HUNDREDS of families displaced during the 2017 Marawi Crisis who were awarded residential units in 2021 under the Marawi Shelter Project are now facing uncertainties after government auditors found that the relocations lots were still registered in the names of the previous owners.
The Commission on Audit said this is despite the release of millions of pesos in partial payments to the sellers representing the original owners who, records showed, are already dead.
The housing program is being implemented by the Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC) billed as the “Project for Rebuilding Marawi through Community-Driven Shelter and Livelihood Support.” The SHFC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC).
As of February 25, 2021, 109 lots have been awarded to qualified beneficiaries under the shelter project’s Phase 1 or the Hadiya Villa.
Another batch of 120 lots were awarded on July 28, 2021 under Phase 2 or the Darussalam Village.
The turnover was supported by certificates of house and lot award signed by the Department of Human Settlement and Urban Development (DHSUD), the city mayor of Marawi, the SHFC, and the UN Habitat (United Nations Human Settlement Programme).
Phase 1 covers an area of 2.26 hectares with an acquisition cost of P6.22 million, of which P1.744 million have already been released.
Phase 2 is located in a bigger lot measuring 13.387 hectares with a P36.814 million tag price at P275 per square meter, similar to Phase 1. Auditors said P7.36 million have been paid to the seller in 2019.
The audit team, however, found that the Transfer Certificate Title (TCT) is still under the name of the deceased original owner.
Release of the initial payment was approved by the SHFC Board through Resolution No. 940, s. 2021.
“The basis of the approval by the Board of the interim payment is the submission of the retrieved copy of BIR certification showing that the property sold to SHFC was donated by the father of the deceased lot owner to his son, the seller,” the COA noted.
Likewise, the title of the 13.39-hectare property remains in the name of the dead original owner, who was represented by his son.
