FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
First Regular Session 
) 
10 
JL'L -7 P2 :1' 
SENATE 
Senate Bill No. S S 6 
INTRODUCED BY SEN. JINGGOY EJERCITO ESTRADA 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
This bill seeks to allow the unprivileged and homeless citizens in urban 
and resettlement areas who are actual occupants of government-owned lands 
dedicated to socialized housing to have the primary right in acquiring the said 
land. 
Presidential Decree No. 1517, the Urban Land Reform Act, was issued by 
then President Marcos in 1978. The decree adopted as a State policy the 
liberation of human communities from blight, congestion and hazard, the 
promotion of their development and modernization, and the optimum use of land 
as a national resource for public welfare. 
In 1992, Congress passed Republic Act No. 7279 or the "Urban 
Development and Housing Act of 1992." The law lays down as a policy that the 
State shall undertake a comprehensive and continuing urban development and 
housing program to uplift the conditions of the underprivileged and homeless 
citizens in urban areas and resettlement areas by making available to them 
decent housing at affordable cost. Pursuant to this, all city and municipal 
governments were mandated to conduct an inventory of all lands and 
improvements within their respective localities and, in coordination with the 
National Housing Authority, the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, the 
National Mapping Resource Information Authority, and the Land Management 
Bureau, identify and acquire lands for socialized housing and resettlement areas. 
Said lands shall be disposed of to qualified beneficiaries of the program. 
Under Republic Act no. 7279, lands for socialized housing are to be 
acquired through several modes. These modes include the following: (1) 
community mortgage: (2) land swapping; (3) land assembly or consolidation; (4) 
land banking; (5) expropriation. Government-owned and foreclosed properties 
shall be acquired through negotiated purchase. Under the law's implementing 
rules and regulations, negotiated purchase allows the transmission of property 
from one person to another by agreement among the parties. In the case of 
government-owned and foreclosed land, the parties include the actual occupants 
and the National Housing Authority or the local goverment units, as the case may 
be. 
While the law gives qualified beneficiaries who are actual occupants of 
govemment owned and foreclosed land the right of first refusal. However, nothing 
precludes the government from bidding out the land and offering it to other 
qualified beneficiaries. Thus, there have been instances where the homeless and 
underprivileged were not given priority in owning government-owned lands they 


actually occupied because these lands were sold to other qualified beneficiaries 
who could afford to pay more. While it is the intent of the law to uphold 
transparency and accountability in the disposition of government-owned 
properties through public bidding, there is a need to balance this with the 
mandate of the State to make decent housing affordable to the underprivileged 
and the homeless, especially to the land's actual occupants. 
This bill addresses that situation by providing for a mode of acquisition 
where government-owned land is acquired without public bidding in cases where 
the actual occupants of the land who are qualified beneficiaries signify their 
intentions to acquire the land for their own. Only when the actual occupants 
refuse to exercise such right and cannot afford to pay the valuation set for the 
land shall it be subjected to public bidding. 
In view of the foregoing, the urgent approval of this bill is earnestly sought. 
Senator 


• 
FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
First Regular Session 
) 
SENATE 
Senate Bill No. {) 6 6 
I 
(J~f~Cct<[ ;" 
:.t(,flr:!F,R~ 
10 
JUl -7 1'2 :1' 
INTRODUCED BY SEN. JINGGOY EJERCITO ESTRADA 
AN ACT 
UPHOL,DING THE RIGHT OF ACQUISITION BY QUALIFIED BENEFICIARIES 
OF G9VERNMENT ·OWNED LANDS THEY ACTUALLY OCCUPY, AMENDING 
CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7279, OTHERWISE KNOWN 
AS THE URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND HOUSING ACT OF 1992, AND FOR 
OTHER PURPOSES 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives in Congress 
assembled: 
SECTION 1. Section 10 of Republic Act no. 7279, otherwise known as the 
"Urban Development and housing Act of 1992" is hereby amended to read as 
follows: 
"SECTION 10. Modes of Land Acquisition. The modes of acquiring lands 
for purposes of this Act shall include, among others, community mortgage, 
land swapping, land assembly or consolidation, land banking, donation to 
the Government,joint-venture agreement, negotiated purchase, and 
expropriation: Provided, however, That expropriation shall be resorted to 
only when other modes of acquisition have been exhausted Provided, 
further, That where expropriation is resorted to, parcels of this Act: 
Provided, finally, That abandoned property, as herein defined, shall be 
reverted and escheated to the State in a proceeding analogous to the 
procedure laid down in Rule 91 of the Rules of Court. 
For the purpose of socialized housing, government-owned and foreclosed 
properties shall be acquired by the local government units, or by the 
National Housing Authority primarily through negotiated purchase: 
Provided, That qualified beneficiaries who are actual occupants of the land 
shall be given the right of first refusal, FOR THIS PURPOSE, 
NEGOTIATED 
PURCHASE 
SHALL MEAN 
THE TRANSFER 
OF 
PROPERTY FROM ONE PERSON TO ANOTHER AGREEMENT 
AMONG THE PARTIES. 
WHERE THE ACTUAL OCCUPANTS OF GOVERNMENT-OWNED 
PROPERTY FOR SOCIALIZED HOUSING SIGNIFY THAT THEY 
INTEND TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHT OF FIRST REFUSAL, THEY MAY 
ACQUIRE SAID PROPERTY THROUGH NEGOTIATED PURCHASE, 
SUBJECT TO THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS: 
. A. 
THE 
SUBJECT 
PROPERTY 
HAS 
BEEN 
CERTIFIED 
FOR 
SOCIALIZED HOUSING PURPOSE; 


• 
B. THE OCCUPANT IS QUALIFIED BENEFICIARY, IN ACCORDANCE 
WITH SECTIONS 16 AND 17 OF THIS ACT; 
C. THE OCCUPANT HAS RESIDED ON THE SUBJECT PROPERTY 
FOR AT LEAST TEN (10) YEARS, AS CERTIFIED BY THE LOCAL 
GOVERNMENT UNIT CONCERNED; AND 
D. ANY SUBSEQUENT DISPOSITION OF THE PROPERTY SHALL BE 
SUBJECT TO THE LIMITATIONS PROVIDED IN SECTION 14 HEREOF. 
THE COST OF LAND ACQUISITION SHALL BE MADE AFFORDABLE 
TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION THE LAND VALUATION REQUIRED 
IN SECTION 13 OF THIS ACT. 
EXCEPT IN THE AFOREMENTIONED INSTANCE, ALL OTHER SALE 
OF GOVERNMENT-OWNED PROPERTY UNDER THIS ACT SHALL BE 
SUBJECT TO PUBLIC BIDDING, AS PROVIDED FOR BY LAW. 
Approved,