SIXTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
Second Regular Session 
SENATE 
S.No. 
2432 
) 
) 
) 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
AN ACT 
"14 ocr 15 P 3 :13 
REQUIRING ALL PUBLISHERS OF REAL ESTATE LISTINGS TO APPLY FOR 
ACCREDITATION FROM THE PROFESSIONAL REGULATORY BOARD OF 
REAL ESTATE SERVICE AND TO ADHERE TO THE RIGHTS OF 
REAL ESTATE PRACTITIONERS 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Today, real estate transactions are governed by R.A. No. 9646, aka the Real Estate 
Service Act, or RESA Law of2009. The RESA Law, Section 2 states: 
Section 2. Declaration of Policy. ~ The State recognizes the vital 
role of real estate service practitioners in the social political, economic 
development and progress of the country by promoting the real estate 
market, stimulating economic activity and enhancing government income 
from real property-based transactions. Hence, it shall develop and nurture 
through proper and effective regulation and supervision a corps of 
technically competent, responsible and respected professional real estate 
service practitioners whose standards of practice and service shall be 
globally competitive and will promote the growth of the real estate 
industry. 
The Supreme Court recently upheld the constitutionality of the RESA Law in the 
2014 case of Remman Enterprises, Inc. v. Professional Regulatory Board of Real Estate 
Service. The Supreme Court paid tribute to residential brokers by stating "that real estate 
developers at present constitute a sector that hires or employs the largest number of 
brokers, salespersons, appraisers, and consultants due to the sheer number of products 
they advertise and sell nationwide." 
Publishers of real estate listings have become a part of the real industry. However, 
unlike real estate practitioners, these publishers are not subject to any authority governing 


the real estate activity, and therefore lack an essential degree of accountability over the 
information they publish. 
The United States adopted the Real Estate Professionals' Bill of Rights. It 
provides for a government office that will govern real estate activity, and ensure an 
e~sential degree of accountability over information published, referring to people who 
publish proprietary listing data owned by real estate brokers and agents. It shall apply to 
all online and print media that publish listing information, including desktop and mobile 
appliances. 
The Philippines may also adopt the Bill of Rights to ensure that proprietary real 
estate listing data are used in a manner that serves the interests of consumers, real estate 
practitioners, and publishers. 
Under the RESA Law, Section 5, paragraphs (e) and (h), the Professional 
Regulatory Board of Real Estate Service is vested with the powers to: 
(e) Monitor the conditions affecting the practice of real estate service 
and adopt such measures as may be proper for the enhancement of the 
profession and/or the maintenance of high professional, ethical and 
technical standards; .... 
(h) Safeguard and protect legitimate and licensed real estate service 
practitioners and, in coordination with the accredited and integrated 
professional organization of real estate service practitioners, monitor all 
forms 
of advertisements, 
announcements, 
signboards, 
billboards, 
pamphlets, brochures and others of similar nature concerning real estate 
and, where necessary, exercise its quasi-judicial and administrative powers 
to finally and completely eradicate the pernicious practices of unauthorized 
or unlicensed individuals; 
In order to have the authority to publish real estate listings, this bill seeks to 
mandate all publishers to apply for an accreditation from the Professional Regulatory 
Board of Real Estate Service. As a continuing requirement for the accreditation, all 
publishers shall adhere to the Bill of Rights of Real Estate Practitioners. 
In order to signify adherence to the Bill of Rights, a publisher shall display the 
Board's accreditation seal on their respective websites. Real estate practitioners will then 
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know the listing data is respected, the buyers will know the listing data is accurate, and 
sellers or developers will know their data is properly presented. 
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SIXTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
Second Regular Session 
SENATE 
S.No. 
2432 
) 
) 
) 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
S£'mtlr 
(t}th~r l~f ,lie >rnf'har~ 
'14 
OCT 15 P 3 :13 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled: 
1 
AN ACT 
2 
REQUIRING ALL PUBLISHERS OF REAL ESTATE LISTINGS TO APPLY FOR 
3 
ACCREDITATION FROM THE PROFESSIONAL REGULATORY BOARD OF 
4 
REAL ESTATE SERVICE AND TO ADHERE TO THE RIGHTS OF 
5 
REAL ESTATE PRACTITIONERS 
6 
SECTION 1. Short Title. -
This Act shall be known as the "Real Estate 
7 
Practitioners' Bill of Rights." 
