URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND HOUSING ACT (RA
7279)
OUTLINE
I. INTRODUCTION
II. STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION
III. EVICTION AND DEMOLITION
I. INTRODUCTION
1. Constitutional Bodies
Art. 13. SOCIAL JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Sec. 9. The State shall, by law and for the common good undertake, in
cooperation with the private sector, a continuing program of urban
land reform and housing which will make available at affordable cost
decent housing and basic services to underprivileged and homeless
citizens in urban centers and resettlement areas. It shall also promote
adequate employment opportunities to citizens. In the implementation
of such programs the State shall respect the rights of small property
owners.
Sec. 10. Urban or rural poor dwellers shall not be
evicted nor their dwellings demolished, except in
accordance with law and in a just and humane
manner.
No resettlement of urban or rural dwellers shall be
undertaken without adequate consultation with them
and the communities where they are to be relocated.
I. INTRODUCTION
1. Constitutional Bodies
Art. 13. SOCIAL JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Sec. 9. The State shall, by law and for the common good undertake, in
cooperation with the private sector, a continuing program of urban
land reform and housing which will make available at affordable cost
decent housing and basic services to underprivileged and homeless
citizens in urban centers and resettlement areas. It shall also promote
adequate employment opportunities to citizens. In the implementation
of such programs the State shall respect the rights of small property
owners.
2. International Laws on Housing
The International Bill of Rights which consists of 3
instruments, namely:
a) The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948);
b) The International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights (1966);
c) and The International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (1966).
RIGHT TO ADEQUATE HOUSING
- adequate housing is defined as:
adequate privacy, adequate space, adequate security,
adequate lighting and ventilation, adequate basic
infrastructure and adequate location with regard to work
and basic facilities, all at a reasonable cost.
LEGAL FORMULATION OF HOUSING RIGHTS
With the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights in 1948, the right to housing joined the body of
international, universally applicable and accepted human rights
law. Adequate housing is the right of every child, woman and
man — everywhere as phrased in many human rights
instruments, namely:
"Everyone has the right to a standard of living
adequate for the health and well-being of himself and
his family, including food, clothing, housing and
medical care and necessary social services, and the
right to security in the event of unemployment,
sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack
of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control."
"The State Parties to the present Covenant recognize the
right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for
himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing
and housing and to the continuous improvement of living
conditions. The State Parties will take appropriate steps to
ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to this
effect the essential importance of international
cooperation based on free consent."
Government Obligations in the
Operationalization of Housing Rights
Towards the Justifiability of Housing
Rights
3. Introduction to the “LINA LAW”
One of the mandates of the UDHA or more popularly
known as the “Lina Law” is to provide for an adequate land
tenure system that shall guarantee security of tenure to
program beneficiaries. It covers lands in urban and
urbanizable areas, areas for priority development, zonal
improvement sites, slum improvement and resettlement
sites and other areas that may be identified by the local
government unit.
However, the following lands are exempted from UDHA (Section 5):
1. Covered by CARP
2. Actually used for national defense and security of the State
3. Those used, reserved or otherwise set aside for government offices, facilities
and other installations, whether owned by the National Government.
4. Used or set aside for parks, reserves for flora and fauna, forests and watersheds,
and other areas necessary to maintain ecological balance or environmental
protection
5. Those actually and primarily used for religious, charitable or educational
purposes, cultural and historical sites, hospitals and health centers, and
cemeteries or memorial parks
4. Objectives
a. Make available to underprivileged and homeless citizens decent
housing at affordable cost;
b. Rational use and development of urban land;
c. Urban growth and expansion: urban-rural interdependence;
d. Equitable land tenure system: security of tenure to program
beneficiaries but shall respect the rights of small property owners
and ensure the payment of just compensation;
e. People's participation
f. LGU capability
5. Beneficiaries
Underprivileged and homeless citizen
Must not own real property in urban or rural
areas
Not a professional squatter or not a member
of squatting syndicates
The identified beneficiaries shall be subject to the following
limitations:
a. Beneficiary shall not unlawfully sell, transfer, or dispose of his
right to the land.
b. In the event beneficiary dies before full ownership, transfer of
rights to heirs shall take place only upon assumption of
outstanding obligations.
