President Duterte pleaded to mall owners and landlords last Thursday to defer the collection of lease or rent from cash-strapped tenants, asking them to bear with the delay and instead use their savings to tide over the coronavirus crisis.
According to the President, collecting rent from a tenant affected by the coronavirus lockdown is “practically flogging a dead horse.”
“Ako naman nakikiusap, nagmakaawa dahil nga talagang if you are not earning, how are you supposed to pay? So maawa naman tayo sa mga kababayan natin. Let us help one another,” Duterte said.
“If it does not really spell bankruptcy sa inyo, eh ‘di tiisin na lang ninyo with nothing except your savings to tide you over,” he added.
Duterte lamented that some mall owners and landlords have been demanding their tenants to pay 50 percent of the lease even if they are not operating due to the quarantine restrictions. He appealed to landlords to help the retailers and other tenants to ride out the effects of the coronavirus outbreak.
“Actually I am at a loss really to explain to you how but you know when you collect from somebody who is not earning at all, it’s practically flogging a dead horse,” he said.
“If they are not earning, where will they get the 50 percent to pay if not the 100 percent that you’d want to collect? So that seems to me a problem but I would like to appeal to the owners of the buildings of the malls,” he said.
Duterte said he expects the Department of Trade and Industry to address the issue about rentals during the public health emergency.
“There can be some sort of adjudication process to fix this problem,” he said.
The government has implemented lockdown measures across the country that forced many businesses either to reduce or stop operations. Over two million local workers have been displaced due to temporary closure of companies and reduced incomes due to modified working arrangements.
The DTI had earlier called for a 30-day moratorium on residential and commercial rent for small businesses in areas under enhanced community quarantine, modified ECQ, and general community quarantine. The cumulative rent due within the quarantine period may be amortized in six months without charges. (Genalyn Kabiling)
