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COVID-19 triggered economic losses since the first case was recorded in January 2020. The community quarantine measures imposed by the government severely disrupted business operations and commercial activities and led to a negative impact in our economic performance. For these reasons, the enactment of Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) law this year was a welcome development.

On 17 June 2021, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (“BSP”) issued Circular No. 1122 (the “Circular”), which set out guidelines for the adoption of the Open Finance Framework (“Framework”). Open finance is part of the BSP’s Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap for 2020-2023, which aims to promote financial inclusion. The salient provisions of the Circular are discussed below.

The upcoming 2022 national and local elections will be the first and hopefully the last to be held in the midst of a pandemic. By election day, the Philippines will have then surpassed the two-year mark of its COVID-19 anniversary, and health protocols and restrictions will surely impact the partisan political activities.

Back in 2018, the Congress enacted Republic Act No. 11057, or the Personal Property Security Act (“PPSA”). The enactment of the PPSA is in line with the State’s policy “to promote economic activity by increasing least cost credit, particularly for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), by establishing a unified and modern legal framework for securing obligations with personal property.”

One of the basic requirements for the registration, or issuance of new certificate of title, after voluntary dealings i.e., conveyance, mortgage, lease, charge, and the like, with registered lands, is the presentation of the Owner’s Duplicate Certificate of Title (Original Certificate of Title, Transfer Certificate of Title or Condominium Certificate of Title), which is conclusive authority from the registered owner to the Register of Deeds (“ROD”)

On 30 July 2021, President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law Republic Act No. 11576, which expanded the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Trial Courts, Municipal Trial Courts, and Municipal Circuit Trial Courts (“first level courts”). This also effectively increased the jurisdictional value under the Regional Trial Courts (“second level courts”) for civil actions involving title to, or possession of, real property, or any interest therein.