Socialized housing developers push for retention of incentives as it holds national convention

THE ORGANIZATION of Socialized and Economic Housing Developers of the Philippines (OSHDP) called on lawmakers and government policy makers to maintain the existing “compensatory incentives” for socialized housing to keep private sector developers interested in low-cost projects. In a statement, OSHDP said “socialized housing, which is just a component of and is merely subsidized by its main housing project, cannot be viable on its own.” “Hence, the incentives currently enacted under Sec. 20 (d) (1) to (5) of R.A.10884 (Balanced Housing Program) Amendments Act, which amended R.A.7279, are mere ‘compensatory incentives’ for doing a ‘missionary’ activity, and should not be misconstrued as ‘investment incentives’ to be lumped under the proposed Strategic Investments Priorities Plan (SIPP) envisioned under the proposed TRAIN (Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law) 2 bills,” OSHDP said. This issue on incentives and other housing industry concerns will be tackled during the two-day OSHDP National Convention starting Thursday, Aug. 23, in Cebu City.