THE House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill that seeks to modernize the century-old law governing warehouse receipts to make its provisions more responsive to the needs of the times and allow farmers or agricultural entities increased access to credit.
With an overwhelming 287 votes, lawmakers approved House Bill (HB) No. 198 or the “Revised Warehouse Receipts Law of the Philippines,” which seeks to amend and modernize an over-a-century-old law: the Warehouse Receipts Law of 1912 or Act No. 2137.
“With the fast-changing times, many of our laws do not respond to the needs of the people in the present day. One of them is the Warehouse Receipts Law of 1912. Certainly, many of the conditions prevalent over 111 years ago do not exist today, and amending the law is of paramount importance,” Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez said.
“We envision this measure to help farmers, agricultural workers and those in the sector of agriculture obtain greater access to credit by revising and modernizing the law. The House of Representatives has
spent sufficient time deliberating on this and I am confident we crafted an outstanding measure,” he added.
Some principal authors of the measure are Reps. Jurdin Jesus Romualdo, Linabelle Ruth Villarica, Carl Nicolas Cari, Bernadette Herrera, LRay Villafuerte, Rufus Rodriguez, Salvador Pleyto, and others.
The bill seeks to promote economic activity by increasing access – particularly for entities engaged in agricultural activities such as farming – to the least cost of credit through the establishment of a simplified, unified and modern warehouse receipts framework for the storage of goods in warehouses and the succeeding trading of interests therein.
The existing law prescribes a relatively simple way for farmers or agricultural workers to secure credit by storing their goods in a warehouse and trading the receipt thereof. HB 198 takes advantage of modern technological advancement to establish a system that is more secure, reliable and functional for the parties involved.
