MANILA,
Philippines - The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) welcomes the passage
of the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Act into law, the fourth
landmark legislative measure proposed by the local bourse to boost the
local stock market.
“We are extremely grateful to our Congress led by Sen. Ed Angara and
Congressman Sonny Angara and President Arroyo for making R.A. 9856 or
the REIT law a reality. We are getting a lot of interest from many of
our property
firms for REIT listings. This landmark law will put the Philippines at
par with the rest of the world which has had REITs for over 20 years,”
said PSE president and chief executive officer Francis Lim.
The Department of Finance (DOF) recommended presidential veto of the
bill basically because of its impact on the tax collection efforts of
the government but the PSE pushed for the bill to become a law.
“We worked extremely hard on this piece of legislation for the past
three years and we were seriously concerned that our time and efforts
would go down the drain when we were informed that the DOF recommended
presidential veto of the bill.
But we think that Congress had already addressed the concerns of the
DOF even up to the bicameral conference committee,” Lim said.
Contrary
to fears that the fiscal incentives in the law may undermine the
revenues of government, Lim explained that the REIT law can even help
contribute to the government coffers. “The REIT law promotes
transparency for tax reporting purposes.
Moreover, the new business opportunities that will be created should translate to a broader tax base for government,” Lim said.
“An independent study
conducted by a team from the University of Asia and the Pacific
concluded that the government will not only recover every peso of tax
incentive but stands to gain between P0.15 and P0.35 more over a
15-year period. This conclusion was made on the basis of the March 28,
2009 version of the bill, which granted far more liberal tax incentives
than the enrolled version,” Lim said.
Lim said the REIT law will develop the capital markets in the
Philippines and provide much needed investment opportunities for
institutional and retail investors to increase the wealth of the
population through a lower risk instrument. “It will also boost the
development of real estate in the country by releasing capital for
reinvestment into land and buildings, leading to increased productivity
and more jobs,” Lim said.
To encourage investments in REITs, the law provides certain tax
incentives to the REIT. However, in order to enjoy these incentives,
the REIT must be listed with a stock exchange and maintain its status
as a listed company and annually give out at least 90 percent of its
distributable income to shareholders.
Aside from the REIT law, another landmark capital market reform was
the law permanently abolishing the documentary stamp tax (DST) which
was passed last June 30. The Personal and Equity Retirement Account Law and Credit Information System Law were also enacted last year to further enhance the capital markets.