IN THEIR latest Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) No. 02, Series of 2021, the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development and the Department (DHSUD) of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) dated July 3, 2021 and jointly signed by Eduardo D. del Rosario, secretary of DHSUD, and Edoardo M. Ano, secretary of DILG, and addressed to DHSUD regional directors, DILG regional, provincial, city and field officers and local chief executives of all provinces, cities, municipalities and barangays, guidelines on the formation of federations and confederations of homeowners' associations were given and spelled out.
In this JMC, it states the need for the government "to encourage, promote and respect the people's right to form organizations and initiate community-based or no-government groups within the framework of our democracy."
For its part, DHSUD, formerly the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, is tasked "to engage, care, work for and protect the homeowners' communities in cooperation with government and encourage the latter to organize, register, supervise and capacitate the HOAs (homeowners' associations) as constructive, efficient and effective organizations set up primarily to assist the government in addressing common concern."
The legal bases in the formation of federations and confederations in alliance with DHSUD and DILG are as follows: Republic Act (RA) 9904, specifically Sections 18, 19 and 30 thereof, where HOAs are tasked to complement, support and strengthen local government units (LGUs) in providing vital services to their members and help implement local government policies, programs, ordinances and rules, Presidential Decree 902, Batas Pambansa Bilang 68, Executive Order 535 and Republic Act 8763 and the Local Government Code of 1991.
The DHSUD shall register all associations, federations, confederations or umbrella organizations of the associations, formulate in consultation with representatives of associations, federations, confederations or umbrella organizations of the associations standard names to be used for the associations' books of accounts and standard articles of incorporation and by laws for homeowners' associations and formulate, again in consultation with the representatives of associations, federations, confederations or umbrella organizations of the associations the guidelines in regulating the kinds of contributions and fees that may be charged or collected by associations.