Press Release
October 15, 2009

Free patent bill to benefit 39 million Filipinos with untitled lands - Gordon

Senator Richard J. Gordon (Ind.) today said approximately 39 million Filipinos would be able to legally obtain the lands that they possessed in the concept of owner for a long period of time once the free patent bill is passed into law.

Gordon said Senate Bill 3429 or an Act Reforming the Administrative Titling Process, which passed on third reading in the Senate, will help the country towards its goal of attaining a robust economy.

As this developed, Pascual Garcia III, president of the Chamber of Thrift Banks (CTB), commended the senator for sponsoring the bill and invited him to be the guest speaker during the chamber's general membership meeting on Oct. 23. "There is no better economic stimulus right now than passing this bill. Our local governments see an improvement in urban development and an increase in realty taxes resulting from the expected increase in land values of properties once they are titled. Rural and thrift bankers can now grant loans to the owners since the titled properties could be used as collateral," said Gordon, one of the authors of the bill.

"Most importantly, are the landowners themselves. There are millions of them. They will get a higher value for their property because they now have a registered title. These families will be able to sleep better because they have secure titles to their lands. They will be able to obtain loans from their banks if they need to. They will be able to bequeath the property or divide it among their children if they wish to," he added.

"Allow me to extend our sincere appreciation and gratitude for sponsoring the Free Patent Bill in the Senate, a measure that is envisioned to stimulate bank lending, among others. Given the importance of this measure to the industry, we would like to respectfully invite you to be our guest speaker," Garcia, for his part, said.

"We feel that this is an opportune time for our member-banks to hear directly from you the importance of the bill in terms of boosting bank lending with better collateral, allowing homeowners access to credit in banking institutions for entrepreneurial or homebuilding activities and reducing the risk of fake titling and land frauds," he added.

Gordon said the bill aims to ease the requirements and/or procedures in the titling of residential and commercial lands.

The salient features of the bill include: the reduction of the period of eligibility for titling from 30 years to 10 years; the issuance of free patents without payment of outstanding real estate taxes; the extension of free patents to residential lands (in all municipalities and cities) regardless of income classification; and the removal of restrictions after patent issuance.

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