MANILA, Philippines—Families living in constant fear of ejection due to non-payment of housing loans may soon have a sigh of relief.

A bill allowing the restructuring of housing loans was approved Tuesday by the bicameral conference committee. Only borrowers whose principal loan does not exceed P2.5 million are qualified.

Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, chairman of the Senate Committee on Urban Planning, Housing, and Resettlement, said the measure was meant to prevent the "massive ejectment of delinquent borrowers" and allow government financial institutions to collect over a longer period of time.

"We help families hold on to their homes, such as Pag-ibig borrowers of which 90 percent housing borrowers are delinquent," Zubiri said.

Under the law, delinquent borrowers are those who have failed to pay their amortizations for three months.

The measure, among other things, condones the payment of penalty and surcharge fees and a big portion of the interest fees. It also extends the maximum age for restructuring to 70 from 65 years.

But borrowers who have not made even a single payment, or abandoned their mortgaged house, or have the title transferred to a lending agency are not qualified.

If passed into a law, about 300,000 delinquent borrowers and 849 community associations are expected to benefit from this measure.

Zubiri said the poor will benefit most from the measure as the average amortization of informal settlers will be reduced dramatically.

"The Pag-ibig borrower who pays P3,700 now and has become delinquent and qualifies in this bill will be paying only around P2,400. That difference will be a very big help," he said.

Zubiri noted that the bill also all government housing agencies to run their own loan restructuring program even after the life of the law, which is 18 months, ends.

Likewise, he said, the law empowers the National Housing Authority (NHA), Socialized Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC), and National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC) to restructure delinquent loans which had been restricted by the Commission on Audit.

This, Zubiri said, is in contrast to the sub-prime property crisis in the United States wherein lenders could entice borrowers to borrow more even if they did not show capability to pay.

"We managed to secure the commitment of the government financial institutions to relax the rules. At the same time, we ensured that this will not unduly set back the actuarial security of the funds, especially Pag-ibig which depends on member-contributions and originally borrowed loanable funds at a higher interest rate," the senator said.

The bill covers delinquent socialized and low-cost housing accounts with the Government Service Insurance System, Social Security System, Home Development Mutual Fund, NHMFC, SHFC, Home Guaranty Corporation, and NHA.