Zubiri files bill pushing for homeowners' rights

MANILA, Philippines - Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri has filed a bill to push for the rights of homeowners and enable them to participate in all matters relating to their home and immediate community whether or not they are members of the homeowners’ association.

In a sponsorship speech Zubiri delivered last Monday entitled “Magna Carta for Homeowners,” he stressed the right of a homeowner not to join the association but to still enjoy the basic services and facilities provided by the association subject to payment of necessary fees and other pertinent charges.

Under Senate Bill 3106, the basic rights of non-member homeowners will be recognized, such as the right to enjoy basic community services which homeowner members enjoy.

The proposed Magna Carta will also put to rest the issue of jurisdiction of homeowners’ associations, including their intra- and inter-association controversies, by placing homeowners’ associations under the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB).

Under SB 3106, a homeowner is defined as owner or purchaser of a lot in a subdivision or village within the purview of Presidential Decree No. 957, or an awardee, beneficiary, occupant or lessee of a unit or house in government socialized or economic housing or relocation project and other urban estates.

The Magna Carta likewise proposed to penalize homeowners’ association directors, trustees, officers, agents and/or representatives who “coerce, compel or induce a non-member homeowner to join the association, prevent any homeowner from reasonably exercising his right to inspect association books and records or to request for annual report, deprive member from attending or participating in association meetings, elections and referenda.”