THIRTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
) 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
1 
First Regular Session 
1 
S.B. No. 
81 
Introduced by Senator Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Shelter for the underprivileged and homeless is a mandate of the Constitution. 
Cooperatives are recognized as vital instruments for improving the quality of life of 
farmers, fisherfolk 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 those who are 
members of cooperatives and of the community which cooperatives serve. 
Thus, a cooperative may be formed specifically as a sehice group or a 
multipurpose cooperative whose primary purpose is housing. Cooperatives already 
organized and registered may amend their articles of incorporations 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 an 
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 viable housing 
unit-centered economic livelihood activities. 
This measure also points out the opportunities today available under significant 
housing legislative measures which the housing cooperative may avail of. It is well - 
known that individual homeless persons 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 at or below the poverty threshold to comply with. However, 
with solid foundation of cooperativism and the membership of a housing cooperative 
providing assistance and support, many more citizens can avail of the opportunities that 
housing legislation today offer and make 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, the Abot Kaya Pabahay Fund; (2) R. A. 
6657, The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, Chapter I 
X, Support Services 
Projects of the Law; and (3) The Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992, R. A. 
7729. 
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. 
a 


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 
registered as of 1991 
immediate future. 
requested on behalf of the nearly 8,000 cooperatives already 
and of the hundred more expected to be registered now and in the 
enator 


THIRTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
) 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
1 
First Regular Session 
1 
Introduced by Senator 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 1. Title. - This Act shall be known as the “Housing Cooperative Act 
of the Philippines:. 
SECTION 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 and to this end 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. 
SECTION 3. Definition of “Housing Cooperative”. - A Housing Cooperative 
is one which engage 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, the Cooperative Code of the Philippines. 


i 
SECTION 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 “(3y as follows: 
“ART. 23 Types and Categories of Cooperatives: 
I‘( 1 ) Types of Cooperatives - XXXXXXXXXXXX. 
“(2) Categories of Cooperatives - XXXXXXXXXXXX. 
“(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 
~OOPERATIVE 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 PURPOSES. 
A 
DULY REGISTERED HOUSING COOPERATlVE SHALL 
HAVE 
PREFERENTIAL RIGHTS AS FOLLOWS: 
‘I (A) 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 OF THE 
COOPERATIVE OR THE NON-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 6; 
“(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.” 
SECTION 5. 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. 


* 
SECTION 6. - €fFecfMy. - This Act shall take effect upon its publication in at 
least one (1 )national newspaper of general circulation. 
Approved,