Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Wednesday urged Congress to pursue the passage of the bill seeking to protect borrowers from unfair and abusive debt collection practices to help as many Filipinos who are burdened with the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Senate Bill No. 1366 or the proposed “Fair Debt Collection Practices Act” he said seeks to prohibit and eliminate the use of abusive, deceptive and unfair debt collection practices.

The measure mandates creditors to keep confidential all borrowers’ data except upon a written consent of the borrower.

“Lalo na ngayon na may pandemya, nakaka-receive tayo ng maraming mga text tungkol sa pagpapautang, tungkol sa mabilis na utang o kumuha ng utang. Iba dito loan-free, iba dito mababa ang interes, (during this time of pandemic, we receive so many text messages offering loans, or fast loans. Some of these are loan-free, others offer low interest rates),” Gatchalian said in an interview over Radio DZBB.

“Pero ang kapalit naman nito ay yung harassment na ginagawa kapag naniningil. At karamhinan po dito gumagamit ng dahas o violence para magbayad (But in exchange, they employ harassment when they collect debts. Most of them use violence just to compel them to pay),” he pointed out.

In the explanatory note of the bill, Gatchalian said the measure aims to eliminate, if not minimize, unfair and abusive debt collection practices, and protect the borrowers from abuses, harassment, unfair treatment and misrepresentations.

The bill, likewise, places the debt collector and the consumer-borrower in the same level playing field as the measure provides adequate legal remedies to borrowers who are victims of these wayward practices.

The senator noted abusive debt collection practices have contributed to a number of unwarranted personal bankruptcies, marital problems, loss of employment, depression, stress and invasions on privacy.

“Sa panukalang batas na ito, maglalagay tayo ng mga proseso para sa maayos na paniningil, kumbaga hindi gumagamit ng dahas, hindi gumagamit ng bayolenteng pamamaraan para po maningil ng utang (with this measure, we will put in place mechanisms to ensure orderly debt collection methods, one that won’t have to use violence just to extract payment fees),” he pointed out.

“Tama naman na kung ikaw ay mangungutang dapat bayaran mo yan dahil nangutang ka. Pero meron kasi tayong legal na proseso sa pangongolekta at legal na proseso na kung hindi nakakabayad ang mga nangungutang ay pwedeng dalhin sa korte or pwedeng ihabla (It’s only right that you pay for what you borrowed. But there is a legal process to employ when you collect from those who can’t comply by bringing the case before the courts),” Gatchalian pointed out.

“Meron tayong ganitong proseso para pantay at para transparent yung pangongolekta (We have this kind of process to ensure equality and transparency in collection),” he said.

He also said the bill will also crack down on unscrupulous collection agencies and debt collectors who take advantage of borrowers by using false or misleading advertisements to lure them to borrow at unreasonable interest rates, by continuously harassing them and their phone book contacts, using offensive of threatening tactics in order to collect debts owed to their clients.