A lawmaker has filed a measure seeking to expand Republic Act 9653 or the Rent Control Act of 2009 by including micro and small business enterprises, a press release from Congress said.

Rep. Teddy Casiño (Party-list, Bayan Muna) said House Bill 5636 will put a cap on increases in rentals of commercial spaces, one of the biggest expenses in business operations. The measure to be known as the "Expanded Rent Control Act," includes the words "or commercial space" in the definition of terms under Section 3; Limit on Increases in Rent under Section 4 and in Section 9, the press release said.

Aside from residential units, all commercial spaces in highly urbanized cities with a total monthly rent ranging from P1 to P30,000 and all commercial spaces in all other areas with a total monthly rent ranging from P1 to P20,000 are included in the coverage of the act. Under the bill, the Department of Trade and Industry is now included as one of the authorities of rental regulation granted with separate authority from the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, the press release said.

The HUDCC and the DTI are mandated to separately formulate and implement a two year transition program which will provide for safety measures to cushion the impact in the event of a regulation-free housing market. "This would allow micro and small business to use money otherwise spent on exorbitant rent hikes for their capital, labor and other operational expenses," Casiño said.

The bill seeks to amend Sections 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 16 of R.A. 9653. Casiño said government statistics show that of the 780,437 business enterprises operating in the country, 99.6 percent (777,357) are micro, small and medium enterprises. "Of this number, 91.4 percent (710,822) are micro enterprises and 8.2 percent (63,526) are small enterprises," he said.

Casiño said those involved in manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and services, micro and small enterprises contribute around 30.4 percent (1,731,082) and 25.5 percent (1,449,033), respectively of the total jobs generated by businesses each year.*

back to top