Real estate and construction activities together account for a fifth of the country’s economy. As such, anything that could spur both sectors’ continuing growth should be supported. This was the message forwarded by the Subdivision and Housing and Developers Association as it concluded its 23rd national developers convention held in Cebu City last month.
SHDA national president Ricky Celis said: “We need to forge a continuous cooperation and coordination with the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council so that the so-called socialized low-rise buildings (LRBs) could be included, with its own price ceiling, in the definition of Socialized Housing under Republic Act No. 7279 otherwise known as the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992. Also, we push for the development of a reliable real estate “bubble monitoring” index to ensure a sustainable housing industry. These are just some of the resolutions we submitted to concerned agencies as well as lawmakers who have committed to help us.”
Issues
The issues in the resolution included:
• Seeking the assistance of lawmakers in passing a law that will allow as tax credit all value-added taxes paid on construction materials and services utilized for socialized housing projects in order to reduce production cost of socialized housing units and make its production more viable and sustainable;
• Supporting an intervention by the lawmakers to pursue a dialogue with the Bureau of Internal Revenue in order to prescribe a “protocol” on the speedy issuance of memorandum circulars on tax incentives granted by law to real estate developers (RA 7279, Executive Order No. 226);
• Working together with lawmakers to ensure that the provisions of the National Land Use Law will balance the interest of all stakeholders and support a related bill by Rep. Romero Quimbo;
• Relaxing the educational requirement as stated in the Real Estate Service Act of the Philippines (Resa) or RA 9646. This move is expected to allow greater number of Filipinos to be employed in the real estate practice;
• Entering a partnership with the National Competitiveness Council to jointly set criteria in ranking and awarding cities and municipalities for competitiveness (e.g., compliance to national laws);
• Encouraging SHDA members to support the government’s rehabilitation and recovery efforts in disaster-affected areas;
• Submitting a position paper to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on the exclusion of owner-occupied financed houses from the BSP’s real estate exposure cap;
• Supporting the call for an integrated planning approach” to address the issues on density, funding, information availability, government support and private sector responsibility;
• Supporting the Bureau of Investment’s Reverse Trade Program to deepen the industry linkages in support of the Housing Roadmap’s cost containment initiatives;
• Continue the enhancement of the Housing Roadmap strategies particularly on access to financing and explore options on how to utilize untitled lots for residential development;
• Pursuing the approval to update the price ceiling set by the Socialized and Economic Housing Law or Batas Pambansa No. 220 from P1.25 to P1.7 million;
• Working closely with Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board to finalize various guidelines (like Sections 11, 19 and 20 of PD 95);
• Working with the Land Registration Autority on addressing concerns on cost of IT-related fees; and
• Working with the Organization of Socialized Housing Developers of the Philippines to finalize industry position for automatic fire suppression system for submission to the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Bureau of Fire Protection.
“We need all these things resolved as soon as possible as we have found out during the various roundtable discussions and speeches of guests held throughout the two-day convention. We are gaining ground, as what this convention was all about, so we need to continue the accomplishments we have already gained,” said SHDA first vice president and 2014 Convention chair Armenia Ballesteros.