In just two weeks, the population of barangay Palta Small in Virac ‘swelled’ by more than a thousand after people from other Virac barangays and from other towns secured Community Tax Certificates or cedulas claiming to be bona fide residents of the barangay.
The ‘new residents’ were reportedly applying for membership in a Home Owners Association (HOA) being organized by former Pandan Mayor Honesto “Olog” Tabligan II in preparation for applying for a loan from a government agency for the development of a 3,300-unit housing project in Palta Small.
According to a municipal employee, hundreds of people went to the Municipal Treasurer’s Office last week to secure the cedula as a requirement for membership in the association and all wrote their place of residence as Palta Small.
They likewise went to nearby lawyers to execute affidavits they said they needed to submit to avail of a slot in the housing project to be named Pagkamakolog Subdivision.
The rush to become Palta Small residents began soon after the association gathered hundreds of members to a meeting last Sept. 25, 2022 with Tabligan and Mrs. Virginia Belencio, an accredited “mobilizer” of the Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC) and president of the United Home Development Foundation, Inc. (UHDF), who was with Architect Jenny Belencio.
Several days later, hundreds of interested residents coming from Virac and other towns lined up at the residence of a relative of the former mayor in Calatagan Tibang to apply for HOA membership.
For days, some began arriving before sunrise, including police officers, jail guards, fire officers, teachers and other government employees, as well as tricycle drivers.
They were told to fill up a five-page form and to provide xerox copies of two valid IDs to be submitted to the HOA secretary by the second week of November.
The forms are supposed to be evaluated by SHFC representatives who will conduct background investigation of the association and its members before the HOA will be registered with the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) in Legazpi City, the association said.
By the time the listing ended by 11 PM that day, nearly 2,000 had been added to the association’s membership, a reliable source told the Tribune.
Last week, an official of the National Housing Authority (NHA) confirmed that the Palta Small site being pushed by the Tabligan-backed association is the same one that was offered by a contractor for the NHA’s Build Back Better program.
The program, initiated after the series of typhoons that hit Catanduanes in the last quarter of 2020, has been discontinued for lack of funds, Assistant General Manager Alberto Perfecto told Mayor Samuel Laynes and members of the Municipal Development Council (MDC) during its meeting last Friday, Oct. 7.
He likewise disclosed that the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) has confirmed that there is no on-going project in Catanduanes under the Community Mortgage Program (CMP), a former program of the NHA that is now handled by SHFC.
He explained to barangay captains, members of the Sangguniang Bayan and NGO representatives that under the CMP, a homeowners’ association (HOA) must be organized first before it can negotiate with the landowner for the sale of the lot on which the proposed housing project.
An agreement has to be sealed with the landowner before the association can apply for a loan with SHFC for the purchase of the lot and development of the project site, including the housing units.
It will be the association which will distribute the units but there has to be coordination by the association and the SHFC with the local government units concerned through the barangay chairman and the municipal mayor, Perfecto stated.
He likewise underscored that the selection of beneficiaries should pass through a local inter-agency committee composed of the mayor, the municipal planning and development coordinator, the barangay captain and representatives from the NHA and DILG.
“Kung ano ang hinihingi nila, dapat alam ng LGU,” he stressed, noting that the proposal for housing project has yet to be submitted to SHFC.
Mayor Laynes reportedly denied a request for a courtesy call from the mobilizer, Mrs. Virginia Belencio, made through a representative of ex-Mayor Tabligan and the president of the Palta Small HOA, Gina Subion Tomagan.
The chief executive was apparently wary of being prematurely dragged into the controversy after a similar incident with the former Pandan mayor.
It is claimed that backers of the housing project claimed that they have already talked to Laynes on the matter.
The mayor confirmed that Tabligan indeed went to his office sometime in August but the latter only discussed the possibility of restarting the rehabilitation and development of the Sto. Domingo resettlement project that was terminated by NHA last year.
During the Sept. 25 HOA meeting, it was disclosed that under CMP, the mobilizer will help the association prepare the requirements for the SHFC loan for the housing project development which is intended for those who do not own a house and lot and has not availed of any housing project with the government.
Married members of the HOA can avail of one unit but unmarried partners can get one unit each, it is claimed.
The interest rate of the “pabahay” program will range from 2% to 6% depending on the income of the qualified beneficiary.
Tabligan reportedly suggested that to ensure the fair distribution of the location of the housing units, the selection be made by raffle.
Payment for the monthly amortization, which should start upon turnover of the unit, can be made in advance, he added.