by Chiara Axibal

On December 10, 2021, President Rodrigo Duterte enacted into law RA 11595, an act amending Republic Act No. 8762 or the Retail Trade Liberalization Act of 2000 (RTLA). It was published in the Official Gazette on January 6, 2022 and took effect fifteen (15) days after its publication, January 21, 2022.

by Chiara Axibal

On July 16, 2021, President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law Republic Act (RA) 11573, an act amending the Public Land Act and Property Registration Decree. The signing was only released to the media last July 28, 2021.

What is Republic Act No. 11573 all about?

by Froi M. Tajale

President Duterte’s term-ender State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, July 26, 2021, highlighted the Administration’s misses on its common legislative agenda (CLA) set by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council’s (LEDAC) during the 17th and 18th Congresses. Only 11 months remaining in the Office, the Duterte Administration has enacted 24% or 14 out of the 58 CLAs identified as of the President’s last SONA, surprisingly despite the fact that members of the President’s party list—PDP-Laban, constitute a supermajority in the House of Representatives.

by Froland M. Tajale

On March 26, President Duterte finally signed the second of the four major packages of comprehensive tax reforms proposed by the Department of Finance. The Republic Act 11534 or the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act will bring the country’s business climate competitiveness at least at par with the neighboring ASEAN countries, and attract more greenfield and expansionary investments from foreign and domestic investors.

Tan, Frankum and Associates, Inc. (TFA) registered a 98% increase of available flexible workspaces in six major central business districts (CBDs) of Metro Manila equivalent to 14,835 seats in Q4 2020 compared to 7,481 seats in Q1 2020. The movement restrictions and the temporary shift toward a work-from-home set-up following the upsurge of Covid-19 cases in the National Capital Region combined with the increase in supply resulted in a 23% drop in seat occupancy for Q4 2020.

by Froland M. Tajale

The growth contribution of the services sector in the Philippines has been an important fuel to the recently celebrated economic growth of the country since IT-BPM meaningfully made an entry in 1992 when Frank Holz brought in Accenture. Unknowingly, the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Philippines in January 2020 has now become the largest challenge to the IT and BPM industry’s growth potential.

by Gerardo Laperal

The pandemic-induced regulatory developments in the Philippines have caused decline of outputs in several markets. Recovery largely remained sticky, except for the industrial real estate sector and Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi).

Analysis show that the resiliency of industrial properties was attributed to the capacity of the real estate sector outside Metro Manila to absorb the severe demand shocks from the pandemic situation in the National Capital Region.