II. STEP-BY-STEP IMPLEMENTATION
1. Steps:1) Inventory of Lands (sec 7)-the LGUs are required within one year to conduct
an inventory of
a. residential lands
b. government-owned lands
c. unregistered or abandoned and idle lands;
d. other lands within their respective localities, indicating the type of land use
and degree of land utilization.
2) After the inventory, the LGUs in coordination with housing authorities
shall identify sites for socialized housing.
3) The following order of priorities in land acquisition must be observed:
2. Priorities in Land Acquisition (Sec 9)
a. Owned by the government
b. Alienable lands of public domain
c. Unregistered or abandoned and idle lands
d. Those within the declared areas for Priority Development,
Zonal Improvement Program sites, and Slum Improvement
and Resettlement Program
e. Bagong Lipunan Improvement of Sites and Services (BLISS)
f. Privately-owned lands
Subject to the following rules:
a. Government-owned lands which have not been used for the purpose for
which they have been reserved or set aside for the past ten (10) years from
the effectivity of UDHA and identified as suitable for socialized housing, shall
immediately transferred to the National Housing Authority (NHA) subject to
the approval of the President of the Philippines or by the local government
unit concerned (Sec 8 par.2)
b. Where on-site development is found more practicable and advantageous,
priorities in Section 9 shall not apply.
3. Modes of Land Acquisition
a. Community mortgage
b. Land swapping
c. Land assembly or consolidation
d. Land banking
e. Donation to the government
f. Joint Venture Agreement
g. Negotiated purchase
h. Expropriation
Which shall be subject to the following rules:
• Expropriation shall be the last resort
• Small property owners shall be exempted from
expropriation
• Abandoned property shall be reverted and escheated to the
State
• Goverment-owned and foreclosed properties shall be
acquired by the LGUs or NHA by negotiated purchase
Qualified beneficiaries who are actual occupants have the right of
first refusal
All idle lands shall be expropriated and shall form part of public
domain. Expropriation proceedings shall be instituted if, after the
lapse of one (1) year following receipt of notice of acquisition, the
owner fails to introduce improvements, except in the case of
force majeure and other fortuitous events. Exempted from this
provision are residential lands owned by small property owners
or those the ownership of which is subjected to pending litigation
(Section 11).
4. Disposition of Lands
There are two implementing agencies that shall undertake disposition of lands
to the beneficiaries, first is the NHA for the lands belonging to the National
Government and second, is the LGUs with respect to private lands in their
respective localities (Section 12).
Filstream International v CA(G.R. No. 12521:
properties can only be expropriated for socialized housing provided that
other modes of acquisition (Section 10) and other properties (Section 9)
were first exhausted
City of Mandaluyong v Aguilar (G.R. No. 137152): small property owners,
defined
A. National Urban Development and Housing
Framework
5. Salient Provisions:
B. UDHA Socialized Housing Program
The housing program of the law provides for:
a) Beneficiary listing (coming up with a master list of
beneficiaries within one year from the effectivity of the law)
b) Land inventory (within the territorial jurisdiction of LGUs)
c) Identification of socialized housing sites
d) Acquisition of identified socialized housing sites
e) Disposition of lands for socialized housing
C. UDHA Resettlement Program
Resettlement of persons living in danger areas
(esteros, railroad tracks, garbage dump, riverbanks shorelines and
waterways) and public places (sidewalks, roads, parks and
playgrounds)
The LGUs, in coordination with the National Housing Authority
are tasked to provide relocation or resettlement sites with basic
services and facilities and access to employment opportunities
sufficient to meet the basic needs of the affected families.
