PN 2016-18: Is the Community Mortgage Program Propoor?
by Marife M. Ballesteros, Tatum P. Ramos, and Jasmine E. Magtibay
The government established the Community Mortgage Program (CMP), which is administered by the Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC), to enable informal settler families (ISFs) to purchase land by providing them with affordable financing. Loans are granted to community associations (CAs) where ISFs must belong to access the CMP. Given the government's significant subsidy to the program, has the CMP been able to address the needs of the poor and their communities? Results of the assessment show the equity requirements set by the SHFC prevented poor households from becoming program beneficiaries. As this could worsen with further increases in urban land price, this Policy Note recommends implementing an income-based subsidy scheme to prevent further exclusion of the poor. It also suggests making capacity building of the CAs an integral part of the CMP process. Click here for the full article.
PN 2016-17: Continue but Redesign the Grant Program for Water Supply and Sanitation
by Alma D. Porciuncula, Doreen Carla E. Erfe, and Adoracion M. Navarro
One approach used by the Philippine government to support the Millennium Development Goals for water supply and sanitation is to provide grant financing to waterless communities. This Policy Note presents the main findings of a study evaluating two grant financing programs--the President's Priority Program for Water Supply and the Sagana at Ligtas na Tubig para sa Lahat. The study involved process evaluation on the effectiveness and transparency of program execution, and qualitative impact evaluation to examine if the grant programs have achieved their objectives and if the capital investments are sustainable and could be the basis to further expand access to safe water supply and sanitation services. Both programs have issues on poor sustainability of investments. A defined management structure is suggested as a minimum requirement for grant provision. Grantees should also be required to participate in the Listahang Tubig, the water service providers' registry project, and to annually report their benchmarking indicators. Click here for the full article.
