Saturday, May 17, 2008 Law to stop foreclosure nears passage: Nograles
A LAW that will stop foreclosure and allow the homeowners to restructure their housing loan accounts is nearing passage at the lower house.
House Speaker Prospero Nograles said by next week the House of Representatives are set to pass three housing bills including his own bill for condonation of about-to-be-foreclosed houses and allow its owners to pay their dues in an installment basis.
Nograles, along with other congressmen including House committee on housing chair Rod Valencia, went to Davao City Thursday to conduct a public hearing regarding the three housing bills, which aim to help homeowners whose houses are nearing foreclosure due to their failure to pay their monthly dues.
"Definitely when these bills will be passed, all foreclosure proceedings will be stopped and give homeowners time to pay their dues," Nograles said.
The Davao City first district congressman said he does not expect strong opposition during the debate of the bills next week since these measures will greatly help a lot of homeowners all over the Philippines.
"I think the congressmen know how important these bills are that is why I expect no strong opposition for these measures," he said.
The congressman said he already authored similar bills in 1998 but after three years the law had already expired, which is why he is again sponsoring another bill to offer relief to homeowners having problems with their properties.
"What is good about this present bill on condonation is the fact that it offers a much easier and affordable payment system to the homeowners," Nograles said.
He said this new law is far better than the previous law since it do not anymore require the homeowner to pay five percent of the dues before he can avail the housing loan restructuring plan.
"The interest will be separated from the original dues that is why the homeowner will only have to pay first his dues minus the interest," he said.
"The interest will be paid separately by the homeowner in a separate restructured term which is very beneficial to him or her," he added.
He added that unlike the previous condonation law, this new law has no expiration and it will be implemented for many years come.
