SENATE OF THE PHILIPPINES 
SIXTEENTH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
) 
) 
) 
SENATE 
SENATE BILL NO. 1231 
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INTRODUCED BY SENATOR JOSEPH VICTOR G. EJERCITO 
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 government units, as the case may be. 
While the law gives qualified beneficiaries who are actual 
occupants of government-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. 
JOSEPH VICTOR G. EJERCITO 


SENATE OF THE PHILIPPINES 
SIXTEENTH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
) 
) 
) 
SENATE 
SENATE BILL NO. 1231 
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INTRODUCED BY SENATOR JOSEPH VICTOR G, EJERCITO 
AN ACT 
UPHOLDING THE RIGHT OF ACQUISITION BY QUALIFIED 
BENEFICIARIES 
OF 
GOVERNMENT-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. 
SECTION 2. Separability Clause. - If, for any reason, any 
section or provision of this Act shall be held unconstitutional or 
invalid, the other section or provision not otherwise affected shall 
remain in full force and effect, 
SECTION 3. Repealing Clause. - All laws, presidential 
decrees, executive orders, proclamations, rules and regulations, 
which are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby 
repealed or modified accordingly. 
SECTION 4. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect 
fifteen (15) days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in at 
least two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
Approved,