NREA Mid Year Parangal and
Birthday Celebration of Ka Pepe

Transcript of Senator Ed Angara's speech on July 31, 2007 during
NREA Mid Year Parangal and Birthday Celebration of Ka Pepe

Maraming salamat, maraming salamat Jun, for your very generous introduction... with your introduction parang bilib na rin ako sa sarili ko a. [laughter]

Anyway si Jun po has been a good friend since my father... here in Manila, as well as my home province of Aurora. Etong mga ____ sa Cagyao, mga nagkampanya para sa kin sa Cagyao. Ang Cagyao po katabi ng San Isidro yan. Nun matagal na pong panahon, ang aking tatay ay nag-aral ng high school sa San Isidro. Noong panahon nay un, wala pang kalsada, so nilalakad nya yan hanggang San Isidro. E Cagyaw, malapit yan, e kalapitbayan lang yan.

Babatiin po muna natin ang ating Chairman, ang atin birthday boy, si Ka Pepe; ang atin pong pangulo, si alex; si __ ang chairman ng ating event; tsaka si maris ho. Si maris po matagal ko na pong kilala to e. kaya lang hindi nya ako kinukumbita sa programa nya. Mga kasamahan kop o sa real estate industry, ako po'y nagpapasalamat lalong-lao na kay Ka Pepe, sa kanyang paanyaya sa kin na magsalita sa gabing ito. Humihingi lamang ako ng paumanhin sapagkat aalis din ako kagad, sapagkat ngayon po ay anniversary ng aking law office, yung ACCRA. E ako po ang founder nyan, masama naman po na wala ako ron. Kaya with your permission po mauuna nap o akong magsalita at simple lang naman po ang mensahe na iiwana ko sa inyo e.

For the first time in many years, perhaps in three decades, were seeing the boom in real estate. And it's fueled by many factors - one of them is the remittances from our expat Filipinos ; one of them is the booming of BPOs (Business Process Operations) that requires space, buildings, for offices; and I think the flow of foreign funds din e; as well as the boom in tourism. And I think all these trends - remittances, BPOS, call centers, tourism, should tell us; are going to continue for the next five years. And it is our task to keep the momentum going. And sabi nga ho nung mga ibang mga investors, kung yung mga businessman lang sa Pilipinas mga ordinary citizens okey lang e. pero impakto group yung mga pulitiko. Kami hong mga politician ang injects ng instability into our economy. Kaya nga kaming mga pulitiko we should get our act together. From I seat po I find two; three things at the most.

Ang una is instability of title sa tin sa Pilinas. Noon po kami ay nag-aral ng batas, tinuturuan kami na you don't have to look behind the certificate of title - the torrens title-because that is indefeasible. You can rely on what it says. You know [now] you can't depend entirely on the torrens title e. dahil lalo na sa quezon city. kung ano ano na ang makikita mong bukas. Sabi nga ng kaibigan ko sa CALABARZON, naku they have to spend so much for title certs, baka yung nabili e hindi yung lupang yun, o kaya duplicate title etc.

So ganito, over the past several years, what was once a __ and almost sacred document - the certificate of title-[to which] you can depend on and rely [on], ngayun hindi na. and that is bad for business, hindi po ba? Even ordinary homeowner, it's bad that he is not secure that the land to which his house stands on e maaring hindi pala sa kanya. But lalo na sa mga businessmen. Mga factory workers. So.

