Vice President Jejomar Binay said on Saturday that he has accepted the post as chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) offered by President Aquino because of its main function in helping the poor through low-cost housing, adding that he is “grateful” for the trust given to him by the President.

In a statement, Binay said he was convinced to accept the post by the agency’s main function.

“It was really intended to be pro-poor, so the beneficiaries would be the poor Filipinos,” Binay said, adding that housing is a basic need of the people. “I am grateful for the President’s trust,” he said.

Binay said his first task as “housing czar” is to look into the organizational setup of the HUDCC, adding that he is looking forward to meeting with its former officials to find ways on how to improve the services of the agency.

“I have to know first the organizational setup. How is the decision-making, as you know, the different agencies have their own boards of directors,” Binay said. “Titingnan ko muna yung mga mechanics ng papasukang kong trabaho [I will first look into the mechanics of the task given to me].”

“I’m looking forward to meeting with the previous heads of the agencies so they could tell me the problems they’ve encountered, rooms for improvement, and inform me of projects that were started, but were not finished,” he said.

He added that he is looking forward to working with Gawad Kalinga (GK) and other cause-oriented groups to address shelter concerns.

“We have worked extensively with GK when I was Makati mayor, especially in our housing programs in Bulacan,” he said.

Binay accepted the post as chairman of the HUDCC last July 15, saying that he is “ready to be of assistance to President Aquino.”