude of housing options—from apartments to townhouses to subdivision house and lots to high-rise condominiums—available today, it still pays to think about comfort. Will the members of your family feel better living in a gated house and lot with lots of green open spaces or the limited and confining rooms of a condominium?

Cost of acquisition: Finance also plays a big part in acquiring property. How do you plan to acquire the property? Are you going to pay in cash? Or do you need financing? If you are planning to pay in cash, then this factor may not have much of a bite. But if you’re gunning for financing, you need to remember that your monthly amortization for the property should not exceed 30 percent of the family’s total income.

Get advice from licensed real estate professionals: Since buying property is considered a major investment, it is highly recommended that you consult a licensed real estate professional prior to issuing that check. These professionals, who include brokers and lawyers, will give you additional tips in buying property, especially those concerning money.

For more Homebuyer Tips, click here.

How can you protect yourself from fraudulent or spurious real property sellers or developers?

Here are some tips that may protect you in dealings with these unscrupulous people.
First, conduct a title search and check the authenticity of the transfer certificate of title, or TCT, or the condominium certificate of title, or CCT, which represent the seller’s proof of ownership over a property.

If you rely on the seller’s act of showing you an owner’s duplicate copy of either the TCT or CCT, you should check whether 1) the last digit of the TCT or CCT and the page number are the same, 2) the copy bears a security mark that can be seen when the document is exposed to light, 3) the red seal on the copy does not smear even when dabbed with a wet cloth, 4) the registrar of deeds has a copy, and 5) the document is a true copy of the TCT or CCT at the registrar of deeds.

Second, probe the identity of the seller. If the seller is the registered owner of the property being sold and not a broker, then request for identification, especially government-issued IDs like a driver’s license, a passport, or tax identification number card.

If the seller is a company, however, you can still confirm its identity as the owner of the property by asking for the Securities and Exchange Commission certificate of registration, a board resolution authorizing the sale of the property, and an authentic employment ID from the one selling the property on behalf of the company.

Remember that if the seller is someone other than the registered owner of the property, he or she must have a special power of attorney that authorizes him or her to sell the property.

Third, establish the seller’s ownership of the property. There are other, subtler ways to check this than merely asking for identification. One such way is by interviewing the seller about the property. If the seller is the real owner, he or she will have a great deal of stock knowledge about the property, such as history and topography.

Last, if the seller is a property developer, you should establish its compliance with laws by first asking the developer’s representative to furnish you copies of its Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board certificate of registration and license to sell.

See the title? We mean that literally.

The first thing you need to know when checking wood in your new home or home-to-be is that appearances can be deceiving. How a wooden beam looks like, for example, has no bearing on its condition. A perfect-looking beam or wood trim may hide a rotting interior, courtesy of termites and wear and tear due to extreme temperatures.

When you inspect a house with lots of wooden parts, be it beams, ceilings, or floor and wall panels, make sure to knock, bump, and tap on them. The best tip in handling this is never, ever trust your eyes to do the inspection.

This leads us to the second thing you need to know—and do—when you are considering the purchase of a house with some or many wooden parts. One of the biggest issues hurled at the once-famous wood is degradation.

When going on a tour of that house you are eyeing, make sure you physically touch these wooden parts. Aside from knocking, bumping, and tapping on them, you might want to intensify your inspection by poking and stabbing wooden beams, doors, walls, and windowsills.

Remember that soft areas in thick wood indicate internal rotting. If you find even one wooden part in this state, chances are most wood in the house are either infested with termites or haven’t been replaced since the time you were born. Make haste and go down to the next house on your list.

Why should you have a sudden change of heart when you find soft spots in the wooden parts of the house? It’s because if you find these soft areas troubling, something much worse can and will happen to the wood.

What’s worse than knowing the wood is being eaten from the inside? When you finally get around to doing the physical inspection and start poking wood, you may want to make a run for it if you see dusts and bits—or chunks—of wood falling out or off. This is a sure sign that termites have come, seen, and conquered.

Wood can be very attractive for first-time homebuyers and sentimental people wanting to get their hands on classic homes but, just like most experts say, it’s simply too unreliable a material, especially for houses in a tropical country, where storms and typhoons make short work of flimsy walls and ceilings.



Many thanks to Termite Trap for the lovely image. Speaking of Termite Trap, you may want to check out their great guide to termites.