DHSUD gives private developers 36 months to comply with balanced housing requirements
Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) Secretary Jose Ramon Aliling (Photo: DHSUD)
Private developers were given a maximum 36-month deferment period to comply with the Balanced Housing Development Program (BHDP) following a Commission on Audit report flagging the wrong computation on incentivized balanced housing since 2018.
In doing so, the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) said it will serve as a much-needed relief to minimize the impact of the Middle East crisis to the local housing sector.
DHSUD Secretary Jose Ramon Aliling granted the request of the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association (SHDA) and the Organization of Socialized Housing Developers of the Philippines (OSHDP) concerning compliances to BHDP, particularly on the mode of compliance and its timeframe.
Under the law, developers of subdivision and condominium projects are required to allocate a portion of their project area or cost for socialized housing, but COA noted possible inconsistencies of the computation method with the existing rules and regulations.
Private developers insisted that they followed a formula provided by the department itself, referring to the DHSUD Department Order (DO) No. 2021-004 which provided the formula on how the incentives must be computed.
But COA said the formula is wrong as it put the national government in a disadvantageous position The Department of Justice earlier raised the same concern through a legal opinion.
In its letter, COA tasked the DHSUD to conduct recomputation of all incentives given in order to take back what was supposed to be paid to the national government under the Balanced Housing Development Program (BHDP).
During the maximum 36-month deferment period, Aliling said developers can decide whether to opt for the incentivized compliance or direct participation in socialized housing under BHDP as prescribed by law. (Aaron Recuenco)