The National Housing Authority (NHA) said it will condone P3.7 billion in penalties and interest payments from 220,000 beneficiaries of its resettlement programs in the first condonation program under the Marcos administration.
The condonation program, to run from May 1 to October 31, 2025, will feature the highest rate of penalties and interests to be waived by the NHA in its entire history, said NHA general manager Joeben Tai during the Pandesal Forum on Monday, April 7.
Tai said the agency has decided to waive 100 percent of penalties and delinquency interest for approximately 220,000 beneficiaries of its housing program. In the past, he said, the NHA waived only 50 percent of penalties and interests.
“This will provide an opportunity for qualified beneficiaries with remaining loan balances to have part or even the entire amount of their penalties and delinquency interest or arrears removed. This will enable them to pay their remaining principal balance under a new set of terms and payment schedule,” Tai said at the forum.
Tai said the program would target beneficiaries with long-standing housing loans that have accumulated penalties and interest, allowing them to retain their homeownership.
Tai said in turn, the NHA would be able to recover the principal amount, which could be used by the agency for housing projects but he did not elaborate.
According to Tai, the NHA aims to at least significantly reduce the 500,000 informal settler families (ISFs) in immediate need of relocation or resettlement. He said the NHA has targeted to build 100,000 units in 2025, but did not say how many have been built so far.
“This is a challenge for us. We are tapping private-public partnerships with private developers. The NHA, however, has other (funding) sources from its corporate operating budgets. It’s doable,” Tai added.
Tai said the NHA has been working to get P10 billion in capitalization as part of efforts to extend the NHA’s corporate life. The bill extending the NHA for another 25 years is pending in Congress.
Tai said the NHA has so far housed 1.2 million beneficiaries in relocation sites mostly located in Region 3 or Central Luzon and Region 4 or Southern Tagalog, since its establishment on Oct. 15, 1975.
Tai said this would be the seventh condonation to be implemented by the NHA in the past 50 years.
He said the NHA, whose mandate is to assist the poorest of the poor, builds houses for ISFs in dangerous areas, those affected by a Supreme Court mandamus to clear Manila Bay, and those affected by infrastructure projects, as well as provide resettlement assistance to local government units and housing to indigenous peoples, former rebels, government employees and calamity victims.
Homes typically cost P500,000 to P600,000 each for a 27-square meter (sq.m.) unit on a 40-sq.m lot. Monthly amortization goes from as low as P500 a month to P800 a month.
Tai said due to the scarcity of land, the NHA has resorted to the development of low-rise buildings in its resettlement projects in the National Capital Region and key cities.
