ARROW Act to unlock infrastructure projects

Long-delayed infrastructure projects in the Philippines could gain momentum with the passage of the Accelerated and Reformed Right-of-Way (ARROW) Act, according to analysts.

Republic Act No. 12289, signed last month by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., amended the Right-of-Way Act of 2016 to make property acquisition faster, more transparent, and predictable.

Under the new law, agencies and private concessionaires must make upfront deposits on properties slated for acquisition — including crops, trees, and improvements — equivalent to 15% of their market value.

“By standardizing compensation and requiring upfront deposits, both landowners and developers gain greater transparency and security,” said Jamie S. Dela Cruz, research manager at KMC Savills.

“For the property sector, this translates into clearer growth corridors and faster value appreciation in areas near planned infrastructure,” she added.

“Developers, investors, and businesses can plan with more certainty, while landowners benefit from more predictable compensation.”

Joey Roi H. Bondoc, director and head of research at Colliers Philippines, said the amended RoW Act will support real estate expansion outside Metro Manila.

“You cannot achieve both infrastructure implementation and decentralization if you cannot acquire the properties needed to build infrastructure,” he said.

Analysts have noted developers’ growing interest in regional areas such as Pampanga, Cebu, Bacolod, and Davao, amid favorable economic conditions and talent pools.

However, Ms. Dela Cruz cautioned that uneven implementation at the local level and potential speculative price surges in acquisition areas remain risks.

Right-of-way bottlenecks have long hindered infrastructure projects, affecting property developers’ expansion plans.

Beyond solving RoW bottlenecks, the government should strengthen urban planning and zoning to prevent congestion and ensure that infrastructure projects support balanced growth, she said.

She also stressed the need for more efficient permits, land titling, and property registration, as well as affordable housing for middle-income and working-class households.

“It should also ensure that public-private partnerships in key growth areas align infrastructure with commercial, industrial, and residential demand,” she added.

“If these issues are addressed together, the ARROW Act could become a genuine catalyst not only for infrastructure delivery but also for a more competitive, resilient, and inclusive Philippine property market,” Ms. Dela Cruz said.

Source: Business World

Smart Homes Getting An AI Renovation

Upgrades provide natural conversations, cameras that find lost dogs

A decade ago, Amazon’s Echo and Google’s Home offered us a taste of the future: We speak, and our homes respond. But when ChatGPT and other AI chatbots arrived, those “smart” speakers started to feel pretty basic.

Google is rolling out Gemini generative-AI smarts to existing devices at the end of the month.

Now that they’re getting a generative- AI overhaul, the question is: Can we get more out of devices that until now have been great at setting kitchen timers, reading the weather and playing music?

Most homes are “smart”: Consumer- tech tracking firm Parks Associates reports just over half of internet-connected U.S. households own at least one smart speaker. Yet smart-home adoption has stalled since peaking in 2021, says research firm IDC. Anyone who has wrestled with a smart light, thermostat or other home tech knows the pain. A multitude of fussy apps and the need to memorize countless verbal commands were a big part of the problem.

Amazon’s Alexa+ and Google’s Gemini aim to fix that, by making smart homes less dumb. The tech giants introduced new speakers, home displays and cameras this week to capitalize on their evolved assistants, but most existing devices are also compatible.

Gemini for Home arrives at the end of the month, and Amazon says 10 million households have early access to Alexa+. As we wait for Apple’s Siri to catch up, here are the three big changes coming to our homes right now.

Cameras that tell you what’s happening

When you get a security camera alert, you tend to open an app and peer in wondering at what might be lurking in or outside your house.

With Gemini for Home—which you can gain early access now in the Google Home app—Nest cam notifications have more useful descriptions, such as “Dog jumped out of playpen,” or “USPS dropped a package off on your porch.”

Inside the app, you can ask queries like, “When did the gardener arrive last week?” to pull up relevant clips. In a demo, “What ate my grass?” showed rabbits munching in the garden. The cameras can also summarize daily highlights such as kid activity or package delivery. Amazon’s Ring announced similar features called Video Descriptions and Smart Video Search earlier this year— available to Home Premium plans.

In December, Ring will add Familiar Faces, allowing its doorbells and other cameras to recognize people you know. The system matches faces based on your videos only, and the identification is stored with your account. Also coming in December is a service that allows Alexa+ to greet people at the door, whether they’re familiar or unfamiliar faces. Ring is attempting a more ambitious task as well: finding lost dogs.

You can trigger a “Search Party” by providing details and a photo of your missing dog. Any outdoor Ring cameras in the vicinity that spot your dog will alert those camera owners.

If they want to notify you, they can with a tap. (They can also choose to ignore the alert, and even disable Search Party entirely.) Search Party, available in November, is only for dogs at launch, but Amazon is looking beyond canines. In addition to evaluating algorithms for other pets—hello, cats!—it is considering monitoring for lost people as well.

“There are thousands of people missing with dementia all the time, so you can imagine looking for them,” says Jamie Siminoff, who founded Ring and currently heads the Amazon subsidiary.

Siminoff noted the privacy concerns, and emphasized that videos will never be shared without the consent of the camera users. In addition, Ring says it doesn’t use private customer videos to train its AI models.

Speakers that have real conversations

As soon as you upgrade to Alexa+ or Gemini for Home, the biggest change you’ll notice is the humanness of the assistant. Conversations flow freely; you don’t need to repeat the wake word. We’ve asked Alexa+ about classical architecture, amenities at a campground, whether selenium is water-soluble and more, with informative responses.

