Homeowners appeal to GMA

We are the residents of Kapayapaan Ville, Canlubang, Calamba City whose dream of having a place of our own was made a reality when National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC) through its low cost housing program awarded to us the house and lot that through the years have been the haven of our family, our home.

But our homes are now in danger of foreclosure, leaving us and our families no place to live because we are ill-fated residents whose accounts were transferred by NHMFC to Bahay Financial Services or Balikatan, the company that instead of helping us make our amortization easier and reasonable, turned out to be our worst nightmare.

NHMFC just informed us of the transfer without due notice, and when we inquired why our accounts were transferred to Balikatan, they told us that we were delinquent in our payments. We strongly denounced the reason given by NHMFC because as per record, there are more residents in our village who were not able to pay even half of what we already paid to NHMFC this May 2008, without any apprehension that their house and lot will be foreclosed unlike us who are haunted by fears of losing our homes, with nowhere to dwell.

We regained hope when the President signed Republic Act 9507 dated October 13, 2008 or An Act to establish a Socialized and Low-Cost Housing Loan Restructuring and Condonation Program. This program aims to help low-income families not to lose their homes due to difficulties in paying for their loan amortization, but we were dismayed because Balikatan is not included as one of the implementing agencies of the program.

Madam President, where will this leave us? We have all the intentions of paying our house amortization given the chance to avail of the low financing and restructuring program. We already inquired with Bahay Financing Services or Balikatan, but their payment option is beyond our means. We are low income earners striving to raise our families and live a decent life in a place we can call our own. Balikatan is even collecting from us up to P20,000 just for the assessment of the value of the property, which will incur us more debts.

Our loan with NHMFC is payable for 25 years which commenced in 1991 and will end in 2015. We are denouncing the entry of Bahay Financing Services into our contract with NHMFC.

We humbly seek for your assistance Madam President. Please give us this chance to live decently in our own homes by allowing us to avail and enjoy the benefits of your program through Republic Act 9507 so we can continue paying our house amortization in an affordable amount, instead of paying it under Balikatan. We are legitimate taxpayers working not only for our families but also for our country. We are appealing for this last hope of our only wealth, our homes.

We are looking forward to a brighter 2009, with a great hope that you will grant us our request.— MANUEL POLICARPIO, Kapayapaan Owners Association president