New law needed to grant anew grace period for loans

MANILA – Malacañang on Tuesday said a new law should be passed to give borrowers another grace period to pay loans during the two-week enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in NCR Plus.

NCR Plus, which refers to Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Bulacan, and Rizal, was placed under ECQ from March 29 to April 11 to curb the spread in coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) infections and address hospital congestion.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this statement after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the law granting a mandatory grace period for borrowers lapsed last June 1, 2020.

The BSP was referring to Republic Act (RA) No. 11469 or Bayanihan to Heal as One Act (Bayanihan 1).

“Tama po ang BSP. Kinakailangan po natin ng bagong batas kung kinakailangan natin yung mga reliyebo or assistance diyan sa mga pagkauutang. Batas po ang kailangan diyan (The BSP is right. There is a need for a new law that would provide assistance for borrowers. A new law is needed for that),” he said in a virtual presser.

In a statement last March 29, the BSP implementation of a 30-day grace period for the payment of loans under the law “ceased to apply effective 01 June 2020.”

“The Omnibus Guidelines (with Amendments as of March 28, 2021) issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases does not operate to extend the 30-day grace period provided for under RA No. 11469,” the statement read.

The central bank, however, encouraged local banks 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 BSP has granted prudential relief measures to BSFIs to enable them to continue to provide financial services and support households and business amid the crisis,” it added.

BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno also encouraged banks to take advantage of the time-bound tax exemptions and fee privileges under RA 11523 or the Financial Institutions Strategic Transfer (FIST) Act.

President Rodrigo Duterte signed the FIST Act last February to help the Philippine economy recover from the pandemic shock.

The FIST Act allows banks and financial institutions to outsource the management of their non-performing assets (NPAs) and non-performing loans (NPLs) to asset management firms that are similar to special purpose vehicles (SPV).