8 
SECTION 2. Definition of Terms. - For purposes of this Act, the term: 
9 
a. "Listing" refers to proprietary real estate listing information originating from a 
10 
licensed real estate practitioner; 
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b. "Publisher" refers to any person or entity that collects, displays, or distributes 
12 
property listings that originated from a licensed real estate broker or agent including, but 
13 
not limited to, online and print publishers; and 
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c. "Real estate practitioners" refer to and consist of the following: real estate 
15 
consultant; real estate appraiser; real estate assessor; real estate broker; and real estate 
16 
salesperson. 
17 
SECTION 3. Accreditation. - In addition to its powers and functions under 
18 
Republic Act No. 9646, the Professional Regulatory Board of Real Estate Service (here 
19 
referred to as the "Board") shall monitor all real estate listings, and ensure an essential 


1 
degree of accountability over information published, referring to corporations who 
2 
publish proprietary listing data owned by real estate practitioners. 
3 
In order to have the authority to publish real property listings owned by real estate 
4 
service practitioners, all publishers are required to apply for an accreditation from the 
5 
Board. 
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SECTION 4. Real Estate Practitioners' Bill of Rights. ~ As a continuing 
7 
requirement for an accreditation, all publishers of real estate listings are required to 
8 
adhere to the Real Estate Practitioners' Bill of Rights. A publisher shall display the 
9 
Board's accreditation seal on their respective websites as evidence of adherence to the 
10 
Bill of Rights. 
11 
The Bill of Rights shall apply to all online and print media that publish listing 
12 
information, including desktop and mobile applications. 
13 
SECTION 5. Rights of Real Estate Professionals. ~ Real Estate Practitioners shall 
14 
have the following rights: 
15 
I. The right to listing attribution. 
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The publisher agrees to conspicuously display the contact information 
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of the listing real estate practitioner at the top of every listing to eliminate 
18 
confusion as to who owns the listing and to credit the listing real estate 
19 
practitioner as the authoritative source. 
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2. The right to bar real estate practitioners from advertising on a listing they do 
21 
not own. 
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The publisher agrees to refrain from displaying any advertisement or to 
23 
use listing information in any manner that allows the diversion of prospective 
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buyer leads from the listing owner to anyone without consent of the listing 
25 
owner. The publisher agrees to refrain from any other misleading activity 
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that can contribute to consumer confusion as to the identity of the listing 
2 
owner. 
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3. The right to comprehensive reporting with audit capabilities. 
4 
The publisher agrees to provide to the listing owner (a) exportable 
5 
detailed reports of aggregate statistics regarding leads and traffic to the listing 
6 
on the publisher's site or (b) a mechanism by which the listing owner may 
7 
install or activate third party traffic analytics to receive such reports. A detail 
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incident reporting facility pertaining to violations of this Bill of Rights shall be 
9 
available to owners of listing data with real time dashboard. 
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4. The right to prohibit unauthorized use oflisting data. 
11 
The publisher's terms and conditions of service shall not, with respect to 
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data (including listings) belonging to real estate practitioners, transfer 
13 
ownership in such data to the publisher, or grant the publisher the right to (a) 
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re-purpose the data, (b) create derivative works from the data, or (c) sublicense 
15 
the data. 
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5. The right to ensure that the publisher implements anti-screen mechanisms. 
17 
The publisher agrees to provide reasonable mechanisms aimed at 
18 
preventing screen scraping and unauthorized use of the listing data, 
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understanding that some listing information must be exposed to search 
20 
engines. The publisher agrees that its terms and conditions of service will 
21 
contain a prohibition against screen scraping. 
22 
6. The right to unbiased and comprehensive data display of all listings. 
23 
The publisher agrees to refrain from biasing or manipulating search 
24 
results and to base all search results solely upon the consumer's query and not 
25 
upon compensation by the listing owner. 
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7. The right to accuracy. 
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As the accuracy of listing data reflects on the real estate industry's 
integrity and credibility, the publisher agrees to ensure that listing data are 
properly identified and adequately presented: 
a. The publication of prompt updates. The publisher agrees to 
ensure that listing data are confirmed and updated or removed as 
appropriate, at least every 24 hours, and to display that date on the 
listing with name of the data provider. 
b. The requirement to safeguard against duplicate data. The 
publisher agrees to safeguard against the duplication of listing 
information on its website. 
c. 
