DepEd Advisory on the extension of the 30-day mandatory grace period on loan payments

May 7, 2020

ADVISORY

To: All DepEd Personnel Concerned and Private Lending Institutions (PLIs) Under the
Department’s Automatic Payroll Deduction System (APDS) Program

For your information and ready reference, attached is a copy of the letter-response dated May 4, 2020 from Deputy Governor Chuchie G. Fonacier, Office of the Governor, Financial Supervision Sector, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), in relation to this Department’s request for clarification on the President’s decision to extend the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ), as to whether or not the extension of the 30-day mandatory grace period on loan payments pursuant to Section 4 (aa) of Republic Act No. 11469, otherwise known as “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act” will be applied nationwide or in certain areas only.

Based on the second paragraph of the BSP Deputy Governor’s letter-response, the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Bayanihan Act further provides that the initial 30-day grace period shall be automatically extended if the ECQ period is extended by the President pursuant to his emergency powers under the said Act. Thus, under the Bayanihan Act and its IRR, the extension of the mandatory grace period shall be based on the extended ECQ period declared by the President. This shall cover all lenders without distinction irrespective of their place of operation.

Considering the above response from BSP and since majority of the APDS accredited PLIs agreed that no deductions will be effected during the ECQ period, based on the communication made by this Department in a General Letter (GL) dated April 7, 2020, this Department shall not remit to the PLIs including Land Bank of the Philippines and Pag-IBIG Fund, but instead refund the loan amortizations deducted from the May 2020 salaries of the concerned DepEd personnel nationwide. It is worthy to mention that most of these PLIs opted for the Minimum Relief based on the Bayanihan Law and the Department of Finance’s IRR, which states in part that “No deductions will be effected during the ECQ period.”

Moreover, the loan amortizations due to the Government Service Insurance System and DepEd Provident Fund were already effected in the May 2020 payroll pursuant to paragraph 21.2.2 (b) of DepEd Order No. 3, s. 2020. Otherwise, the said deductions shall also be refunded to all DepEd personnel concerned within this month.

The termination dates for the said loan amortizations shall be automatically extended in DepEd’s payroll program for another one month.

Please be guided accordingly. Thank you.

ANNALYN M. SEVILLA
Undersecretary