Vice President Manuel “Noli” De Castro Wednesday said that he is no longer inclined to endorse any presidential bet this coming May 10 elections but will endorse Senator Manuel “Mar” Roxas II for the vice presidency.

“I have already chosen whom I will vote (for the presidency) but I will not endorse him,” De Castro told newsmen at the sidelines of the Retrospective Seminar on the Housing Sector in Makati City Wednesday.

According to De Castro he will just watch closely whoever wins in the elections and monitor the promises that the candidates had made during the campaign.

Meanwhile, the Vice President expressed optimism that the elections will push through even after some of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines to be used by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) failed test runs in some parts of the country, prompting a stop to the testing and a recall of the machines.

He said the issue of the failed PCOS machines was “mentioned in passing” during a Cabinet meeting in Malacañang last Tuesday.

“I believe that the Comelec will be able to solve the problem. All we can do at this time is let the poll body do whatever is needed to solve the problem. They have assured us they will be able to solve it in just a matter of days,” De Castro said.

He said that contingency plans have been discussed during the Cabinet meeting but he is not privy to the details.

On the other hand, De Castro pointed out that if the Comelec says that the problem cannot be solved “then that is the time that we have to start looking for other solutions.”

With regards to the allegations that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has something to do with the ongoing problems with PCOS he said “it is good that the testing of the machines did not happen in Pampanga.”

“What if the machine came out with the result which showed that the President won or that she garnered zero votes?” De Castro said.

“During elections there are a lot of polluted minds and that is not good. We have our Constitution and we have our elections. We should rely on and that is the best. We do not need to frighten people. They (the Arroyo administration) are not involved in any of this. In fact they are worried,” De Castro said.

“It should be the Comelec who should be doing something about this because Malacanang cannot do anything. We hope they will be able to find a solution to this problem before Election Day,” De Castro said.

According to De Castro, Villar can still hold sway despite the recent tide of survey results which showed that his campaign is losing steam.

“There are still a lot of ways like the local government units. He can still get the support of the local communities,” he said.

De Castro, who has been serving as concurrent chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) since 2004, reported to President Arroyo that over one million homes for poor and low-income families, and a “sustained and vibrant implementation of the housing program” are among the major accomplishments of the government in the last nine years.

The report was made public during Wednesday’s Retrospective Seminar on the Housing Sector held at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel which was attended by President Arroyo and various stakeholders.

For the formal sector, De Castro credited the Pag-IBIG Fund’s “bold reforms” in its housing loan program — resulting in higher loanable amounts, lower interest rates, longer repayment term, faster processing of loan applications, and decentralized operations — for the surge in home acquisition among low- to middle-income families throughout the country since 2001.

For the informal sector, the administration’s housing efforts is highlighted by the Asset Reform Program to improve security of tenure. One initiative under this program is the Rail Relocation and Resettlement Program, the largest and most successful undertaking of its kind by the national government.

The program was implemented in support of the projects to revive the Northrail line from Caloocan to Pampanga, modernize the Southrail line from Caloocan to Calamba, and link the two lines.

De Castro called the administration’s current resettlement strategy “an improvement from the past.”

“Consultation at the grassroots level is enhanced, such that the beneficiaries themselves participate in the decision on the resettlement sites,” he said.

The strategy adopted in this resettlement program has been replicated in other programs such as the NLEX-C5-SLEX project and has resulted in providing shelter security to about 105,000 families.

The government also strengthened the Community Mortgage Program (CMP) with the creation of the Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC) in 2004 to focus on solely on shelter programs for the informal sector.

Another unprecedented achievement of the housing sector under President Arroyo is the issuance of 113 proclamations declaring about 27,000 hectares of government land all over the country as socialized housing sites, benefiting an estimated 280,000 families.

Underscoring stronger partnerships fostered by the government with various stakeholders, representatives from the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association (SHDA), Standard Chartered Bank, Tony Meloto of Gawad Kalinga and Taguig City Mayor Freddie Tinga also gave their testimonials.