GMA won’t veto rent control extension

President Arroyo said yesterday she will not veto the proposed extension of the Rent Control Law if ever Congress approves its legislation.

"I am leaving it to the wisdom of Congress," she said.

Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri (Lakas, Bukidnon) said he was told by Housing Secretary Michael Defensor that the President would sign a law extending rent control for three more years beginning in January.

"There is now hope for the millions of renters affected by the Law that they would have a happy Christmas this year. This could be the best gift the President could give them," he said.

The Bukidnon lawmaker is the principal sponsor of Bill 214 that the House approved in October. The bill, which seeks to extend rent control for three more years, was immediately transmitted to the Senate.

The current law freezing rentals expires at the end of the month.

Zubiri said a group of senators led by Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. is trying to move the bill in the Senate.

He said if the Senate approves it early next week, there is still time for a bicameral conference and for the final bill to be enacted before Congress adjourns its session for its Yuletide break next weekend.

Under Bill 214, apartments, rooms, houses, and other dwelling units renting for P9,000 a month and below in Metro Manila and other highly-urbanized cities, and P6,000 in other areas would be covered by rent control.

Their owners would not be allowed to increase rentals by more than 10 percent a year.

The current law covers dwelling units renting for not more than P300 a month. – Marichu Villanueva, Jess Diaz