More than 200 residents of Barangay Fortune in Marikina City have received individual land titles after nearly three decades of waiting under the government’s Expanded Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino (4PH) Program.

Human Settlements and Urban Development Secretary Jose Ramon Aliling, Social Housing Finance Corp. (SHFC) president and CEO Federico Laxa and Marikina 2nd District Rep. Miro Quimbo awarded transfer certificates of title to member-families of three homeowners’ associations through the Enhanced Community Mortgage Program (ECMP).

More than 240 beneficiaries belong to Solid Santan Homeowners’ Association Inc., Samahang Pinagkaisang Maralita ng Santan Homeowners’ Association Inc. and Juancho Pacheco Homeowners’ Association Inc.

The titles formally establish the beneficiaries’ legal ownership of the land they have called home since the 1990s, ending decades of uncertainty over their properties.

Laxa said the Community Mortgage Program provides low-income families without land of their own an opportunity to acquire the properties they occupy through affordable loans.

“The problem of squatting, as they say, is that they live on land that is not theirs. This is our solution. Social Housing Finance Corporation is helping them to buy and let them live on land. We are giving them loans with low interest rates and payable over 25-30 years. This is very good for them,” Laxa said.

He said monthly amortizations average no more than ₱500, while financial assistance is also available to improve beneficiaries’ communities.

“The keyword here is transformative. It means that if you see their community now, it needs to change over time. We need to fix it and make it better,” Laxa said.

Laxa said the SHFC is seeking additional funding from Congress to expand the program amid growing demand.

He said 47 projects covering nearly 9,000 beneficiaries have been approved since the ECMP was launched, while around 40 applications remain under processing.

“If you see the Congressional hearing the other day, all of our Congressmen are fully supportive of the subsidy because they can see the impact of this program on our countrymen,” Laxa said.

“We are waiting for additional funds so that we can fix their applications,” he added.

Quimbo, meanwhile, thanked the national government for helping fulfill residents’ decades-long goal of owning their land.

“You cannot measure the happiness that this brings, not only in peace, but also in the prosperity of their families,” Quimbo said.

He credited the DHSUD and SHFC for proactively working to resolve the residents’ land ownership concerns.

“Our dream is that there should be no more informal settlers or squatters here in Marikina. Everyone should have a place to live, to have peace of mind, their home, where the land that they should pass should be protected,” Quimbo said.