The Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development on Friday urged all housing stakeholders, particularly local government units, to synchronize their efforts in going after real estate scammers.
Secretary Eduardo del Rosario said he had received a report that an ongoing massive development project in Baguio City had no permit from the local government and was not registered with the DHSUD in the Cordillera Administrative Region.
He said he immediately ordered an investigation into the project and warned of the issuance of cease-and-desist order, if necessary, against the developer of the property.
“We must report scammers. We must report illegal construction of any housing project and we must report brokers and salespersons without license or permit to be brokers or salespersons,” he said.
“All we have to do is just look into a project’s accreditation from the DHSUD and if they have a license to sell. If none, the project is illegal.”
Illegal projects could pose many ill effects, such as having a sub-standard quality as well as fraudulent titles or documents, Del Rosario said.
“All we need is a partnership between the national and local governments for the implementation. If there is an accreditation to sell, they [developers] could not be building substandard projects,” he said.
He said the DHSUD had an ongoing intensified campaign against real estate scammers or the so-called “kolorums” to protect unsuspecting real-property buyers from being victimized.