Marcos to issue EO reserving idle gov't lands for housing projects

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. will sign an executive order (EO) reserving state-owned lands that have remained idle for use of housing projects, the Office of the Press Secretary said Monday night.

Marcos said the EO will "ensure flexibility in deciding which of these lands should be used for housing."

The president is set to meet with officials of concerned banks and financial institutions to discuss how to assist the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) in realizing its target of building one million housing units every year or six million houses by the end of his term.

The EO will implement Section 24 of Republic Act No. 11201, which mandates several government agencies to jointly identify idle state lands suitable for housing and rural development.

Under the issuance, an inventory will be conducted by the DHSUD, Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Land Registration Authority (LRA) to identify these lands, estimated to be more than 16,000 hectares, to be used for socialized housing.

RA 11201 paved the way for the creation of the DHSUD and vested the housing agency with the power to take and administer government lands that have been idle for 10 years and use these for urban development.

The law empowers the housing department to own and administer government-owned lands that have not been utilized for the purpose they have been originally reserved or acquired for at least 10 years and identified as suitable for urban development.

The EO will not create a new regulations but will just enforce the existing law, Marcos said.

Earlier, DSHUD Secretary Jose Acuzar informed the President that it had acquired the commitment of the Development Bank of the Philippines to the government's housing program. —LDF, GMA News