We have yet to stump it. Responses to conventional smart-speaker requests are improving, too. When Gemini for Home rolls out, you can say, “Set a timer for roasted carrots”—Gemini will ask appropriate follow-ups and start a countdown. You can also ask: “Play a recent podcast featuring Serena Williams” or “My dishwasher isn’t draining.

What should I check first?” Like ChatGPT, these AI-powered assistants sometimes hallucinate, too. Alexa+ offered to make a restaurant reservation via Open- Table. The restaurant wasn’t even on the app yet it insisted we had a booking. Hey, that’s why it’s still early access.

Automation without the app headache

The magic of the smart home is when stuff happens exactly when you need it to. Previously, this felt like it required a computer-engineering degree. Now, you can create these automations just by describing what you want. Seriously.

For example, asking Gemini to “make me feel safer” will check that the doors are locked, windows closed and—if you’re not home— lights are toggling on and off. Amazon’s devices chief, Panos Panay, shared how his wife’s frustration with their son—“He just leaves the lights on!”—led her to ask Alexa to turn off lights each night at a given time. She didn’t realize she had created a routine, he says. Amazon’s new devices are equipped with more sensors to understand what’s happening in your home.

In other features rolling out in the coming months, they’ll learn habits—who’s home during the day, what doors should be locked after 10 p.m.—and will be able to adjust routines and alerts based on those patterns, the company says. (Alexa+ will come with all the new Echo devices.) We’ll be doing more testing with Alexa+, Gemini for Home and the new devices.

But these smart assistants already feel less like high-maintenance houseguests and more like family: They listen, learn and might even help find the missing dog. 

Source: Wall Street Journal

Collaborative efforts to solve the Philippines’ housing crisis

Millions of people around the world live their lives in search of a place they can call home. After all, access to adequate shelter remains a challenge, particularly in areas affected by natural disasters, conflict, or rapid urban growth.

Homelessness charity Depaul International estimates 4.5 million people are experiencing homelessness in the Philippines, and about two-thirds of this number are in Metro Manila.

To combat this, both government initiatives and the efforts of private organizations and nongovernment organizations are addressing the housing crisis, which often becomes magnified during times of peril and uncertainty.

The main housing program of the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. is the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino (4PH) Program, which aims to build 6.5 million housing units through government-led housing initiatives and address the country’s current housing backlog by building one million housing units yearly until 2028.

Established under Executive Order No. 34, s. 2023, the government’s flagship program was conceptualized to address the country’s current housing needs and features an innovative framework that has eased the burden brought by two major bottlenecks in the housing sector: affordability and access to funds.

Headed by the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), the latest news on the project includes the launch of a website dedicated solely to the endeavor, offering information and services related to the government’s flagship program. Additionally, it has been reported that a total of 42 private developers have committed to deliver 251,846 socialized housing units under the administration.

In the same way, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has also helped the cause in recent years. Together with Gawad Kalinga, the NGCP turned over a housing project in 2020 to the City Government of Valenzuela, which cost over P82 million, and comprised of 22 three-storey low-rise buildings with 792 units.

As the power grid operator, the NGCP worked with the City of Valenzuela to relocate residents previously living within the transmission right-of-way corridor to prevent any accidents from happening due to their proximity to the high-voltage power lines. The housing project is located in Disiplina Village, Lingunan, Valenzuela City, and is a joint in-city housing project for informal settler families.

Several developers have also given back to communities through their corporate social responsibility. Among the big names providing housing assistance is the real estate arm of the Lucio Tan Group, Eton Properties, which has provided safe, dignified housing for underserved communities in Nueva Vizcaya, in partnership with the Tan Yan Kee Foundation.

Named the Eton Bahay Liwanag Project, the developer recently turned over four newly built homes in the area to carefully selected families based on their circumstances and resilience despite difficult living conditions in the hinterlands of Nueva Vizcaya.

Launched in 2019, the Eton Bahay Liwanag Project has completed 12 homes in the province to date.

Similarly, DMCI Homes has been actively supporting social housing initiatives in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Philippines and local governments through its Kaakbay sa Pamayanan program.

The company’s efforts include a P4-million donation to help construct homes for poor families and teachers in the Bistekville I project in Quezon City, as well as sponsorship of 92 homes at a relocation site for informal settlers in Parañaque. Volunteers from DMCI Homes also contribute directly by painting and maintaining these houses, helping to provide safe, affordable shelter for disadvantaged communities.

Nongovernment organizations (NGOs) have also done their part in building homes for Filipinos. For example, Habitat for Humanity Philippines brings people together to build homes, communities, and hope, “seeking to put God’s love into action.”

In 2019, Habitat for Humanity joined forces with the Hilti Foundation to expand the use of disaster-resilient Cement Bamboo Frame Technology and help close the housing gap in Negros Occidental. Named the Negros Occidental Impact 2025 (NOI25), the initiative seeks to create sustainable communities where homes are safe, green, resilient to disasters, and supportive of families’ long-term security and well-being. Six years later, the NGO has built over 400 disaster-resilient homes and helped families live in sustainable communities.

Likewise, the Manny Pacquiao Foundation, named and founded on behalf of boxing legend Manny D. Pacquiao, has programs aimed at creating lasting change for communities and inspiring people to make a tangible difference in the world. Among the group’s programs is a housing project that has already constructed 300 homes in three locations for hundreds of families in need.

Addressing the housing crisis in the Philippines requires the combined efforts of government programs, private developers, and NGOs working to provide safe, affordable, and resilient homes. Through these partnerships, more families can gain the shelter that they need to thrive.

Source: Business World