Housing program

No one honestly believed BBM’s housing program would be any better than his predecessors’. When his first housing secretary announced an ambitious target of 6.15 million housing units to be constructed over six years, or about one million houses per year until 2028, it sounded more like an aspiration, like the P20/kilo rice.

The program was severely under-delivered. By the end of 2023, they only completed roughly 13,000 units.

The national housing backlog stands at an estimated 6.5 million to seven million units, impacting millions of low-income families and approximately 3.7 million informal settler families (ISFs) across the country. This massive shortage is projected to grow to a staggering 22 million units by 2040 if left unaddressed.

This backlog highlights a market paradox: while millions of poor Filipinos lack adequate shelter, private developers hold a massive oversupply of unsold, high-priced urban condominiums. Government policy adjustments were needed.

The Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino (4PH) program launched in late 2022 focused on high-density, vertical condominium projects that low-income beneficiaries could not afford. It also faced major hurdles in land procurement, funding constraints and slower construction timelines, causing the program to lag.

It took BBM three years to realize he was going nowhere with his housing program. So,on May 2025, BBM relieved his housing secretary due to this under delivery and appointed the undersecretary to take his place.

Newly installed Housing Secretary Jose Ramon Aliling was tasked to restructure the program. Sec. Aliling, who actually had more proven competence in construction, revised the target to a more manageable 1.133 million housing units by June 2028.

The good news is, as of September 2026, nearly 600,000 housing units have been constructed or financed nationwide.

Secretary Aliling shifted strategy by introducing horizontal and subdivision-type developments, rental housing, incremental housing(phase-by-phase building), and temporary shelters. This approach expanded options to fit different income segments.

The program is now one of the administration’s top-performing initiatives in terms of public approval. According to Social Weather Stations(SWS) national surveys, public satisfaction with the administration’s housing programs for the poor climbed from a “moderate” +38 in late 2025 to a”good” +48 rating by mid-2026.

That’s because Sec. Aliling addressed the main complaints against the original program.Beneficiaries have responded well to the integration of the Pag-IBIG Fund’s three percent subsidized interest rate for low-income earners, the introduction of rent-to-own schemes, and partnerships with private developers to make properties immediately available.

Another major reason for the success is the shift toward modular and precast construction methods (collaborating with builders like Megawide) to rapidly mass-produce weather-resistant housing components and shorten building timelines.

Megawide Construction used off-site manufacturing to bypass traditional building bottlenecks. This month, Megawide’s first 4PH tower, the Avesta Residences in Imus, Cavite, topped off just 10 months after construction began.

This speed was achieved because 90 to 95 percent of each tower structure(including beams, columns, and walls) is manufactured in a controlled factory environment in Taytay, Rizal, and then rapidly assembled on-site like Lego blocks. Only the foundation needs to be poured traditionally.

Backed by a P10-billion investment from the Pag-IBIG Fund into Megawide preferred shares, Megawide scaled up its factory operations to produce enough components to build 25,000 housing units per year across major backlog areas like Caloocan, Bulacan and Cavite.

Now the speed of implementation no longer depends on how fast they can construct but more on the ability of the government to secure more land and municipal permits.

An important part of the new strategy is the P3-million condo scheme.Secretary Aliling announced last week a new 4PH modality that lets private developers sell existing condominium inventories in prime areas (priced at P3 million or less) to low-income buyers.

Backed by low interest rates from the Pag-IBIG Fund, this policy aims to solve Metro Manila’s condominium oversupply while quickly matching buyers with ready-made homes.

Normally, home loans carry a five to seven percent interest rate. However, 4PH borrowers benefit from a special three percent subsidized interest rate for the first five to 10 years of the loan. This drastically reduces the monthly financialburden.

For a P1.4-million condo, this interest shield effectively shaves roughly P3,000 off the monthly payment, bringing the mortgage cost well below prevailing local rental prices.

For families with slightly higher purchasing power, the P3-million condo scheme allows them to buy existing private-sector condominiums in premium urban areas. This is targeted toward OFWs and BPO/call center professionals who want prime city locations but need subsidized interest terms.

Private real estate developers have agreed to take a price haircut to move their stagnant inventories through this new government framework.

During high-level meetings with BBM and housing department officials,top executives from the country’s biggest real estate conglomerates – includingAyala Land, Robinsons Land, SM Prime Holdings and Alliance Global (Megaworld) – formally expressed their willingness to slash their unit prices.

The ongoing condominium oversupply in Metro Manila has left developers holding billions of pesos in frozen capital. They are accepting lower margins under this program to also comply with an existing law requiring developers to build a percentage of socialized housing for every high-end project they launch.

The housing department agreed to count these price-discounted condos toward their mandatory balanced housing compliance requirements, saving developers from having to acquire land and build cheap housing elsewhere.

Developers also get to instantly offload batches of unsold units because the government, through the Pag-IBIG Fund, guarantees the low-interest financing to clear the purchases immediately.

The housing department claims that They have also secured partnerships with some of the Philippines’ elite quadruple-A contractors. Private developers will either construct brand-new socialized developments or integrate their existing, prime-located condo inventories into the 4PH framework.

Hopefully, the momentum continues.

Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected]. Follow him on X @boochanco