The Philippines has a new law known as the “Real Estate Service Act of the Philippines”, which was took effect on July 29, 2009.

What is the main reason why the Philippines has enacted a new law? The reason is that the government wants to regulate the practice of real estate service in the Philippines.

Under the law, the real estate service practitioners are the real estate consultants, real estate appraisers, real estate assessors, real estate brokers, and real estate salespersons. The real estate salesperson performs service for, and in behalf of, a real estate broker.

In passing the new law, the government recognizes the vital role of real estate service practitioners in the social, political, economic development and progress of the country by promoting the real estate market.

The government, through the new law, wants to stimulate economic activity and enhance its income from real property-based transactions.

Hence, the government has declared that 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 will promote the growth of the real estate industry.

For this purpose, the government is creating a professional regulatory board of real estate service, this time to be under the Philippine Regulation Commission (PRC). Formerly, the regulation of the real estate service professionals was under the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), through its Bureau of Trade Regulation and Consumer Protection (BTRCP).

One of the features of the law is a course leading to a Bachelor’s degree in Real Estate Service, as a pre-requisite or qualification to be admitted to the licensure examination to be conducted by the Philippine Regulation Commission. The new course will be implemented by the Commission for Higher Education (CHED) and will be offered by the colleges and universities in the country.

The law also requires that all real estate service practitioners shall indicate on the documents that they sign, use, or issue in connection with the practice of their  profession the following:  certificate of registration, professional identification card, Professional Tax Receipt (PRT) number, and APO receipt number and the date of issuance and the duration and validity. This is to ensure that unlicensed or “colurum” persons are identified, fined, and penalized by imprisonment when caught.

Indeed, the new law will professionalize the activities of persons engaged in real estate service, particularly the real estate brokers, real estate appraisers, and real estate consultants.