ANGARA BATS FOR MORE COMPREHENSIVE LENDING LAWS
Debtors and creditors to get fair, due process in disputes amid financial crisis

Sen. Edgardo J. Angara is leading the Senate in passing the "Corporate Recovery and Insolvency Act of 2009" into law, aiming for more comprehensive provisions on the proceedings for rehabilitation and liquidation schemes for financially distressed enterprises, and encouraging creditors to collectively resolve and adjust competing claims and property rights.

Sen. Angara notes, "The state must ensure timely, fair, transparent and efficient rehabilitation or liquidation of an insolvent debtor. This is, apart from protecting the interests of creditors which is already governed by existing laws in finance, to also ensure protection of the interests of debtors so they receive a due process of their obligations and accountabilities."

Under existing laws, the framework of insolvency and rehabilitation proceedings is inadequate and unresponsive to the modern trends in business, such that it is unable to quickly resolve modern financial issues. This flaw is mostly felt against the backdrop of an economic crisis, wherein the present insolvency regime provides only limited solutions to business entities and is thus unable to salvage enterprises from financial turmoil.

The bill seeks to maximize debtors' chances of survival by providing troubled institutions four solutions: a speedy recovery, a fair court-supervised rehabilitation, pre-arranged rehabilitation and dissolution-liquidation. With this bill, creditors may file for a petition for rehabilitation of the debtor with the Court.

The pre-negotiated rehabilitation feature of the bill will allow an insolvent debtor(s) to file a petition with the Court for the approval of [a pre-negotiated rehabilitation plan].

Sen. Angara further stresses that liquidations should maintain certainty and predictability in any kind of transaction; preserve and maximize the value of assets of the debtor, recognize creditor rights and respect priority of claims and ensure equitable treatment of creditors who are in a similar situation.

"This is to continually assure our citizens, domestic companies, investors and their multi-national partners of the stability of our financial market in the country; and that it is safe ground to do business here, without the need to worry for their interests at any given time," he says.

Sen. Angara, Chair of the Senate Committee on Finance and post-EDSA's longest-serving Senator, has authored and proposed several other bills that seek to address various aspects of the economy in his effort to lessen the impact of the global financial crisis in the country.

Among such laws are the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers, Free High School Act, The National Health Insurance (PHILHEALTH) Act, Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GATSPE�the country's biggest scholarship program in private schools), the Personal Equity and Retirement Account Law, Credit Information System Act, Renewable Energy Law, the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation Law, the Salary Standardization Law and the recently signed PAG-IBIG Fund Law.

Some of Sen. Angara's authored or sponsored bills pending for signing are the Senior Citizens' Act, Student Fare Discount Act, Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act, Collective Investment Schemes Act, Paglaum Fund and the Regulatory Framework for Real Estate Investment Companies.