The disclosure of the data source. The publisher agrees to 
12 
conspicuously disclose and display the original source of the data. 
13 
d. Listing data to be faithfully displayed. Publishers agree 
14 
to faithfully display listing data and to refrain from limiting, editing or 
15 
otherwise modifying original listing data or images. Unless authorized 
16 
by owner of the listing, no additional data shall appear on any "property 
17 
detail" page. 
18 
e. The publication of an accuracy disclaimer and copyright 
19 
notice. The publisher agrees to display an accuracy disclaimer and 
20 
copyright notice attributing the copyright holder of the information. 
21 
8. The right to prohibit automated property valuations 
22 
The publisher agrees to refrain from displaying or linking to automated 
23 
property valuations in conjunction with any listing without the consent of the 
24 
owner of the property or the listing. 
25 
9. The right to ensure that ratings, titles and superlative designations are based on 
26 
accreditation and objecthre criteria. 
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The publisher agrees not to sell, display, or otherwise bestow upon a 
2 
real estate practitioner a rating, title, or superlative designation that implies that 
3 
the real estate practitioner possesses skills or knowledge that he or she may not 
4 
have. A publisher that decorates a real estate practitioner agrees to base the 
5 
decoration on transparent, verifiable, and appropriate criteria, including but not 
6 
limited to, prior or current client feedback, peso production, number of listings, 
7 
number of sales, average sales price, average days-on-market, or other such 
8 
measures. A publisher displaying individual feedback comments from prior or 
9 
current clients about the real estate practitioner agrees to provide the real estate 
10 
practitioner with a mechanism by which to respond publicly and directly to 
11 
each comment. The publisher agrees to provide a prominent link or 
12 
conspicuous notice describing in detail the basis for each rating, title, or 
13 
superlative designation. 
14 
10. The right to be free from questionable sales practices. 
15 
The publisher agrees to refrain from (a) using or facilitating the use by 
16 
others of real estate practitioner's contact information for sales purposes, and (b) 
17 
requiring any contract with real estate practitioner for a period greater than 30 
18 
days that does not give the real estate practitioner a right to cancel with 10 days' 
19 
notice. 
20 
The Board reserves the right to revise the Bill of Rights because information 
21 
technology and the public's use of it tend to progress and evolve rapidly. 
22 
SECTION 6. Real Estate Professionals' Rights Notification. - The real estate 
23 
practitioners' rights as enumerated in Section 4 shall be prominently displayed on the 
24 
Board's website. Such notification shall also contain a brief description of the procedure 
5 


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on how to file a complaint for violation of any of the rights enumerated as well as the 
2 
necessary contact information provided by the Board to handle such complaints. 
3 
SECTION 7. Period of Implementation. - The Board shall be the agency primarily 
4 
responsible in the enforcement and implementation of this Act. Within sixty (60) days 
5 
from the effectivity of this Act, the Board shall formulate and issue the necessary 
6 
implementing rules and regulations and shall mobilize available resources to assure the 
7 
effective implementation of this Act. 
8 
SECTION 8. Penalties and Fines. - In the enforcement of this Act, the Board 
9 
shall impose fines against publishers for violation of this Act. For failure to observe any 
10 
of the rights enumerated in Section 3 and for any unauthorized publication of real estate 
11 
listings, a minimum fine of two thousand pesos (~2,000) but not to exceed four thousand 
12 
pesos (M,OOO) for the first violation; a minimum fine of five thousand pesos (~5,000) but 
13 
not to exceed seven thousand pesos (~7,000) for the second violation; and a minimum 
14 
fine of eight thousand pesos (~8,000) but not to exceed ten thousand pesos (~1O,000) and 
15 
suspension of accreditation for a period of one month for the third and succeeding 
16 
violations. In case the violation is committed by a publisher, which is not accredited by 
17 
the Board, the penalty shall be double the fine. 
18 
SECTION 9. Separability Clause. - If any provision or part hereof, is held invalid 
19 
or unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or the provision not otherwise affected shall 
20 
remain valid and subsisting. 
21 
SECTION 10. Repealing Clause. - Any law, presidential decree or issuance, 
22 
executive order, letter of instruction, administrative order, rule or regulation contrary to 
23 
or is inconsistent with the provision of this Act is hereby repealed, modified, or amended 
24 
accordingly. 
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SECTION 11. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days 
2 
after its publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
Approved, 
IIldplloct2014 
7