49,500 families face eviction
Fel V. Maragay
Manila Standard
Up to 49,531 families will be spared from eviction from their homes if Congress will enact another law that will condone all penalties for delinquent housing loans and allow the borrowers to restructure their loans with government financing institutions.
The proposed condonation is embodied in Senate Bill 1987 which was recommended for approval by Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, chairman of the committee on urban planning, housing and resettlement.
Zubiri said the intended beneficiaries of the proposal have been delinquent in their monthly amortization payments for at least six consecutive months and their lots and housing units are now subject to foreclosure proceedings by the lending government financing institutions.
They comprise 41.5 percent of the total housing loan accounts (202,061) of the covered GFIs and housing agencies. With an average family size of six people per family, an estimated 1.5 million Filipinos will be driven out of their homes if he state fails to provide them debt relief.
But Zubiri stressed that the approval of this proposal “does not mean that we are encouraging non-payment of loans.”
“If they are driven away from their homes not by war, conflagration or natural calamities but from non-payment of housing loans, it will further aggravate the housing and resettlement problems. At the end of the day, it is society and the government that will bear the burden of their problems,” he said.
Under House Bill 1987, the delinquent borrowers will be entitled to condonation and restructuring of their loans upon approval of their application by the housing and GFIs concerned.
They will be allowed to avail of the condonation within a period of three years from effectivity of the law. The bill provides that the original principal amount of the housing loan to be restructured shall not exceed P2.5 million. But the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council is authorized to adjust the amount every year after the effectivity of the law.
If the borrower fails to pay six consecutive monthly amortizations during the term of the restructured loan, the GFI or housing agency concerned may pursue foreclosure proceedings on the property.
Covered by the proposed law are the Government Service Insurance System, Social Security System, Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-Ibig, National Home Mortgage Finance Corp., Social Housing Finance Corp., Home Guaranty Corp., and the National Housing Authority.
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