TO CONTINUE VITAL FUNCTIONS UNDER DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING

The Social Housing Finance Corporation will remain an autonomous key housing agency amid the passing of the Republic Act 11201 or the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).

SHFC will be an attached agency, which shall continue to provide affordable shelter solutions for the underprivileged, allowing it to further help the national government in curbing the housing backlog.

The role of the SFHC as the lead agency of the government’s socialized housing program, is stipulated in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the DHSUD signed on July 19 at Crowne Plaza Galleria in Quezon City,

The document was signed by SHFC President Atty. Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling, Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Chairperson Eduardo del Rosario, along with Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board CEO and Commissioner Atty. Lloyd Lao, National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC) President Dr. Felixberto Bustos, Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) CEO Acmad Rizaldy Moti, Department of Budget and Management Undersecretary Janet Abuel, and Civil Service Commission Chairperson Alicia dela Rosa-Bala.

Community-driven

At the press conference after the IRR signing, Atty. Cabling stressed that SHFC’s housing initiatives will remain community-based. “It is our mandate to build sustainable communities,” he said. “In order to build them, we need to consult with the community from the planning to house design and construction.”

Atty. Cabling added that the agency has also been rolling out livelihood interventions that are tailored to the needs of the community. He shared that SHFC turned over a cashew processing livelihood package for a homeowners association in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan in May. More programs aimed at complementing the income of communities are in the pipeline.

Under the IRR, the DHSUD shall be the main planning and policy-making, regulatory program coordination, and performance monitoring entity for all housing, human settlement, and urban development concerns. It also provided for the creation of the National Human Settlement Board, which shall act as the policy-making body and provide program directions to the attached agencies. Aside from SHFC, these agencies include NHMFC, HDMF, and the National Housing Authority.

In his remarks at the ceremony, which was also attended by the law’s principal authors former Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito and former Negros Occidental Congressman Alfredo “Albee” Benitez, Del Rosario said the DHSUD is President Rodrigo Duterte’s “whole-hearted gift” to the Filipino people.

RA 11201 was passed in Congress in November 2018 and was signed into law by President Duterte three months later on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2019.

The full implementation of the law will commence on January 1, 2020.