In a country where over six million Filipinos still lack a place to call home, “affordable housing” often translates to rows of cramped, concrete boxes built on the fringes of society. But what if businesses treated housing not as a cost or compliance issue, but as a mission, a means to restore dignity to Filipino families? At the 2025 PHINMA Policy Forum, thought leaders and changemakers from business, academia, and civil society gathered to confront this question. The conversation moved beyond mere statistics it became a collective call to reimagine what “home” means, and how business can be a force for building it.

The event’s overarching theme, “Business as a Force for Good,” challenged companies to look beyond the bottom line and toward the lives that their industries touch. Housing, after all, is not just a social issue, it is a measure of how we value our people. And as the discussions revealed, addressing it requires both heart and strategy, both compassion and commitment.

As Dr. Stan Padojinog of the University of Asia and the Pacific emphasized, the housing crisis is not only about shelter but about survival. Demographic shifts, declining fertility rates, delayed household formation, and an aging population, have reshaped the country’s economic landscape. “We are aging while still poor,” he warned. Without strong investments in housing and community infrastructure, the Philippines risks growing old before it grows prosperous.

Housing, Dr. Padojinog explained, is a powerful economic multiplier. It stimulates industries from construction to finance, while providing stability for families to pursue education and employment. Yet, production has fallen short for decades. The backlog, now 6.5 million homes, represents not only lost opportunities but also deepening inequality. For him, the solution lies in “management by mission,” where businesses operate not solely for profit but guided by a higher purpose. When profit is aligned with impact, both enterprise and society thrive. His point was clear: the housing deficit is not just a policy gap; it’s a mission waiting for business to embrace.

As stated by PHINMA Community Housing Vice President, Mr. Luis Oquiñena, the challenge goes beyond construction. “The goal is to move past the ‘pwede na’ (that’ll do) mentality,” he said, “and create a new, dignified standard for socialized housing.” His message cut through the usual policy talk, it was both an invitation and a reckoning. For too long, socialized housing has been treated as a checkbox on government agendas or a corporate social responsibility add-on. Mr. Oquiñena argues that it must instead be rooted in purpose and empathy.

He described PHINMA Community Housing’s approach as one that goes beyond simply building houses. It’s about building communities, places where families can thrive, not just survive. The goal is to create neighborhoods that nurture life: homes with light and space, access to training centers, and even daycare hubs so parents can work, and children can learn. He envisions a community sustained by bayanihan, where cooperation becomes a new currency and dignity a shared value. For him, it’s not just about policy or profit, but about building a movement, one that turns socialized housing into a collective act of nation-building.

From the perspective of Mr. Carl Andrew Siy of the Pag-IBIG Fund, the problem is not that we lack policy frameworks, it’s that we fail to connect the dots. With programs like the expanded 4PH initiative and updated price ceilings already in place, the question now is how to execute them effectively and at scale. During the panel discussion, co-panelist and host Atty. Third Bagro posed a crucial question: “Are we in crisis mode?”  The answer, perhaps, is yes, and that acknowledgment is where transformation begins.

Mr. Siy highlighted that while financing mechanisms exist, accessibility and land availability remain major hurdles. There are funds that remain untapped and policies that, though well-intentioned, do not always reach the people who need them most. His insights underscored the need for better coordination among government, developers, and communities, not to reinvent the system, but to make it work as intended. In the end, the challenge is not a lack of resources, but a need for stronger collaboration and follow-through.

After all the talk of policy, finance, and business models, the forum’s most powerful argument came not from an expert, but from a father. For ten years, Ruben worked as a utility man, messenger, and driver, dreaming of the day he could give his wife and child a home of their own. His testimony became the unassailable ‘why’ behind this entire mission, a reminder that the numbers we discuss represent real lives and real dreams.

He spoke softly of his fears, his humble expectations, and the overwhelming emotion of seeing a home that was not just pwede na but built with care and pride. “Simple lang ‘yung bahay,” he said, holding back tears, “pero iba ‘yung dating para sa amin.” His words embodied everything the forum sought to achieve: the belief that dignity must never be optional. It is the reason we must reject the status quo and demand something better.

As Ruben so powerfully declared, it is time we build a nation where there are “walang squatter sa sariling bayan” — no squatter in one’s own country. That vision, born not of policy but of lived experience, must anchor the mission ahead. Building dignified housing is not charity; it is justice. It is a declaration that Filipino families deserve more than makeshift roofs and narrow rooms, they deserve spaces that reflect hope, humanity, and home.

The forum ended not with finality, but with resolve. If the business sector can transform classrooms and industries, it can also transform the very concept of home. The task now is to unite, government, private sector, and citizens, under a shared promise: that progress will no longer leave anyone outside the gate. Because to build dignified homes is to build a dignified nation, one where “pwede na” is no longer enough, and where every Filipino finally belongs.