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