The Marcos administration’s Expanded Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino (4PH) Program is accelerating the delivery of land tenure to landless Filipino families through the issuance of Certificates of Entitlement (CoE) and Certificates of Lot Award (CELA) under its flagship housing initiative.

Led by the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), the program has awarded CoEs to 784 families since the housing modality was introduced last year.

During the latest awarding ceremony in Lucena City under Presidential Proclamation 436, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the certificates provide beneficiaries with legal proof of their right to the land they occupy.

“What we are doing today is significant because it fulfills a long-held dream. Many of our countrymen have lived without certainty about the status of the land they occupy. By issuing these Certificates of Entitlement, our beneficiaries now have that assurance because they finally hold a legal document proving their entitlement,” the President said.

The awarding ended 23 years of uncertainty for 100 beneficiary families.

“I am pleased that under our administration we were able to carry out this proclamation and fulfill its promise. We have shown that Filipinos who need land titles will finally have the opportunity to obtain them because they have already been issued Certificates of Entitlement,” Marcos added.

DHSUD Secretary Jose Ramon Aliling said the department aims to issue more than 1,300 individual CoEs this year for properties covered by various presidential proclamations.

Aside from CoEs, the DHSUD and the Social Housing Finance Corporation have also awarded thousands of Certificates of Lot Award through the Enhanced Community Mortgage Program (ECMP), another modality under the Expanded 4PH Program that prioritizes informal settler families.

As of 16 July, a total of 3,505 families have secured CELAs under 21 ECMP projects in Pasig, Valenzuela, Iloilo, Antipolo, Tanay, Laguna, Pampanga, Isabela, Cagayan, Bacolod, Quezon, Zamboanga, and Naga.

Aliling said the figures demonstrate that the administration’s flagship housing program is gaining momentum.

“This shows that the Expanded Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino Program, the flagship housing program of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration, is now moving at full speed ahead. More and more Filipinos are beginning to experience access to decent housing,” he said.

Introduced in July 2025, the ECMP has so far secured approval for 47 housing projects nationwide, which are expected to benefit more than 8,000 Filipino families.

“Together with our attached agencies, DHSUD will continue to work tirelessly so that more Filipino families can receive the housing assistance they deserve,” Aliling said.