QUEZON CITY -- Beefing up efforts towards proactive and responsive policies and regulations, the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) created seven sub-technical working groups (STWGs) to revisit laws and previous issuances and recommend up-to-date measures for the country’s housing sector.

DHSUD Secretary Eduardo Del Rosario issued Special Order No. 2021-076, series of 2021, on August 10 to supplement Special Order No. 2021-025, which in turn called for the creation of a Technical Working Group that would review the technical standards of Batas Pambansa Bilang (BP) 220 and the prevailing housing price and loan ceilings in the country.

BP 220 is the Act authorizing the defunct Ministry of Human Settlements to establish and promulgate different levels of standards and technical requirements for economic and socialized housing projects in urban and rural areas as provided for under Presidential Decrees 957, 1216, 1096 and 1185.

The newly created STWGs are comprised of officials, who are all practicing lawyers, from the DHSUD’s Housing and Real Estate Development Regulation Bureau (HREDRB), Legal Service and various regional offices as chairpersons and members.

The STWGs are given a minimum of one month from the issuance of the order to develop and submit the final drafts of the policies and guidelines to be led by their respective chairpersons, namely:

-            Housing Classification or Categorization and its Price Loan Ceilings (Atty. Angelito Aguila)

-            Issuance of Temporary License to Sell (Atty. Roberto Mauro Palma Gil)

-            Repeal of the Annotation Policy (Atty. Michael Victor Tezon)

-            Extension to Complete Housing Projects (Atty. Lyndon Juntilla)

-            Housing One-Stop Processing Center (Atty. Jann Roby Otero)

-            Guidelines on How and Where compliance to balanced housing program is Utilized/Implemented and the Basis for the Amount Determination (Atty. Richard Manila)

-            Public Rental Housing Policy (Atty. Angelito Aguila)

According to the order, the chairpersons may also tap other DHSUD officials and technical experts as resource persons as may be necessary in the performance of their functions under the STWGs.

"This review is part of our pro-active measures to keep the housing sector vibrant and to ensure that all existing policies remain relevant and adaptive to the changing times," Secretary Del Rosario said.

"We need to update previously issued policies to sustain the gains in the housing and urban development sector," the housing czar added.

All these reviews are expected to be completed within the year.  (DHSUD)