BAGUIO CITY March 18 – The City Council unanimously approved a resolution requesting lessors in the city to waive the rentals of their lessees who either stopped or suspended their commercial operations during the implementation of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine upon orders of President Rodrigo R. Duterte from March 17 to April 13, 2020.
The city legislative body convened a special session to pass important resolutions to alleviate the lives of people directly affected by the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine during the prescribed period.
The city legislators argued lessors should understand the current predicament of their lessees, especially commercial establishments that are leasing spaces in their buildings, in paying their rentals due to the temporary suspension of their operations or the eventual stoppage of their operations as a result of the implementation of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine due to the continuous increase in the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) cases.
The City Council pointed out that lessors should give their lessees that stopped or suspended their operations during this period of enhanced community quarantine the necessary suspension of their rentals to allow them to recover from the serious negative effect of the current state of the economy that has been ravaged by the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.
According to the resolution, everyone has been significantly affected by the current state of calamity in the country and it is also important for owners of commercial spaces to share the burden of their lessees in this time that businesses are unduly affected from the strict implementation of the enhanced community quarantine.
Earlier, numerous occupants of commercial spaces in various commercial buildings around the city had been inquiring from city officials what assistance could be extended by the city to spare them from the imposition of unnecessary surcharges and penalties by their lessors once they will not be able to pay their lease rentals on time as they were not able to operate due to the advise of authorities for people to stay at home.
The approved resolution is part of the initiatives of the city government to send a collective appeal to the private sector to understand the current state of the country in the light of the continuous increase in COVID-19 cases coupled by the confirmed community transmission of the deadly virus which warrants the implementation of strict confinement measures to prevent the further spread of the illness.
Part of the conditions imposed by the Memorandum from the Office of the Executive Secretary on the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine is the possible implementation of reprieve from the payment of rentals by lessees considering the virtual stoppage of their operations as an offshoot of the Luzon-wide quarantine that mandated all residents to possibly stay at home when they have nothing to do outside their homes as part of the precautionary measures to be practiced to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.
By Dexter A. See