Within 2 years from the date of its effectivity (March 29, 1992 - March
29, 1994)
D. Balanced Housing Program
Developers of proposed subdivision projects are required to
develop an area for socialized housing: at least 20% of the total
subdivision area or total subdivision cost
With the option to comply instead through any of the following:
development of a new settlement;
slum upgrading;
joint-venture projects with LGUs or any housing agency; or,
participation in the community mortgage program
3. EVICTION AND DEMOLITION (RULES
AND PROCEDURE)
-The law discourages demolition as a practice. Eviction or
demolition may be allowed only when:
a. persons/entities occupy danger areas
b. persons/entities occupy public places
c. place occupied is a government. infrastructure project site
d. there is a court order for eviction or demolition
e. construction falls under the category: new illegal structure
(construction after March 29, 1992)
f. structure belongs to a professional squatter or a member of a
squatting syndicate
In the execution of eviction or demolition involving underprivileged and
homeless citizens, the following are mandatory: (Sec. 28, UDHA, Implementing
Rules and Regulations)
* 30-day notice
adequate consultation
only during office hours and good weather
presence of LGU officials
all those participating in demolitions must have proper ID
the Philippine National Police shall be in proper uniform (their task is not to
demolish but for law enforcement and disturbance control only)
* heavy equipment shall not be used except for concrete structures
A. Moratorium on Eviction and Demolition
3 years from the effectivity of the law (March
29, 1992 - March 29, 1995)
This while the program components, i.e., the
Housing Program, Resettlement Program, and
Balanced Housing Program are being
accomplished or otherwise set in place.
B. Comprehensive and Integrated Shelter
Finance Act (RA 7835)
1) Increasing and regularizing yearly appropriation of the
major components of the national shelter program. It
consists the following major component programs:
2) Resettlement Program
3) Medium-Rise Public and Private Housing
4) Community Mortgage Program
5) Cost-Recoverable Programs
6) Local Housing Program
Resettlement Program (Total
Appropriation in 5 Years: 5.2 B)
Target Beneficiaries: families displaced by government infrastructure
projects; those occupying danger areas such as waterways, esteros, railroad
tracks, etc.; and, those qualified for relocation and resettlement assistance
under UDHA
It has 3 types of program delivery scheme:
NHA-Administered Resettlement Program
Resettlement Assistance Program for Local Government Units (the
LGUs shall provide the land while the NHA provides funds for land
development)
Resettlement Program with Other Government Agencies and the
Private Sector (may include 20% balanced housing by developers)
Medium-Rise Private and Public Housing (Total
Appropriation in 5 Years: 3 B)
Target Beneficiaries:
For Medium-rise Public Housing: city relocation alternative for families
affected by relocation activities and qualified for assistance under
UDHA
For Medium-rise Private Housing: housing option to low-income
families and to provide rental housing stock in high-density urban areas
Implementer: National Housing Authority with the participation of other
government agencies, local government units and the private sector
Manner of Acquisition: units are to be disposed either through: outright
sale or lease, depending on the affordability of the beneficiaries
Community Mortgage Program (Total
Appropriation in 5 Years: 12.78 B)
• Governed by all existing CMP guidelines issued
by NHMFC
• Key Players: NHMFC - primary implementer
Government agencies, LGUs, NGOs and POs as
originators
Community Associations
Landowner
Cost Recoverable Program (Total
Appropriation in 5 Years: 2.542 B)
Undertaken by government through the National Housing
Authority in cooperation with LGUs, housing cooperatives,
NGOs, POs, landowners, developers and other government
agencies
Cost of land, land development and housing construction are
to be recovered from the target beneficiaries
At least 60% of the total number of the house and lot packages
to be produced under this program shall correspond to the
lowest loan package under the Unified Home Lending
Program.
Local Housing Program (Total
Appropriation in 5 Years: 3 B)
Purpose: to ensure the equitable distribution of
housing benefits nationwide
Scope: elected urban and urbanizable areas in
all congressional districts
Local Government Units may avail of the
program, subject to the following conditions:
PD 772: ANTI-SQUATTING LAW (Criminal
Law)
* committed by any person who succeeds in occupying or
possessing the real property of another against the latter's
will through any of the following means:
Force
Intimidation
Threat
Taking advantage of the absence or tolerance of the landowner for
residential, commercial or any other purposes
EJECTMENT LAWS (Civil Law)
* Forcible Entry: committed by any person who deprives another of the
possession of any land or building by any of the following acts:
Force
Intimidation
Stealth
Threat or,
Strategy
* Unlawful Detainer: committed by any person who has an expired or terminated
right to hold possession by virtue of contract, express or implied unlawfully
withholding possession from landlord/vendor/vender or other person legally
entitled to possession