NG seen to raise P40-B from new homelots plan

The National Government stands to rake in up to P40 billion in new revenue once a bold measure proposing an aggressive homelots distribution program for marginal families is enacted by Congress.

Negros Oriental Rep. Herminio Teves has introduced House Bill 5288 which seeks to give socialized housing "a massive boost" while generating new government income from the sale of alienable and disposable lands.

Under Teves’ proposal, all lands of public domain and covered by a cadastral survey shall be sold by government at an affordable price to qualified beneficiaries — mainly landless and underprivileged residents — for use as homelots.

Priority beneficiaries shall be residents in the barangay where disposable land is situated, including those who have been occupying the land for at least two years.

Teves proposed that the lots be sold for P25 to P500 per square meter, depending on the class of the town or the kind of city where the land is situated.

Under Teves’ bill, the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) shall draw up the homelots distribution program.

The HUDCC, with the help of local government units (LGUs), shall identify qualified beneficiaries. The DENR, with the help of local assessors, shall come up with a land valuation scheme.

"Government can easily raise as much as P40 billion from the program based on an average selling price of only P40 per square meter," Teves pointed out.

"More important, marginal families will finally have the chance to acquire lots on which they can build their own homes. This will have a massive multiplier effect on the economy," he added.

Under Teves’ proposal, LGUs shall get 10 percent of the gross proceeds from the sale of each homelot.

Beneficiaries may not sell or transfer their homelots for 25 years, except via hereditary succession, or if the lots are sold back to government.

Farm lands, agrarian reform lands, protected areas, forested reserves, ancestral and other lands reserved by special laws, shall not be covered by the program.