Villar firm seeks perks for Leyte housing project

MANILA, Philippines - Communities Leyte Inc., a unit of Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc., has filed an application with the Board of Investments (BOI) to qualify for tax perks for a mass housing project.

In a published notice, the BOI said Communities Leyte “is applying for registration with the BOI as an expanding developer of low cost mass housing project (Camella Ormoc) with a capacity of 216 low-cost mass housing units on a non-pioneer status.”

The mass housing project is located at Barangay Tambulilid in Ormoc City.

Should the application be approved, Communities Leyte will qualify for income tax holidays.

Mass housing is listed under the preferred activities of the 2012 Investment Priorities Plan.

According to industry reports, the country’s housing backlog is expected to reach about 4.65 million units by the end of 2016.

Communities Leyte is a wholly-owned unit of Vista Land.

Earlier, Communities Pampanga, which is also owned by Vista Land, filed its application for registration with the BOI for its low-cost mass housing projects in Bataan and Pampanga.

The applications cover the Camella Bataan project which will involve development of 298 low-cost mass housing units, and the Camella Fiorenza project which has a capacity of 52 low-cost mass housing units.

Communities Leyte and Communities Pampanga are both under Communities Philippines Inc., a subsidiary of Vista Land.

Communities Philippines offers affordable residential properties worth P800,000 to P3.5 million outside the Mega Manila area.

Aside from Communities Philippines, Vista Land’s other business units are Brittany, Crown Asia, Camella Homes and Vista Residences.