There is currently a group of people who have violated the Real Estate Service Act (RA9646)and are looking to amend it to avoid the penal provisions of the law though a movement called “A Better Real Estate Philippines” which want to legitimize colorum practitioners and escape criminal prosecution, for which a warrant of arrest has already been issued with probable cause.

Our petition is to stop the rampant and abusive practice of colorums in all PRC licensed professions such as, but not limited to: Architecture, Engineering, Interior Design, Medical professions, Law, Pharmacy, Accountancy, and the like. We demand that the government do something about this to protect the public against colorums, scams and criminal syndicates. This is just a glaring reminder that if we do not stand up to protect our professions, colorums will take advantage of our silence to legitimize their illegal practices.

A profession is a PUBLIC TRUST. The licensed professionals are expected to act and behave with the aim to PROTECT THE INTEREST OF THE VERY PUBLIC THEY WORK WITH AND SERVE, and to fully educate themselves to carry out that capacity, so they can practice with ethics, upgrade and professionalize their chosen professions within the bounds of the law, not necessarily to be at par with our ASEAN and global neighbors, but perhaps to one day, exceed expectations and be a respected example of professional competence in the world, like our medical practitioners, engineers, seamen, and etc.    

Our case in point is below, which should serve as a precedent for all colorum cases of people who perform services of the different PRC Licensed Professions.

Purpose of the RESA Law

The primary purpose of the RESA Law (RA 9646) is to protect the public from dishonest or incompetent salesmen, brokers, appraisers and consultants. The RESA Law also acknowledgesthe role of the real estate practitioners in the development and progress of the country, thus the law mandates regulation and supervision of technically competent, responsible, and respected professional real estate service practitioners.

We represent law abiding citizens, buyers, sellers, and professionals who want to uphold the Real Estate Service Act  (RA 9646) to protect the public against scams, colorum agents, criminal property syndicates, and the like, for the following reasons:

RESA Law is for Buyer & Seller Protection

1. Enforce the full penal provisions of the law. Uphold penalties for unlawful real estatepractice, fraudulent real estate transactions, syndicated scams, unlawful real estate practice of foreigners, and the like. These frauds do not merely take advantage of the hard working Filipino, but it jeopardizes the whole industry by casting doubts on the professionalism andcompetency of legitimate real estate professionals. The penal provisions should not be removed to give colorum practioners and scammers a go signal to illegally practice real estate services and to make a mockery of our laws. The penal provision is argued to be pro poor because scammers, colorums and criminal property syndicates, supposedly cannot pay for the fines of their illegal activities.
 2. Transparency in ads. All advertisements or promotions, online or offline, should bear the PRC registered name of the Real Estate Broker and his license. The Real Estate Salesperson shall also bear his full registered name and accreditation number along with the registered name of his principal broker, and his respective broker’s license number. This is done for the purpose of transparency and accountability, that the public may know who they are dealing with,to easily identify colorum practitioners and scammers. Buyers and sellers can easily check the seller’s legitimacy thru the PRC online verification app for their peace of mind from the information posted in the public advertisements.
 3. Training seminars. The Real Estate Salesperson accreditation seminar is a pro poor approach to legitimize real estate practioners as the seminar only costs P500, a PRC annual registration is only P600, and a DHSUD annual registration is only P720. It is the cheapest way to practice real estate. A person who does not want to get accredited may have an NBI or PNP record, be too lazy or disinterested to study relevant laws for buyer and seller / protection, find the P30,000 training costs by some brokerages too prohibitive, or does not have a principal licensed real estate broker to apply under their wing, the supervision of which, is mandated by the RESA Law to ensure competent real estate service practitioners are protecting the best interests of their clients, and so licensed real estate brokers can monitor and police illegal activities of their real estate sales persons.  
 4. Qualified education. BS REM equips the real estate service practioner important knowledge and skills that deal with real estate economics, relevant laws, urban planning, environmental concerns, investment math, taxation, the family code, and the like. Currently, 4 year non BS REM graduates can take a 2 year online course to get the knowledge they need to provide their clients the protection for their valued investments, while being a Real Estate Salesperson. There is no need to remove the BS REM provision, for if the practitioner is not qualified to be a licensed real estate broker, they could more easily qualify as an accredited Real Estate Salesperson who can engage in real estate practice. Such is the training necessary to be a doctor, a lawyer, a nurse, an architect, an engineer, an interior designer, a nutrionist, an accountant, and the like, there are no shortcuts.We need to uplift the real estate professional industry and not degrade it. We need to protect all professional industries.
 5. Exorbitant fees and scams. Some colorum agents charge their clients exorbitant service fees and commissions, some pocket the remittance payments of their clients, there are organized criminal syndicates that sell government land and tribal ancestral lands and forests, those that sell rights to illegal squatters to occupy government or private land, and the like. There is little fear to break the law because these people have no licenses or professional accreditations to lose. Recommendations for anti scams and anti colorum

 

