LGUs play vital role in community mortgage

The Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) is urging local government units (LGUs) to take a more active role in the national go-vernment’s effort to solve the problem of squatting through the community mortgage program.

Presidential housing adviser and HUDCC chairperson Lenny de Jesus said one of the functions that LGUs can undertake is the identification of government lands suitable for relocation sites for informal settlers.

The LGUs, De Jesus added, can also assist housing agencies in identifying private or government-owned lots occupied by informal settlers so that these lands can be covered by the community mortgage program.

"It is the desire of the Estrada administration to distribute government lands that can be covered by presidential proclamation," she said. "Help us identify those lands so that we can make this program a reality."

De Jesus made the call even as the LGUs have until the end of this year to submit their comprehensive land use programs to the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board as directed by President Estrada.

She also informed LGUs that the HUDCC has re-enforced the community mortgage program through a series of policy reforms, including the setting up of a CMP express lane at the HLURB.

Other reforms include the revision of the requirements for road right-of-way, taking into account the nuances of the CMP, but still ensuring that the National Home Mortgage and Financing Corp. (NHMFC), as mortgage holder, will be able to protect the value of the mortgage.

De Jesus added that the HLURB, which she chairs, has reviewed its policy on off-site CMP projects. Now off-site CMP may proceed provided that this will only be used for highly meritorious projects and only if the beneficiaries themselves are asking for it.

The HLURB board has also agreed to the HUDCC’s request to exempt on-site CMP projects from registration and the required license to sell.

De Jesus said she has proposed to Internal Revenue Commissioner Dakila Fonacier the signing of a memorandum of agreement to facilitate the issuance of capital gains tax exemptions.

Early this year, she said the HUDCC and the HLURB will launch a systematic campaign to inform the public that the CMP is now moving forward.