[ Manila Bulletin Online ] January 4, 2009
By EDMER F. PANESA
Speaker Prospero C. Nograles clarified reports yesterday that the House of Representatives will still work on the extension of the Rent Control Law so that the public would not carry an additional burden if the country experiences the adverse effects of the global financial crisis.
Nograles contradicted an earlier statement of a fellow administration lawmaker that the House is not keen on extending the Rent Control Law, which expired last Dec. 31.
The House leader said a new Rent Control Law is needed to protect millions of house and apartment dwellers from the aftershocks of the global economic turmoil that Filipinos face this year.
He said the law "is one of the necessary social parachutes that should remain in place to ease the burden of millions of urban families that still cannot afford to buy their own homes."
"It is already bad enough that many of our Filipino families can hardly put food on their table. An expired Rent Control Law can mean additional hardships for our people. We still need this Rent Control Law," Nograles said.
Earlier, Parañaque City Rep. Eduardo Zialcita said the House will not pass a new law that would extend the Rent Control Act of 2005 and would allow the prevailing market forces to set the increase in rent instead.
Zialcita is the vice chairman of the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development and one of the principal authors of the 2005 Rent Control Law.
Zialcita said he believes that by not extending the law, tenants will be encouraged to take advantage of affordable housing loan packages being offered by government financial institutions, particularly the Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-IBIG.
Nograles said he agrees with Zialcita’s observation that the best alternative is for tenants to avail themselves of low-cost and socialized housing units which have lower mortgage payments than most rates for apartment rentals.
But then, he said, many Filipino families still opt to rent due to many factors, including employment accessibility.
"Many of our low-cost and socialized housing units are still inaccessible so I think that we are not ready to completely dismantle the Rent Control Law," Nograles pointed out.
He said a rent control law would only be no longer be necessary if the government completes the new light Railway Transit (LRT) line that extends up to Cavite where many housing units are located, the Northrail system, and the C-5 Road extension.
"By then, there should be no more excuses for not availing of these low- cost and socialized housing units," he said.
