By Camille A. Aguinaldo
Reporter
THE bill modernizing the 107-year-old Warehouse Receipts Law has been sponsored to the plenary by the Senate committee on trade, commerce, and entrepreneurship.
Senate Bill No. 2171 or the proposed Philippine Warehouse Receipts Act of 2019 seeks to overhaul the present warehouse receipt system and to provide an online registry system where all electronic warehouse receipts can be registered and accessed.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is mandated to create and maintain the registry under the bill.
A warehouse receipt is a commercial document issued by a warehouse operator acknowledging that certain goods have been stored at a warehouse.
“The purpose of this bill is to upgrade the Warehouse Receipts Act of 1912 and take advantage of the benefits of modern technology to facilitate the warehouse receipts system that is more secure, transparent and reliable and will promote ease of doing business,” committee chair Senator Aquilino L. Pimentel III said in his sponsorship speech.
Mr. Pimentel said the bill also provides an option for agricultural producers to safely store and delay the sale of their products until the lean season when prices are generally higher. It will also help reduce post-harvest losses and improve product quality, he added.
For his part, Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian, author of the bill, said the proposed measure will prompt banks to be amenable to accepting farmers’ warehouse receipts as collateral for loans due to the transparent framework for the trading of warehouse receipts.
“Put very simply, we will be giving farmers the financial tools they need to produce more crops at lower prices. This will eventually result in a greater stock of food at lower prices in markets all across the Philippines. This makes this legislation a win-win for farmers and consumers alike,” he said in his co-sponsorship speech.
The bill also establishes a Warehousing Accreditation Council, which will be tasked to accredit warehouse operators who issue the receipts.
The council will be headed by the SEC chairman and will be composed of representatives of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Finance (DoF), Department of Agriculture (DA), and three members who are warehousing experts.
The bill also creates a Warehouse Relief Assurance Fund to cover losses involving warehouse receipts stemming from registry-based failures.
Upon the issuance of an electronic warehouse receipt, about one-fourth of 1% of the assessed value of the goods to be stored in the warehouse will be paid to the SEC, as contribution to the fund.
Its counterpart measures in the House of Representatives, House Bills No. 6310 and 8190, remain pending in the committee level.
