NEARLY 1,000 families from various parts of the country are set to receive land titles on Monday, benefiting more than 3,000 people under the Marcos administration’s Expanded Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino (4PH) Program.
Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) Secretary Jose Ramon Aliling and Social Housing Finance Corp. President Federico Laxa will lead the awarding of at least 913 land titles to beneficiary families, representing more than 3,000 people, under the Enhanced Community Mortgage Program (ECMP).
The beneficiaries are members of various homeowners’ and neighborhood associations from different regions.
Aliling said the ECMP is part of the DHSUD’s effort to bring meaningful and adequate government services closer to Filipinos, particularly low-income families.
“President Marcos' goal is to bring meaningful and adequate services closer to our fellow Filipinos. For its part, the DHSUD will continue to advance the pro-poor ECMP under the Expanded 4PH,” Aliling said.
He said the land titles represent more than legal documents, describing them as symbols of renewed hope and inspiration for beneficiary families who have waited years for them.
“Today, more than 3,000 people will receive land titles that they have been waiting for for many years. These titles are not merely pieces of paper but symbols of new hope and inspiration for our beneficiaries,” he said.
The latest distribution comes as the DHSUD pushes to expand the Community Mortgage Program (CMP), a socialized housing mechanism that helps organized groups of informal settler families acquire the land they occupy or relocate to suitable sites through affordable financing.
Aliling revived and enhanced the CMP after assuming office last year, placing the program under the broader framework of the Marcos administration’s Expanded 4PH, the government’s flagship housing initiative.
Under the ECMP, organized communities can access financing and government support to secure land tenure and develop their communities, allowing families to move closer to formal homeownership without necessarily leaving established neighborhoods.
The approach is particularly significant for families who have spent years living on land without formal titles and face the uncertainty of eviction or displacement.
According to DHSUD, 47 ECMP projects have been approved, benefiting about 8,000 families nationwide.
The department said it intends to sustain the rollout as part of its effort to provide more housing and land-tenure solutions for low-income Filipinos.
“We will continue to advance the ECMP so that we can help more Filipino families, especially those most in need, achieve peace of mind and security over the land where they have made their homes,” Aliling said.
The DHSUD said the continuing expansion of ECMP is part of the Marcos administration’s broader push to address the country’s housing backlog through a mix of housing construction, financing, land acquisition and community-based housing solutions.
For the beneficiaries receiving their titles on Monday, however, the impact is more immediate: years of waiting finally translate into legal security in the land they call home.
