Osmeña: The realtors’ dilemma

ALTHOUGH real estate transactions can be traced to Biblical days, the real estate business as we know it today is a product of the twentieth century. Early bargain and sale transactions were carried out directly between the owner and purchaser of real estate; lawyers rather than brokers were sought out to safeguard the rights of the parties and to attend to the details involved in property transfer.

Industrialization, urbanization, migration and territorial settlement made it profitable to subdivide large landholdings into smaller and smaller tracts. Subdividers, developers and builders were quick to recognize the potential business opportunities and actively encouraged home ownership.

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The real estate business at the beginning of the previous century was largely unorganized. The caveat emptor spirit of the time—“let the buyer beware”—prevailed since no state license laws existed governing activities of real estate brokers and their salesmen. Sometime in the 1960s, a group of well-meaning individuals engaged in real estate activities joined and organized trade organizations known as real estate boards, thus the need for the establishment of trade ethics, standardization of real estate brokerage practices, commission charges and servicing fees.

Unity brought strength, but unfortunately, many individuals and corporate entities continue to practice real estate brokerage without having been issued a real estate broker’s license from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). Until today, these individuals are called “colorum” real estate sales agents.

Finally, after more than five decades, Congress enacted Republic Act 9646, an act regulating the practice of real estate service in the Philippines, creating for the purpose a Professional Regulatory Board of Real Estate Service. The law requires that the implementing rules and regulations be done within six months after the effectivity of the act. The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), together with the Professional Regulatory Board of Real Estate Service, the accredited and integrated professional organization of real estate service practitioners, the Department of Finance and the Commission on Higher Education shall prepare the rules and regulations, including the code.

Brokers are anxiously awaiting the implementing rules and regulations, since nine months have passed since the law’s enactment. Also, within 90 days from the effectivity of the act, the DTI-Bureau of Trade Regulation and Consumer Protection (BTRCP) shall transfer all pertinent records, documents and other materials to the Professional Regulatory Board of Real Estate Service.

Henceforth, no partnership or corporation shall engage in the business of real estate service unless it is duly registered with SEC and the persons authorized to act shall all be duly registered and licensed real estate brokers, appraisers or consultants.

There shall be at least one licensed real estate broker for every 20 accredited salespersons. In case the violation is committed by an unlicensed real estate practitioner, the penalty shall be P200,000 or imprisonment of not less than four years.

Finally, the act has caught up with the rampant violation of unlicensed brokers and salesmen for many decades. Under Section 34, all real estate service associations shall be integrated into one national organization, which shall be recognized by the board, subject to the approval of the PRC, as the only accredited and integrated professional organization of real estate service practitioners. The state recognizes the vital role of real estate service practitioners in the social, political and economic development and progress of the country by promoting the real estate market, stimulating economic activity and enhancing government income from real property-based transactions.

It shall develop and nurture through proper and effective regulation and supervision a corps of technically competent, responsible and respected professional real estate service practitioners, whose standards of practice and service shall be globally competitive and promote the growth of the real estate industry.

Hopefully, the PRC shall prioritize the recommendation of the members of the Professional Regulatory Board for President Arroyo to appoint. The word “realtor”—a trademark term reserved by the National Association of Real Estate Boards in the US—has been adopted by the Philippine Association of Real Estate Boards. Will the realtors be considered as the national real estate service association?