6. Demand the creation of an anti colorum division FOR ALL PROFESSIONS in PRCand have the government fully fund its operation. This division will be tasked to create an inter-department task force within the NBI, PNP, BI,DILG, DICT, SEC, DTI, and other concerned agencies that will exclusively investigate, entrap, apprehend violators of the RESA Law AS WELL AS OTHER COLORUM PRACTITIONERS (fake architects, engineers, interior designers, lawyers, doctors, etc).
 7. Standardize the MINIMUM Professional fees. Provide the public information on the MINIMUM rates of Real Estate Professionals and the of the different services they offer. Clients should demand to see a PRC license or PRC accreditation before they sign any authority to lease or sell, or to pay a lawful commission.Property owners can allow the sale or rental of their property, but these owners must be given the right to refuse payment of a professional feeto colorum agents. The Register of Deeds and the Bureau of Internal Revenue must require the seal of a licensed real estate broker in every deed of sale, deed of assignment, deed of donation and the like, to transact and transfer ownership to the new buyer to curb colorum practices.
8. A government sponsored TESDA education. An alternative TESDA Vocational Training Program to equip 2nd year college students the necessary skills, technical knowledge, relevant laws, taxation, moral and business ethics to be a competent, responsible and law abiding Real Estate Salesperson. The training certificate should be equivalent to, and recognized as a CPD, for the trainee to use to affiliate himself with a licensed Real Estate Broker and apply for PRC accreditation thru the REBs endorsement to PRC. This is a pro poor resolution that will educate the salesperson of ways and means to protect their clients, buyers, and sellers and to legalize their professional practice.
9. A State University to offer BS REM. State universities, or even just one state university, to offer an online 2 year BS REM, MS REM and PhD online course for working professionalswho have graduated from a 4 year related course,which will address the issue of cost, professional competency, and time constraints. Thiseducational path will also align with the current proposals of the PRC and the ASEAN, to integrate all professional practices throughout member states for the growth of all our professionals, not just real estate service professionals.
10. Simplify and hasten the registration and accreditation of Real Estate Salespersons, and also its cancellation. This will allow the Real Estate Brokers, and the real estate developers who hire Real Estate Brokers, to easily replace or replenish his / their non performing real estate salespersons within a time span of not more than 5 days, so the Real Estate Brokers / Developers can better manage their business. The Real Estate Salesperson, whose accreditation has been cancelled, shall be allowed to apply under another Real Estate Broker / Developer for the remainder of his 12 month registration, with just a minimal transfer or reassignment fee, not costing more than 10% of his annual registration fee, and preferably thru an online transaction.This is to ensure the public that they are dealing with a law abiding and ethical real estate service practitioners.

 All the above concerns are OPERATIONALand DO NOT NEED THE AMENDMENT OF THE RESA LAW or any professional regulating law, to spare tens of thousands of aggressive, bold, colorum agents and criminal syndicates from prosecution from the very law they have violated. Citizens need to conform to the law meant to protect the public. It is not the law who needs to conform to colorum practitioners for their selfish interests. People who violate the law are outlaws, and as such, outlaws do not have any right to amend the laws they have violated, to their favor.

If there is a need to amend the RESA LAW, we would like to recommend only 2 changes:

11. Stiffer penalties. The RESA Law treats its violators as petty offenders with very small fines and short jail sentences. We recommend to increase the penalties to discourage violators from pursuing illegal operations to protect public interest, as a real estate scam is equivalent to a severe economic sabotage of one’s assets, as it deals with life savings and / or inheritance, and in cases of criminal syndicates, one’s life. Violators should have their licenses and accreditations permanently revoked.
 Similarly, we would like to recommend that stiffer and more serious penalties are meted out to all colorum practitioners of the different PRC registered professions such as, but not limited to: (architecture, engineering, interior design, accounting, law, various medical professions, etc).

12. Provide citizens the benefits of urban planning. To require the appointment or employment of a licensed Real Estate Consultant in all local government planning units to synergize proactively with Environmental Planners, and for real estate developers to employ the licensed Real Estate Consultant to work with project development and the executive management committees, to ensure compliance with the RESA Law, to properly design beneficial projects that will adhere to, and complement an urban plan (or a project within an urban plan), to minimize the problem of high density dwelling by following proper urban capacity, avoid extreme traffic, minimize flooding, ensure compliance of a balanced housing development for socialized housing in key cities, plan utilities and transport infrastructure design, address informal settlers,and manage government properties, manage government land rental and acquisition, and the like.
 I. A Call to End Colorum Practices in All PRC Licensed Professions
 As operational changes, policing, entrapment and apprehension in concerned departments and agencies will not be effective immediately, we call for the strong enforcement of the existing laws on the real estate industry, and also that of other professional industries. We need to protect the public and the professional practice of our valued law abiding licensed professionals. The existing law must be upheld and those who violated it must be held liable and accountable.

Our licensed professions are a PUBLIC TRUST.Let us protect the public from colorums, scammers and syndicates who prey on them.