President Duterte ordered a grace period for the payment of loans and rent
President Duterte ordered a grace period for the payment of loans and rent
In areas
under quarantine, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has ordered a grace period for
loan and rent payments.
The
order was included in the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of
Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) Omnibus Guidelines on Community
Quarantine in the Philippines, which were issued on Sunday, March 28, 2021
The
grace period will be 30 days or
until the quarantine is lifted, whichever is later.
The
grace period for loans extends to ECQ and modified enhanced community
quarantine areas (MECQ).
Under Section
8 of the IATF guidelines, “All banks,
quasi-banks, financing companies, lending companies, and other financial
institutions, public and private, including the Government Service Insurance
System, Social Security System, and Pag-IBIG Fund, are directed to implement a
minimum of a 30-day grace period from due date or until such time that the ECQ
or MECQ is lifted, whichever is later, for the payment of all loans.”
Salary,
personal, housing, and motor vehicle loans, as well as credit card payments due
during the quarantine, are among the loans.
During
the grace period, no interest, penalties, fees, or other charges can be added
to the loans.
The rent
grace period applies to areas subject to ECQ, MECQ, and general community
quarantine (GCQ).
According
to the guidelines, “For residential
and commercial rents falling due within the duration of the ECQ, MECQ, and GCQ,
on residential lessees and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and
sectors not permitted to operate during said period, a grace period of 30 days
from the last due date or until such time that the community quarantine is
lifted.”
The
grace period shall have a retroactive effect starting March 17 in areas where
the applicable community quarantine had been declared.
The
grace period is seen as providing temporary relief for Filipinos who have
little or no money left after the country’s economy was crippled by lockdowns.
UPDATES: As of March 30, 2021
Despite the re-imposition of tighter lockdown measures, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said there would be NO MANDATORY LOAN MORATORIUM, even as it urged banks to provide relief measures to borrowers.
The required 30-day grace
period mandated by Republic Act No. 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act
is not applicable despite the re-imposition of the enhanced community
quarantine (ECQ) in Manila, according to a statement shared by BSP Governor
Benjamin E. Diokno to reporters via Viber.
“The BSP strongly encourages
BSP-supervised financial institutions to continue to provide relief measures to
its clients by renewing, restructuring, or extending the terms of the loans,
among others, based on their continuing assessment of their cash flows,” the
central bank added.