Thursday, January 3, 2019

DAR to provide low-cost housing for farmer-beneficiaries

QUEZON CITY—As the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) celebrated the 30^th anniversary of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), it also disclosed its latest package of assistance for agrarian reform beneficiaries, that is, the provision of affordable housing for agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) as part of its support services under CARP.

ARB housing program for the CARP farmer-beneficiaries.

Model unit located at the Nueva Vizcaya State University.

According to DAR Secretary John Castriciones, the farmers’ and farmworkers’ housing program shall be part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s order for a “rebirth” of land reform in the country, as he directed the DAR to launch what he described as a second phase of the program. Under the second phase of agrarian reform, the ARBs housing program shall be one of the major programs that would greatly improve the living condition of agrarian reform beneficiaries citing that most of the farmers and farmworkers do not own houses of their own. He further said that the ARB housing program is one of the means to achieve inclusive growth and improve the lives of ARBs and their families.

A model design located at the DAR Central Office in Quezon City.

The ARB housing program shall be implemented through the convergence program of several government agencies and the private sector such as the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council’s (HUDCC) Balay Filipino Program, National Housing Authority (NHA), Pag-IBIG Fund, Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), Social Housing Finance Corp. (SHFC), Home Guarantee Corp. (HGC) and the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. (NHMFC). These agencies will extend their respective programs, activities, and expertise in assisting and tapping subdivision developers in the housing industry to join the DAR’s ARB housing program.

The ARBs may use their emancipation patent, certificate of land ownership award (CLOA) and other titles issued to them as security. Housing loans for house construction or improvement in lands covered by CLOA will be treated as additional loans by Land Bank and other lending institutions. The maximum term of housing loan will be at 30 years.

At present there are two model houses with different designs. One is located at DAR Central Office in Diliman, Quezon City and the other is located at the Nueva Vizcaya State University. The housing units are the duplex type with two bedrooms each, covering 37 square meters. Other model houses will also be put up in the Visayas and Mindanao where interested ARBs can view these units.