FACT CHECK: Marcos admin’s housing project is not free

Claim: The national housing project of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration is free, and interested beneficiaries can register online. 

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: A Facebook page named “Libreng Pabahay Program Buong Pilipinas” posted the claim on October 9. The post currently has 743 shares, 120 comments, and 172 reactions.

The post says that poor families can sign up for Marcos’ free housing program. A purported registration link for interested Filipinos is provided in the post. 

The facts: The government’s national housing project is not free, and there is no online registration. In October 2022, Rappler fact-checked posts with similar claims. 

The supposed registration links redirect to blogging sites, not official government websites.

Not free: The Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), the lead agency implementing the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Program (4PH), clarified in 2022 that the program does not provide housing at no cost. 

The 4PH is the government’s flagship program to provide affordable housing to Filipinos. It aims to build 1 million units per year to address the 6.5-million housing backlog in the country.

To address the housing shortage and provide affordable housing to beneficiaries, the DHSUD lowered the preferential interest rate on loans from 6% down to 1%.

The prices of housing units range from P580,000 to P1,150,000, depending on the site location and the type of housing – whether it is socialized, upgraded, midrise, or highrise.

No online registration: The housing program is open to informal settler families as well as low-income workers, especially those who do not have their own houses. 

The local government units (LGUs) of the housing project sites will determine qualified beneficiaries for the 4PH program. According to the DHSUD, interested applicants need to coordinate directly with their respective LGUs for identification and registration. (READ: LGU ang mangangasiwa sa pagtukoy ng mga benepisyaryo ng pambansang pabahay)

The DHSUD also clarified that no membership or registration fees are collected from interested applicants. There is also no need for them to be members of a housing association, although they are advised to become members of the Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-IBIG Fund for assistance on financial schemes to avail themselves of the housing units. (FALSE: Sign-ups for nationwide free housing program)

Current status: Earlier in 2023, Marcos said the government is currently building 1.2 million housing units as part of the program to achieve its target of over 6 million units constructed by 2028.

However, DSHUD Secretary Jerry Acuzar said last July that the government would be able to deliver around 100,000 housing units by 2024 – only 10% of the 1 million yearly target. He explained that vertical housing units were more difficult to build than horizontal row houses. 

As of June 30, 155 LGUs have signed memoranda of understanding with the DHSUD, and 28 housing projects have broken ground. – Ailla dela Cruz/Rappler.com

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