REVISED IMPLEMENTING RULES AND REGULATIONS TO GOVERN
SECTION 18 OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7279 OTHERWISE KNOWN
AS THE URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND HOUSING ACT OF 1992
GUIDELINES FOR SECTION 3 (BALANCED HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
COMPLIANCE) OF THE REVISED IMPLEMENTING RULES AND REGULATIONS TO GOVERN SECTION
18 OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7279
GUIDELINES FOR SECTION 4.1 (DEVELOPMENT OF NEW SETTLEMENT) OF
THE REVISED IMPLEMENTING RULES AND REGULATIONS TO GOVERN SECTION 18 REPUBLIC
ACT NO. 7279
GUIDELINES FOR SECTION 4.2 (SLUM UPGRADING) OF THE REVISED
IMPLEMENTING RULES AND REGULATIONS TO GOVERN SECTION 18 REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7279
GUIDELINES FOR SECTION 4.3 (JOINT VENTURE WITH EITHER THE LOCAL
GOVERNMENT UNITS OR ANY OF THE HOUSING AGENCIES) OF THE REVISED IMPLEMENTING
RULES AND REGULATIONS TO GOVERN SECTION 18 OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7279
GUIDELINES FOR SECTION 4.4 [PARTICIPATION IN THE COMMUNITY
MORTGAGE PROGRAM (CMP)] OF THE REVISED IMPLEMENTING RULES AND REGULATIONS TO
GOVERN SECTION 18 OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7279
GUIDELINES FOR THE ACCREDITATION OF DEVELOPERS OF SOCIALIZED
HOUSING PROJECTS AS PROVIDED UNDER SECTION 5 OF BOARD RESOLUTION NO. 890,
SERIES OF 2012, OR THE REVISED IMPLEMENTING RULES AND REGULATIONS TO GOVERN
SECTION 18 OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7279
GUIDELINES FOR THE ACCREDITATION OF NON-GOVERNMENT
ORGANIZATIONS AS PROVIDED UNDER SECTION 5 OF BOARD RESOLUTION NO. 890, SERIES
OF 2012, OR THE REVISED IMPLEMENTING RULES AND REGULATIONS TO GOVERN SECTION 18
OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7279
REVISED REGISTRATION STATEMENT AND APPLICATIONS FOR ADDITIONAL
ANNOTATION OF LICENSE TO SELL OF COMPLIANCE PROJECT, ACCREDITATION OF DEVELOPERS
OF SOCIALIZED HOUSING PROJECTS AND NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION
* * * * *
Balanced Housing
House Bill No. 5446 proposed by Bagong Henerasyon Party-list
Representative Cong. Bernadette Herrera-Dy
seeks to amend Section 18 of R.A.
7279 or the Urban Development and Housing Act (UDHA) by requiring condominium developers to be also covered by the 20% balanced housing requirement of law.
In a Senate meeting held last November 22, 2012
with resource persons
from both public and private sectors, the
Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Associations, Inc. (CREBA) once again
asserted the inclusion of socialized residential condominiums or medium-rise buildings (MRBs) as an alternative mode of compliance to Sec. 18 of UDHA.
CREBA’s design is to build MRBs in urban areas at a
minimum of 20 square meters each and sell them for a maximum ceiling price of
Php850,000 per unit or for whichever price will be set by the Housing and Urban
Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) – the highest national housing
policy-making body.
For one, while there exists a socialized housing package of
Php400,000 under Pag-IBIG loan programs, the spiraling costs of land, labor and
materials make it impossible to develop them in Metro Manila and other urban areas. Hence, compliance projects in rural
areas abound, but not all of them are occupied.
And while this
accounts to some addition in the national housing stock, it does not suffice to
answer the demand for affordable housing for the working class in our rapidly
developing urban areas nationwide.
Additionally, we
are of the strong opinion that compliance projects should be allowed to be
located anywhere in the Philippines. This is to prevent any opportunity for
compromise with local government units whose exercise of discretionary powers in the issuance of development permits, etc. bears huge impact not only on the over-all project
feasibility but also on the developer’s capacity to complete the project on
time.
The basis for
computing the compliance project for condominiums must also be clearly defined
to be 20% of the net saleable area as opposed to total project cost or gross
area for horizontal subdivisions.
But the social
obligation imposed by law is not without a corresponding obligation on the part
of the government. To entice the private sector in investing in socialized
MRBs, it must be covered by all the applicable incentives and entitlements for
developers under Section 20 of UDHA.
The additional
requirement for a BIR ruling for every project that is built must finally be
dispensed with as the certification from HLURB shall suffice as proof that the
project is classified as socialized housing.
To CREBA’s mind,
this additional requirement defeats the very purpose for which the tax
incentives were made available: to encourage more players to undertake mass
housing projects, and thus increase
economic activities -- mass
housing being the major pump-primer of the economy.
The additional
taxes generated by heightened activity in the construction and real estate
industries would also be good for employment generation and the fiscal coffers.
It will boost tax collection due to increased
development and construction activities and
ensure that the money spent on housing permeates widely in the economy and
create broader benefits for the people. It is about time to harmonize the seemingly conflicting, unreasonable
and overlapping requirements imposed upon an already heavily-taxed and
highly-regulated industry.
Still much is to be
desired in the enforcement of E.O. 45 which prescribes the period of compliance
by concerned agencies (DENR, DAR, DA, DILG/LGUs and attached agencies). More
importantly, developers are often left alone to contend with housing-related
ordinances of most LGUs that clearly are against the spirit of RA 7279 and
which tend to make it difficult for us to comply with the law.
