The Manila Times
THE Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) said it is giving developers 36 months to comply with the Balanced Housing Development Program (BHDP). This comes after the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged the DHSUD’s computation of incentivized balanced housing compliance. The DHSUD was urged by the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Associations (Creba) to recalibrate the BHDP to make it more responsive to the needs of the homeless poor, without crippling the primary providers of housing. DHSUD Secretary Jose Ramon Aliling granted the request of the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association and the Organization of Socialized Housing Developers of the Philippines concerning compliances to BHDP, particularly on the mode of compliance and its timeframe. Aliling added six more months for housing projects with 30 or more months of approved duration to satisfy BHDP requirements as prescribed by Republic Act 7279, or the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992, as amended by RA 10884. COA earlier this year flagged DHSUD’s computation of incentivized balanced housing compliance, noting that provisions under the department order were inconsistent with existing laws, particularly those that effectively reduced developers’ required participation in the program. According to DHSUD, private developers, including Creba members, are required under the BHDP program to develop socialized housing equivalent to 15 percent of their subdivision project cost or 5 percent of the condominium cost. “With our open-door policy, the DHSUD has always been ready to communicate and hold dialogues with all the stakeholders with one goal of providing shelters, especially for the poor Filipinos,” Aliling said. He said the long deferment period would benefit DHSUD’s partner-developers in continuously providing safe and affordable housing units under the national government’s expanded Pambansang Pabahay para sa mga Pilipino (4PH) program. “During the maximum 36-month deferment period, developers can decide whether to opt for the incentivized compliance or direct participation in socialized housing under BHDP as prescribed by law,” Aliling said. Creba President Noel Cariño told The Manila Times that the government must institute major reforms to ensure more effective delivery of socialized housing to underprivileged Filipinos. He said private developers remain committed to abiding by government policies, especially on BHDP, which imposes a social housing production quota on them. “While we affirm our long-standing position that the social housing quota is constitutionally infirm, nonetheless, for as long as it remains in our statutes, we are committed to abide,” Cariño said. “We urge judiciousness in promulgating its implementing rules — to ensure those infirmities are not exacerbated, the social objectives are not warped, and businesses are insulated from oppressive requirements, arbitrariness and extortive or corrupt influences,” he added. Cariño said the COA finding showed that “over the years, there has been failure to monitor, account for and report on the billions of pesos contributed by the developers for BHDP compliance purposes.”
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