S E N A T E  
Senate Bill No. 
INTRODUCED BY SEN. JINGGOY EJERCITO ESTRADA 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Shelter for the underprivileged and homeless is a mandate provided under 
the Constitution. Cooperatives are recognized as vital instruments for improving 
the quality of life of farmers, fishetfolk and small entrepreneurs and their families. 
This proposal which originated from the leaders and officers of cooperatives 
throughout the nation provides the legal means by which housing cooperatives 
shall provide access to and maximize housing opportunities under the law for the 
homeless, as well as for those who are members of cooperatives and of the 
community which the cooperatives serve. 
Thus, a cooperative may be formed specifically as a service group or a 
multipurpose cooperative whose primary purpose is housing. 
Cooperatives 
already organized and registered may amend their articles of incorporation and 
by-laws and thereby maximize their capability as a cooperative to provide 
housing for their members who qualify under laws which have recently been 
passed to accelerate the provision of housing. A cooperative of agrarian reform 
grantees may include in their purpose and program the provision of agrarian 
reform housing which are not only shelters for the grantee and his family but a 
productivity and livelihood unit from which the family of an agrarian reform 
grantee will be able to augment the family income with a viable housing unit 
centered in economic livelihood activities. 
This measure also emphasizes the opportunities today available under 
significant housing legislative measures which the housing cooperative may avail 
of. It is well-known might hesitate to avail of housing opportunities due to the 
documentation, paper work and other requirements which might be difficult for a 
person with an income of or below the poverty threshold to comply with. 
However, with solid foundation of coopemtivism and the membership of a 
housing cooperative providing assistance and support, many more citizens can 
avail of the opportunities that housing legislation today offers and makes 
available to our citizens who need homes or to make secure their entitlement to 
the small lot and shelter they have today. These significant housing laws are: (1) 
R.A. 6846 or the Abot Kaya Pabahay Fund; (2) R.A. 6657, The Comprehensive 
Agrarian Reform Program, Chapter IX, Support Services Projects of the Law; and 
(3) R.A. 7729, The Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992. Under the 
Abot Kaya Pabahay Fund, a housing cooperative may avail of amortization 
support, and as sole proponent or in joint venture with a developer or a 
contractor of developmental financing. 


For the sake of the homeless farmer, fisherfolk and small entrepreneurs 
and in recognition of cooperatives as practical and egalitarian instruments of 
balanced, sustained development and in improving the quality of life of our 
people, approval of this measure is urgently requested. 
GGO EJERCITO ESTRAD 


FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
1 
First Regular Session 
) 
S E N A T E  
1)ECEIVED BY:- 
Senate Bill No. 
INTRODUCED BY SEN. JINGGOY EJERCITO ESTRADA 
AN ACT 
TO PROMOTE AND ENCOURAGE THE ORGANIZATION AND SUSTAINED 
DEVELOPMENT OF COOPERATIVES AS 
INSTRUMENTS FOR THE 
FULFILLMENT OF THE BASIC NEED OF HOUSING FOR THE HOMELESS 
AND 
UNDERPRIVILEGED AND 
AMENDING 
FOR 
THAT 
PURPOSE 
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6938, THE COOPERATIVE CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES 
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled: 
SECTION I. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the “Housing 
Cooperative Act of the Philippines”. 
SEC 2. Declaration of Policy. - It is hereby declared the policy of the 
State that cooperatives are vital and realistic instruments of people 
empowerment and for meeting the basic need of shelter. Towards this end, it 
shall promote and encourage the organization of cooperatives for socialized and 
economic housing as service cooperatives, the primary purpose of which is to 
provide the service of housing for its members and the community or as a 
multipurpose or other type of cooperative which shall undertake as one of its 
major activities the provision of housing. 
SEC 3. Definition of “Housing Cooperative”. - A housing cooperative is 
one which engages primarily in assisting its members and the members of the 
community it serves in the provision of housing and the amenities that 
accompany the basic need of shelter. A housing cooperative may be registered 
as a service cooperative which engages in housing, or as a multipurpose 
cooperative which combines housing services with one or more of other business 
activities as a credit consumer, producer or marketing cooperative pursuant to 
Article 23 of Republic Act No. 6938, otherwise known as the Cooperative Code of 
the Philippines. 
SEC 4. Privileges and Rights of a Housing Cooperative, - Article 23 of 
Republic Act No. 6938, the Cooperative Code of the Philippines, is hereby 
amended by adding a new paragraph “(3)” as follows: 
“ART. 23. Types and Categories of Cooperatives: 


(1) Types of Cooperatives - x x x 
(2) Categories of Cooperatives - x x x 
(3) PRIVILEGES AND RIGHTS OF HOUSING COOPERATIVES - A 
HOUSING 
COOPERATIVE IS 
A 
SERVICE 
COOPERATIVE 
PRIMARILY ENGAGED IN ASSISTING OR PROVIDING ACCESS 
TO HOUSING FOR THE BENEFIT OF ITS MEMBERS OR OF THE 
COMMUNITY THE COOPERATIVE SERVES. 
MULTIPURPOSE 
COOPERATIVES OR ANY OTHER TYPE OF COOPERATIVE 
SHALL BE DEEMED A HOUSING COOPERATIVE FOR PURPOSES 
OF THIS ARTICLE WHEN IT COMBINES HOUSING SERVICES 
WITH ONE OR MORE OF OTHER BUSINESS ACTIVITIES AS ONE 
OF ITS PRIMARY SERVICES. 
A DULY REGISTERED HOUSING COOPERATIVE SHALL HAVE 
PREFERENTIAL RIGHTS AS FOLLOWS: 
TO APPLY FOR AND BE GRANTED AMORTIZATION 
SUPPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 3 (A) OF 
REPUBLIC ACT 
NO. 6846, THE ABOT 
KAYA 
PABAHAY FUND; PROVIDED, THAT THE MEMBERS 
WHO ARE PART OF THE COMMUNITY THE 
COOPERATIVE SERVES WHO SHALL ENJOY THE 
PRIVILEGE OF AMORTIZATION SUPPORT MEET ALL 
THE QUALIFICATIONS THEREFOR AS ELIGIBLE 
BORROWERS FOR LEVEL A OR LEVEL B; 
TO AVAIL 
OF THE 
COMMUNITY MORTGAGE 
PROGRAM 
AS 
A 
LEGALLY 
ORGANIZED 
ASSOCIATION 
WITH 
UNDERPRIVILEGED 
AND 
HOMELESS CITIZENS AS COOPERATIVE MEMBERS 
OR ON BEHALF OF SAID CITIZENS IN THE 
COMMUNITY 
THE 
COOPERATIVE 
SERVES 
PURSUANT TO THE RELEVANT PROVISIONS OF 
REPUBLIC 
ACT 
NO. 
7279, 
THE 
URBAN 
DEVELOPMENT AND HOUSING ACT OF 1992." 
OF THE COOPERATIVE OR THE NON-MEMBERS 
Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, executive orders, 
proclamations, rules and regulations, and other issuances or parts thereof which 
are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or modified 
accordingly. 
SEC 6. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect upon its publication in at 
least one (1) national newspaper of general circulation. 
Approved,