DADS push rental holiday for tenants in Government – Owned properties
The Baguio City Council has approved on first reading the proposed ordinance seeking to grant a rental holiday on all establishments in the city-owned or/controlled by the city and national governments during the period covered by this year’s General Community Quarantine (GCQ).
This shall apply to all corporations, real properties, commercial or industrial establishments, stalls, spaces, and units owned/controlled by the city and national governments covered by lease contracts that have been ordered closed as well as those that have not been ordered closed but opted not to operate during this year’s imposed GCQ.
Once enacted, the said rental holiday ordinance authored by Vice Mayor Faustino Olowan and Councilor Philian Weygan-Allan shall take effect retroactively starting on September 24, 2021 until the GCQ has been lifted.
The proposed ordinance has specific provisions for stalls in the public market and in all city-owned parks.
The proposal stipulated that leaseholders of stalls within the city public market that continue to operate during the ongoing GCQ shall settle their unpaid rentals. However, leaseholders of stalls that did not operate during this period shall not pay rentals.
The proposal also stipulated that all concessionaires at Burnham Park and Botanical Garden shall be exempted from paying their rentals during the GCQ. The rental holiday shall apply to pay toilet concessionaires as long as they did not operate as certified by the City Environment and Parks Management Office (CEPMO).
For the implementation, the Local Finance Committee shall provide the names of all tenants who may avail of the said rental holiday. The City Treasury Office shall make the necessary compliance report within a period of 30 days after the lifting of the GCQ status. Copies of the report shall be forwarded to the city council and the city mayor.
Following its approval on first reading, the ordinance has been referred to the Sanggunian’s Committee on Appropriations and Finance Cluster B (Taxes, Fees, and Other Charges) to be reviewed.
It can be recalled that the Inter-Agency Task Force placed Baguio City, Abra, and Bohol under GCQ with heightened restrictions from September 24 to September 30, 2021.
Baguio City was once again placed under GCQ with heightened restrictions from October 1 to October 31, 2021.
Akin to the rental holiday ordinance passed in 2021, Olowan and Weygan-Allan said this proposed ordinance shall provide relief to the affected residents in the business sector in order to attain the city’s objective which is to “to heal as one.” –Jordan G. Habbiling
