Amendments to RESA Law
One of the professions now regulated by the Professional Regulation Commission in the Philippines is the practice of real estate service which is comprised of three licensures -- Real Estate Broker, Real Estate Appraiser and Real Estate Consultant. These three licenses were placed under regulation and supervision of the PRC with the enactment of R.A. 9646 (otherwise known as the RESA Law) in June 2009.
While the RESA law has certainly given a new level of respectability and credibility to the careers of real estate agents and valuers, it is also the root for the eventual demise of the profession. In its initial 6 years of implementation of the RESA law, there was an initial rapid and dramatic upsurge in the numbers of licensed real estate brokers and appraisers licensed by the PRC. By the end of 2015, the number of real estate service practitioners licensed by PRC had reached about 40,000.
But in 2016, the growth suddenly came to an abrupt and dramatic stop when the PRC began to implement the requirement that only graduates of a B.S. Real Estate Management degree would be allowed to take the board examination as enshrined in the RESA law. And so today, the real estate service profession faces a sudden downturn which will slowly result in the eventual dearth of licensed professional brokers and appraisers.
To avert disaster, one of the country's oldest real estate organizations -- the Manila Board of Realtors, Inc. (established in 1938), has proposed amendments to the RESA law which we reproduce below for public opinion.
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A PROPOSAL TO AMEND R.A. 9646 –
AN ACT REGULATING THE PRACTICE
OF REAL ESTATE SERVICE IN THE PHILIPPINES, CREATING FOR THE PURPOSE A
PROFESSIONAL REGULATORY BOARD OF REAL ESTATE SERVICE, APPROPRIATING FUNDS
THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Main Proponent: Manila Board of Realtors, Inc.
WHEREAS R.A. 9646 which was
enacted in 2009 has become a very important piece of legislation that has
contributed to the growth of the real estate industry in the Philippines;
WHEREAS, there is a strong
clamor from the stakeholders in the real estate industry to to remove or revise
restrictive provisions in R.A. 9646 in
order to enhance the continuing growth of the ranks of licensed real estate
professionals;
Now therefore, in response
to the needs of the real estate industry, the following amendments to R.A. 9646
are hereby proposed by the Manila Board of Realtors, Inc.
1) To amend the academic qualification of
applicants for examination.
R.A. 9646, Section 14 provides
the following qualification for applicants for examinations:
Section 14. Qualification of
Applicants for Examinations. - In order to be admitted to the licensure examination for real estate service, a
candidate shall, at the time of filing his/her application, establish to the satisfaction of
the Board that he/she possesses the following qualifications:
(a) A citizen of the Philippines;
(b) A holder of a relevant bachelor's degree from a
state university or college, or other educational institution duly recognized by the
CHED: Provided, That as soon as a course leading to a Bachelor's degree in
Real Estate Service is implemented by the CHED, the Board shall make this
course a requirement for taking the "licensure examination; and
(c) Of good moral character, and must not have been
convicted of any crime involving moral turpitude: Provided, That an applicant for the
licensure examination for real estate consultants must show
proof that he/she has at least ten (10) years experience as a licensed real estate
broker or an assessor, or as a bank or institutional appraiser or an employed person
performing real property
valuation, or at least five (5) years experience as a licensed real
estate appraiser.
We propose three significant amendments to Section 14 as follows:
1.1 Section 14 (a) shall be amended to read as
follows:
(a) A citizen of the Philippines; provided however that a citizen of a foreign country may be allowed
to take the licensure examination if there is an equivalent reciprocity agreement between the said foreign
country and the Philippines.
JUSTIFICATION:
What is hampering reciprocity agreements between the Philippines and
many foreign countries, including the ASEAN, is the restrictive provision
limiting examinations only to Filipino citizens. However, if there is a reciprocity agreement
allowing Filipinos to practice in a foreign country, this will be beneficial to
us because we will now be able to sell Philippine real estate in foreign
lands. In fact, there are many forecasts
that the next boom in our real estate market will come if we can market
Philippine real estate in to former Filipinos who now live in affluence in
foreign countries.
