Councilor proposes collective land ownership for Davao City's urban poor housing

Informal settler families in Davao City could gain long-term rights to their homes without receiving individual land titles under a proposed ordinance that would keep socialized housing land permanently in community hands, Edge Davao reported.

Councilor Temujin "Tek" Ocampo, who chairs the City Council Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, filed the proposed Davao City Urban Poor Collective Land Tenure Ordinance through a privilege speech during the 21st City Council's regular session on Tuesday. The measure was approved on first reading and referred to the Committee on Housing, Rural, and Urban Development.

Ocampo argued that individual titling, though meant to give families security, can expose poor households to developers and forced sales when money runs short. Families who sell, he said, may end up back in informal settlements, including flood-prone and hazardous areas. "When an urban poor family receives a separate title, poverty often forces them to sell that land," Ocampo said.

Under the proposal, the city would set up a Collective Land Acquisition Program (CLAP), backed by Master Titles and Community Land Trusts (CLTs), so that land bought for socialized housing stays under collective community ownership. Qualified beneficiaries would instead receive long-term Certificates of Occupancy and Usufruct Rights (COUR), giving them the legal right to live in and use their homes while barring the land from being sold for private speculation.

The ordinance would also create a Davao City Collective Socialized Housing Trust Fund to pay for land acquisition, site development and direct equity subsidies. According to the proposal, the fund would draw on an initial seed allocation, development funds and idle land tax collections, and would extend financial help to senior citizens, persons with disabilities and single parents.

Ocampo described housing as "a fundamental human right and the bedrock of human dignity," saying the measure aims to give families lasting stability and protect the land for future generations.

The proposal still has to go through committee deliberations and the rest of the legislative process before it can be approved and implemented.