To ensure cohesive
implementation, HUDCC must be allowed to be the sole agency to promulgate the
implementing rules and regulations once the bill is passed into law. Hence, we also propose to add a new provision under
Section 45 of the law penalizing erring government officials with imprisonment
and/or removal from office to raise their level of responsibility and
accountability.
Building vertical
residential communities is timely to start creating opportunities out of the
growing scarcity and increasing cost of land in the cities – which remains to
be the centre of business activities, employment, livelihood, education and
other inevitable basic services - where demand for decent and affordable
housing will be constantly at its peak.
Providing mass
housing the impetus it deserves will lead to more activities in construction
and real estate, which will then redound to the benefit of both the public and
private sectors. It is a move that works to the advantage of all stakeholders
and, at the very least, deserves the attention and consideration of government.
* * * * *
The
Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) is one of several agencies of
government undertaking a revisiting of its policy through the reform of the
implementing guidelines governing the modes of compliance to Section 18 of R.A.
7279 or the Urban Development Housing Act (UDHA).
We,
in the Chamber of Real Estate & Builders’ Associations, Inc. (CREBA),
adhere to our position that any form of alternative compliance should serve to
make it easier and attractive for the private sector to comply, and still be
able to attain its social objectives. CREBA commends the HLURB for providing
developers more avenues to comply with the law, and at the same time
effectively uphold its core and crucial mandate to deliver housing units for
the marginalized beneficiaries.
Homelessness
points to several major factors: urbanization
caused by massive migration from rural to urban areas due largely to extreme
rural poverty, lack of opportunity, peace and order issues, unemployment, forced evictions and distant relocation,
unaffordable housing or the lack of capacity to acquire decent shelter, clamour
for basic social services, and list goes on.
Sources from the World Bank report
that with an annual
growth in urban population of 5.1 percent in the last four decades, the
Philippines had one of the highest rates of urban growth in the developing
world. Data from the United Nations confirm that about 60 percent of the
country’s population is currently urban.
The Greater Metro Manila area has over 12 million people. This accounts
for 36 percent of the total urban population. An additional 10 percent of the
urban population are situated in the next four largest metropolitan regions as
identified by NEDA: Metro Cebu, Metro Davao, Metro Cagayan de Oro and Metro
Angeles.
While government and other affected sectors confront the myriad
challenges brought about by the concentration of people in the cities in terms
of productive employment and production of adequate housing and basic services,
it will no longer be enough to merely try to slow the rate of urbanization
without improving the system to more productively handle rapid demographic
growth.
Among
CREBA’s package of proposals for the private sector to efficiently do its share
in helping address the staggering housing backlog
of over 3.7 million units is to urge government to encourage the construction
of socialized and low-cost residential condominiums with a minimum floor area
of twenty (20) square meters provided that the project is located in urban or
urbanizing areas.
Under
this proposal, CREBA invites government to consider this type of development as
an alternative mode of compliance to the balanced housing requirement of the
UDHA with all the applicable incentives as provided for by existing laws, such
as income tax holidays, exemption from VAT, and such other incentives for
BOI-registered projects.
Projects
may come in either of the following packages: (1) socialized 5-storey walk-up
condominiums with a maximum ceiling price of Php750,000.00 per unit; or (2)
low-cost 6 to 12-storey condominiums with elevator with a maximum ceiling price
Php1.2M per unit.
This
type of development particularly targets the urban dwellers who will naturally prefer locations
near urban development centres, where walking or short travels from place of
residence to work, education, and other purposes is vital to the budget. At the
same time, this will provide low-income earners access and opportunity to safe
and decent shelter in the city that they can eventually own, for a price that
they can afford.
Building
vertical residential communities is as timely as it is extremely necessary to
start creating opportunities out of the growing scarcity and increasing cost of
land in the cities – the centre of business activities, employment, livelihood,
education and other inevitable services where demand for decent and affordable
housing – as well as the issue of traffic - is at its peak.
With
a burgeoning population of close to 100 Million Filipinos as of 2010, which is
continuously growing at the rate of 1.9% every year, it is easy to infer the
enormity of the demand for social and other basic services in the next few
decades.
Along
with food and clothing, shelter is considered one of mankind’s most basic
needs. But the land under our feet cannot be multiplied to match our needs. To
optimize the use of land and multiply its benefits, we must plan ahead and
begin building vertical communities where families can grow and thrive as a
social unit, now before it’s too late.
In
order to realize the effective increase in annual national housing production
target of at least 300,000 new houses in all segments annually, however,
government must rationalise the incentives program for housing to ensure that
all incentives offered by specific agencies are synchronized and are made as
easy and practicable to avail of as possible.
To
assist the private sector in fulfilling its role in the production and delivery
of socialized housing units, the government must perform its mandate as
catalyst for growth and national development. It must therefore eliminate red
tape, particularly in the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) where documentary
requirements are duplicated and provisions of related laws are ignored. This
has been one of the biggest stumbling blocks to socialized and low-cost housing
delivery.
What
is needed is less bureaucracy, quicker release of the necessary licenses and
permits, more loanable funds from government financing institutions, better
incentives for real estate developers, and a clear identification of lands that
may be set aside for residential, agricultural, commercial, industrial, and
other equally vital uses that are already governed by various existing laws. #
