Along with eight other bills, the House of Representatives on Tuesday night passed House Bill No. 6098 replacing the Rent Control Act or Republic Act 9341.

This law sought to protect housing tenants in the lower income brackets from unreasonable rent increases. RA 9341 expired in January. Its counterpart bill in the Senate is pending on second reading.  

Legislators immediately acted on the bill following the warning of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) on the effects of the law's expiration. Enacted in 2005, the RA 9341 was only valid for three years.

The House version—An Act Regulating the Rental of Certain Residential Units, Providing the Mechanisms Therefore and for Other Purposes or the Rent Control Act of 2009-- is even more favorable than the original law.

It provides that the rent of any residential unit covered by the law “shall not be increased by more than four percent (4%) annually as long as the unit is occupied by the same lessee.” The original law allowed up to 10 percent increase.  

It also provides that the “lessor cannot demand more than one (1) month advance rent. Neither can he demand more than two (2) months deposit.”

Like in the original law, the coverage of the House version includes “All residential units in the National Capital Region and other highly urbanized cities the total monthly rent for each of which does not exceed Ten thousand pesos (P10,000.00) and all residential units in all other areas, the total monthly rent for each of which does not exceed Five thousand pesos (P5,000.00) as of the effectivity date of this Act shall be covered, without prejudice to existing contracts.”  

Violators may be fined with up to P15,000 or may face up to six months imprisonment.

It also grants the HUDCC the authority to continue the regulation of the rental of certain residential units, to review the implementation of the law, and to recommend to Congress if continuing regulation is necessary or deregulation is already warranted.

Eight other bills

On the same night, the lower House also passed eight other national bills.  

After two succeeding session days when the House of Representatives failed to convene a plenary session, it surprisingly mustered the necessary quorum to convene sessions on Tuesday.  

A total of 178 members were present. With the entry of new party-list representatives, the new quorum is 133 members.

Aside from the reported 50 congressmen, including House Speaker Prospero Nograles, who flew to Las Vegas to watch the Pacquiao-Hatton match, about 25 congressmen are attending the Palarong Pambansa in Leyte, and another 10 reportedly joined President Arroyo's trip to Cairo.

The eight other bills passed on Tuesday were:

1. House Bill 6052 -- An Act requiring all registered voters whose biometrics have not been captured to appear before the election officer of their place of registration for the purposes of having their photographs, fingerprints, and signatures captured through the method of biometrics, for purposes of ensuring that the automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS) can be utilized to cleanse the records of double or multiple registrants;

2. House Bill 5241 -- The Investments and Incentives Code of the Philippines;  

3. House Bill 6101 -- An Act Establishing the Philippine Legislative Academy, defining its powers and functions, appropriating funds therefore, and for other purposes;

4. House Bill 6096 -- An Act requiring all government offices to ensure the release of the retirement benefits of its employees within fifteen days from retirement;

5. House Bill 6097 -- An Act exempting pledge of personal property covering a loan of money not exceeding P10,000 from documentary stamp tax, amending for the purpose the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended; 

6. House Bill 263 -- An Act to strengthen and propagate foster care for abandoned and neglected children and other children with special needs, providing appropriations therefore and for other purposes;

7. House Bill 60767 -- An Act expanding the promotion of breastfeeding, amending for the purpose Republic Act 7600, otherwise known as 'An Act providing incentives to all government and private health institutions with rooming in and breastfeeding practices and for other purposes; 

8. The House also adopted Senate Bill 3157 as an amendment to House Bill 6049 -- An Act elevating the Philippine Normal University as the country's National University for teacher education, establishing a system for national teacher training and development, and a program for educational policy, research and development; 

"Passage of these measures was a responsive and collective action of both the leadership of the House and the members of the majority coalition with the critical cooperation of our colleagues in the minority. This compensated the unfortunate quorum problem that we had," Nograles said in a press statement.

Nograles has not returned from the US, where he watched the Pacquiao-Hatton match.