Vice President and housing czar Jejomar C. Binay has assured property developers of a level playing field, stressing that there will be no favored developers as long he is the chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and chair of the board of the Home Development Mutual (Pag-IBIG) Fund.

                  Binay also said that HUDCC has favorably endorsed to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) a proposal made by a group of developers to increase the ceiling for Value-Added Tax (VAT)  exemption on the selling prices of house and lot from the present amount of P2,500,000 to P3, 500,000.

                  “Hopefully, we can get the BIR to approve it,” Binay said.

                  Speaking before officers and directors of the Chamber of Real Estate & Builders’ Associations (CREBA) during their induction at the Hotel Intercontinental Thursday evening, Binay said Pag-IBIG is taking the necessary steps to address developers concerns.

                  “Pag-IBIG is being overcautious, but this is intended to protect the stability of the fund. But let me assure you that we will take steps to address your concerns and to release your funds with dispatch, of course, with the proper controls in place,” the Vice President said.

                  Binay had previously addressed the controversy involving property developer Globe Asiatique (GA) owned by Delfin Lee over “ghost borrowers.”  Upon his instruction, Pag-IBIG management revised the Single Borrower Limit (SBL) policy and is deploying loanable funds per region on the basis of demand for housing loans and performance of developers.

                  Under the previous SBL policy, Lee was able to secure a P7-million loan from Pag-IBIG but the agency discovered the existence of ghost borrowers. Binay had ordered an investigation, leading to the filing of syndicated estafa charges against Lee, former Pag-IBIG head Rafael Palma-Gil, and several others.

                  The Vice President added that housing agencies and the private sector have to continue looking for enduring solutions to address the housing problems of the country.

                  “I hope the officers and members of CREBA will respond to this call for reform and to produce more houses not only for our homeless, but most importantly for our unsung heroes - our government employees, soldiers, policemen, teachers and other low-salaried public servants,” Binay added.

                  Binay also said that the directions and policies presented by HUDCC during their Super Council meeting last January 19 were unanimously adopted.

                  The super council is the highest policy making body on housing matters and is composed of the heads of the key shelter agencies (Home Guarantee Corporation, Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation, National Housing Authority, Social Housing Finance Corporation), finance agencies (Home Development Mutual Fund, Government Service Insurance System, Social Security System), support agencies (Department of Budget and Management, Department of Finance, Department of Public Works and Highways, Presidential Management Staff, Development Bank of the Philippines) and two private sector representatives from the Organization of Socialized Housing Developers of the Philippines, Inc. (OSHDP) and Subdivision and Housing Developers Association (SHDA).

                  “Clearly the resolutions drew the support of cabinet members and heads of government financial institutions, particularly our direction of making the private sector lead a significant part of solving the problem of homelessness,” according to the Vice President.

                  “I am sure we can count on the support of the private sector and CREBA, in particular,” Binay added.

                  The housing czar said that private investors and developers are welcome to partner with housing agencies via private-public partnership programs such as joint ventures, land-sharing schemes or usufructury arrangements to develop public lands.

                  “The underlying objective is to make use of these public lands to produce the houses and to accelerate the effort of construction to bring down the housing backlog,” Binay said.

                  The housing czar also said that HUDCC is talking to banks and Government Financial Institutions (GFIs) to revive their contributions to the housing fund and centralizing the grant of housing loans under Pag-IBIG. “[This is] similar to the pooled money on a single window concept under the unified home lending program,” Binay said.

                  He added that in this manner, funds for development and homebuyers’ loans will be increased and private developers would be assured of continuous financing to support an accelerated construction schedule.

                  The HUDCC chair likewise invited CREBA to join hands with HUDCC in developing housing projects by putting-up their compliance to the 20% balanced housing requirements at proclaimed sites. Binay said that HUDCC will provide a list of presidential proclamations.

                  “We look forward to a meeting to detail our plans and show you which of these proclaimed sites can be developed under a PPP scheme, or its variants,” Binay said.

                  He added that as part of the implementing strategy, proclaimed lands will form part of the pool of real estate assets from which sites for future housing projects or resettlement can be allocated. “Land proclamation is a major strategy to acquire and develop idle and underutilized government lands for housing,” Binay said.