1.2 Section 14 (b) shall be amended to add
another phrase as shown below:
(b) A holder of a relevant bachelor's degree from a
state university or college, or other educational institution duly recognized by the
CHED: Provided, That as soon as a course leading to a Bachelor's degree in
Real Estate Service is implemented by the CHED, the Board shall make this
course a requirement for taking the "licensure examination for brokers and appraisers only; and provided further that if the number
of graduates of this course is insufficient to meet the needs of the real
estate industry, the Commission, on recommendation by the Board and leading
organizations in the real estate industry, may continue to allow other bachelor’s degree holders to take the
licensure examinations subject to fulfillment of other requirements such as
review seminars, short courses, or actual experience in real estate service
practice.
JUSTIFICATION
1) In 2016, the Commission began to implement the B.S.
Real Estate requirement as a qualification for the board examinations. Regretfully, only a handful of graduates took
the examination – about 50 for real estate brokers and 30 for real estate
appraisers. Thus, it is quite clear that
the graduates of the bachelor’s degree in real estate is still grossly
insufficient.
2) Meanwhile, the real estate industry grows
unabated. Numerous developers need to
professionalize thousands of
salespersons, otherwise there will be an increase in unlicensed
practitioners (colorum).
3) In the
offices of local government assessors, there continues to be a dearth of
licensed appraisers. R.A. 9646, Section
30, restricts local governments from hiring new personnel who are not licensed
and likewise restricts the promotion of assessors who are not licensed
appraisers. Thus, there is still a need
to open up the examinations for appraisers.
1.3 Section 14 (c) shall be amended to read as
follows:
(c) Of good moral character, and must not have been
convicted of any crime involving moral turpitude: Provided, That an applicant for the
licensure examination for real estate consultants must show
proof that he/she has at least ten (10) five (5) years experience as a licensed real estate broker or an
assessor, or as a bank or institutional appraiser or an employed person
performing real property valuation, or at least five
(5) two (2) years experience
as a licensed real estate appraiser.
JUSTIFICATION:
Until today, there are only about 150 licensed real estate consultants,
a dismally disproportionately small number out of the total of nearly 40,000
real estate service professionals. There
is a great need to motivate more brokers and appraisers to sit for the real
estate consultant examinations by relaxing the 10-year / 5-year experience
requirement.
2) To remove or delete Section 26, as follows:
Section 26. Professional Indemnity
Insurance/Cash or Surety Bond. –
All real estate brokers and private
real estate appraisers shall, in addition to the oath referred to in the preceding
section, be required to post a professional indemnity insurance/cash or surety bond,
renewable every three (3) years, in an amount to be determined by the Board, which
in no case shall be less than Twenty thousand pesos (P20,000.00), without prejudice
to the additional requirement of the client.
JUSTIFICATION:
In the last 5 years, the
real estate professionals have dutifully complied with this provision, to the
delight of the insurance companies.
However until today, there is no known case where the required idemnity
or surety bond was called to remunerate an obligee. Since the real estate service professions are
not well-regulated by the Commission which has imposed continuing education and
compliance with a code of ethics, we strongly believe this bond is
unnecessary. In fact, it is inequitable
because other professionals – lawyers, doctors, nurses, etc. are not required to post bonds.
3) To clarify the nature of the proposed
accredited and integrated professional organization of real estate service
practitioners.
R.A. 9646, Section 34, shall be
amended to read as follows:
Section 34. Accreditation and
Integration of Real Estate Service Associations. –
All licensed real estate service
professionals service associations shall be integrated into one
(1) national organization, which shall be recognized by the Board, subject to
the approval of the Commission, as the only accredited and integrated
professional organization of real estate service practitioners (AIPO-RESP).
A real estate service practitioner duly registered
with the Board shall automatically become a member of the AIPO-RESP accredited and integrated professional
organization of real estate service practitioners, and shall receive the
benefits and privileges appurtenant thereto.
An organization or association
of licensed real estate professionals may likewise apply to join the AIPO-RESP as an institutional member
if it meets the qualifications prescribed by the organization.
Membership in the accredited and integrated
professional organization of real estate service practitioners shall not be a bar to membership
in other associations of real estate service practitioners.
JUSTIFICATION:
In the last 5 years, there has been a continuing
debate as to whether membership in the AIPO shall consist only of associations
(juridical entities) or only of individuals (natural persons). Recently the Board and the Commission issued
Resolution 2016-151 stating that the AIPO can be a hybrid organization composed
of both entities. OIn support of the
PRC’s resolution, and to further clarify this issue, the above amendments is
thereby added to Section 34.
______________________________________________________________________
Submitted by:
Manila Board of Realtors, Inc. Date