That is for private land ha. Ngayun even the public land, the public land, forest land. Samaktuwid there's nothing more - no land anymore is protected and sacred. At yan pos a palagay ko ang dapat nating i-solve. To start with. Sapagkat the security and stability of titles are at the heart of business [and] at the heart of the peace of mind of a familyman or a family. And lalo na ho ngayon, dati ho isa lamang o dalawa lamang ang nag-iissue ng security title, yung register of deeds, or yung bureau of land. Aba ngayun ang dami pong ahensya, meron dyang ancestral homes, cultural minority office, hindi mo na malaman kung san ka kukuha ng titulo e. kahit nga yung public land natitituluhan na ngayun e. so yun ho, kailangang ayusing muna natin yan. At makikita nyo ho, lalong the real estate market will boom even more. Kaya ho meron akong panukalang batas dyan at mga kasamahan ko sa senado yun pong LARA. Yung Land Administration Reform Act. That will simplify the land titling and simplify title verification. At aalisin po natin ang mga duplicating so many agencies whose hands are involved [in the administration of land].

[nagpalit ng side ng tape, may mga parte ng speech na hindi na-record.]

But hindi e. so you'd want also to take part in the growth of real estate. And this is one avenue for letting the small and medium investors to get into the real estate market. That means the real estate market, the real estate properties, will now be ___. Hindi katulad ng kwan noon, noh, kailangan kang maghanap ng buyer ng piece of property for you to ____. Ngayun you just have your shares. But the most important thing about REED is that by law, they are required to declare out their dividend, their earnings. They cannot hold it. So there's stability in the market. And there's tax penalty to that. So this is a good system. Let's no welcome Jun Ortiz itong magaling na presidente natin. Cagyaw po yan Cagyaw. Pangulo ako ng ECO that's the biggest lawyers' association in the Philippines. So through REED po, we will invest the real estate properties of this country with liquidity, with stability, and there'll be more people who will get into the real estate market.

The third one ho is we've got to review our insolvency law. Yun pong insolvency law natin was passed in the early 1900's, siguro ho 1908. Matanda pa sa atin to Ka Pepe, hindi ba? So talagang antiquated nap o ito. We've patterned it after the US insolvency law but the US has undergone so many changes, in fact now under the US law, you have a chapter 11 provision. Meaning kung sakaling you are in temporary insolvency - that means your liabilities are more than your assets - you can seek protection. You don't have to be liquidated. Dahil kung ni-liquidate ka, if you're a company and you're liquidated - it's like the death of the family, the death of a person. Dahil napakahirap na pong magrevive, Mahirap na ngang magstart ng company, but you get __ and there is a recent __ imbalance between your liabilities and assets, you';d be declared insolvent. Pag hindi mo na bayaran ang isang supplier or creditor, nakita nila ang asset mo is insufficient, does not jive with your liability, then you could be declared an insolvent and you'd be liquidated. Pero under this proposal po, it's like the American system. You are given a second chance to rehabilitate, to be rehabilitated and the procedure is more simplified. Therefore companies, especially those in real estate, who may be undergoing temporary illiquidity may seek protection under this new insolvency law. So these three ho I think if we __ our land titles and administration; if we establish some form of transferability and liquidity into the real estate market, and then we simplify and facilitate the rehabilitation of companies who may be suffering temporary financial difficulties, then I think our real estate will boom [even more]. It's now booming but with this we can sustain the momentum. And that to me is important.

And we will remove the peaks and varies of the real estate market. Like our economy. In order to be a continued rising trend rather than an up and down like a rollercoaster. So yun ho ang proposal ko. And I think we can get that passed. I'll be in the Senate for the next six years so we have plenty of time. But I hope that in the next two years we can get these three proposals enacted into law.

And of course I'm very concerned, I'm sympathetic of your desire to have a Department of Housing. I know that there are those of us in the Senate especially who may raise question about an additional department in government given the fact that our government's already wrapped in red tape. But somebody pointed out that right now, housing is covered with too many agencies, too many agencies involved in regulating housing so we might as well have one central body that will oversee. so I'm sympathetic desire.

The other proposal of yours I will support is the professionalization of real estate - dealers and brokers no? I think the customer will always benefit if those who sell and deal and trade and whatever, whether it's real estate or house or ___ are professionally trained. You can be sure that I will support all your initiatives and I just want to say publicly that I'm grateful for your support during the last election and that was my fourth term in the Senate [clapping]