Lapid files bill seeking suspension of rent collection, eviction during calamities

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Lito Lapid has filed a bill seeking to temporarily suspend of evictions and the collection of rent for residential units during calamities, national or local.

Senate Bill No. 1525 seeks to put a moratorium on evictions during calamities “regardless of the cause, except when a lessee/sublessee perpetrates a criminal act that threatens the life, limb and property of the lessor, sublessor or owner, other tenants or staff of the property in which the residential unit is located.”

Lapid said the suspension would allow poor families to cope with the economic effects of disasters.

“It’s just like what we have been experiencing during this COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the closure of some businesses and the suspension of work, which was why most of our countrymen have no earning and no money to pay for rent,” Lapid said in Filipino in a statement issued on Saturday.

Lapid said the moratorium on rent would be imposed on “residential units referring to apartments, houses, dormitories, rooms and bedspaces.”

The temporary suspension may also be applied to commercial or office space rental or micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) at the discretion of the secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry, Lapid said.

The moratorium will take effect during “disasters and other kinds of emergencies which are national in scope as declared through a State of Calamity or State of National Emergency by the President.”

The moratorium will also include “State of Calamity or Emergency declared in provinces, cities and municipalities.”

/atm