Marcos to sign EO reserving idle government lands for housing projects

MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is set to sign an executive order (EO) reserving idle government lands for housing projects.

According to Malacañang, the EO will implement Section 24 of Republic Act No. (RA) 11201, which mandates several government agencies to jointly identify idle state lands suitable for housing and rural development.

RA 11201 stipulates that an inventory will be conducted by the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the Land Registration Authority (LRA) to identify these lands, estimated to be more than 16,000 hectares, to be used for socialized housing.

Marcos stated that the EO “will not create new regulations but will just enforce the existing law.”

The President said putting all these government assets will “ensure flexibility in deciding which of these lands should be used for housing.”

Marcos intends to meet with banks and financial institutions to help the DHSUD accomplish its target of constructing 1 million housing units per year, or 6 million by the end of his term.

Under RA 11201, the housing agency is given the power to take and administer government lands that have been idle for 10 years or more and use these for urban development.

RA 11201 gives the housing department the power to own and administer government-owned lands that have not been utilized for the purpose they have been originally reserved or acquired for at least 10 years and identified as suitable for urban development.

Earlier, DSHUD Secretary Jose Acuzar told the President that it had acquired the commitment of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to the government’s housing program.

Marcos requested assistance from government financial institutions and private banks in late October to help the government efforts to address the housing backlog of more than 6.5 million in the country.

Giving incentives to private entities, he said, would further encourage them to take part in the building and financing aspects to support the housing program.

Representatives from BDO, Metrobank, Union Bank, Ayala Corporation, and China Bank also expressed support for the housing program and vowed to assist in the development of a financing system to carry it out.