CEBU, Philippines - Mayor Vincent Franco "Duke" Frasco yesterday issued an executive order that will regulate the issuance of development permits for socialized housing projects.
"The Municipality of Liloan has been very generous and very lenient in granting many subdivision projects focusing on socialized housing projects such that there were residential houses that had been poorly built, without proper drainage, and narrow access to the main road," Frasco said.
Under the law, all subdivision developers are to provide 20 percent of their subdivision projects for socialized housing projects, pursuant to the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) implementing rules and regulations.
Section 18 of R.A. 7292 states that a Balanced Housing Development requires every developer of a subdivision project to provide 20 percent of the total land area to a socialized housing project.
Frasco, in an interview with The FREEMAN, said there is need to regulate the socialized housing project in his town by taking the initiative of spearheading the construction of socialized housing projects.
Frasco said barangay Jubay has been identified as a site for a socialized housing program.
Under the law, local government units, in coordination with the National Housing Authority, the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, the National Mapping Resource Information Authority, and the Land Management Bureau, are to identify lands for socialized housing and resettlement areas for the immediate and future needs of the underprivileged and homeless in the urban areas, taking into consideration the degree of availability of basic services and facilities, their accessibility and proximity to job sites and other economic opportunities, and the actual number of registered beneficiaries.
The mayor said they have the constitutional mandate to deliver basic services such as health, sanitation, peace and order and among others.
"There is an impending need to exercise police power in promoting sound rural planning to ensure health, public safety and general welfare of the residents of Liloan from the ever growing population brought about by the development of socialized housing projects," Frasco said.
Under the Executive Order, the Office of the Building Official and the Municipal Planning and Development Council shall control and regulate the issuance of development permit for socialized housing projects in Liloan.
The Municipal Planning and Development Council and Office of the Building Official shall recommend to the subdivision developer in the application of its development permit to use the identified land of Liloan at barangay Jubay in the development of its socialized housing requirement, either by contributing cash equivalent to the 20 percent of total project cost or by constructing so much number of houses equivalent to the 20 percent of the total project cost.
Frasco said the Office of the Building Official and Municipal Planning and Development Council shall not issue development permits to subdivision developers if the land is not identified as a site for socialized housing project in Liloan.
"No subdivision developer for socialized housing project shall be given a development permit until such time the socialized housing project of Liloan at barangay Jubay is finished," Frasco said.
Section 4 of the Executive Order states that a subdivision developer is construed to have engaged in developing a socialized housing project if the sizes of the lot area developed are below 100 square meters and the number of lots developed exceeds ten in the subdivision plan.
Source: The Freeman Cebu
