Thursday, October 05, 2006 House conducts hearing on urban housing bills By Ben O. Tesiorna
THE House of Representatives Committee on Housing and Urban Development conducted a public hearing in Davao City Wednesday on the proposal to amend two existing laws on housing.
Committee chair Eduardo Zialcita (1st district Parañaque) and vice chair Arthur Pingoy Jr. (South Cotabato) said they seek to get the opinion and concerns of Dabawenyos on the bill seeking to amend Republic Act (RA) 7279 or Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992 and RA 6552 or Realty Installment Buyers Protection Act popularly known as the Maceda Law.
Among the revisions sought by the bill is on the 20 percent compliance for socialized housing as stipulated in RA 7279 and the inclusion of the direct negotiated purchases in the tax incentives.
In the Maceda Law, the removal of the obligation of the seller to refund the buyer the total value of payments he or she made, whether or not he or she has paid an equivalent of two years of installment, was also sought.
Zialcita said they had earlier conducted public hearings in Metro Manila and Luzon and this is the first public hearing they conducted outside Luzon area.
He said there is a need to amend the two existing laws so that the government could comprehensively respond to the demand of the housing beneficiaries amid the fiscal crisis the country is now experiencing.
