PRA HELP DESK. The Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) and the Dumaguete City local government sign an agreement to set up a PRA help desk in this capital city of Negros Oriental. PRA general manager Bienvenido Chy (left) and Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo signed the memorandum of agreement on Monday (Sept. 24, 2019) at the City Session Hall. (Photo courtesy of Dumaguete City Public Information Office)
DUMAGUETE CITY – The Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA), an agency under the Department of Tourism (DOT), has signed an agreement with the city government here to establish a PRA help desk.
Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo signed the memorandum of agreement in behalf of the city while PRA general manager, lawyer Bienvenido K. Chy, signed for the agency.
Chy cited the importance of establishing the PRA desk as part of their mandate.
“We can never be wrong in choosing your beautiful city for this collaborative endeavor, being a city of gentle people with a walkable land area, with a youthful seafront, without traffic, and (having a) low crime rate as reasons enough for the retiree expats to permanently settle here,” he said.
Chy said he hopes that the MOA will even more strengthen the PRA's ties with Dumaguete and that they would mutually embrace a common advocacy of building a "paradise city".
The signing, held at the City Session Hall on Monday, was witnessed by Mervin Magbuhat, PRA division chief for marketing and lawyer Joseph Daniel Tarraya, board secretary.
Other signatories included Vice Mayor Alan Gel Cordova, City Councilors Lilani Ramon, Karissa Tolentino Maxino, Michael Bandal, Agustin Perdices, Edgar Lentorio, Jr., Association of Barangay Councils president Dionie Amores and city legal officer Doram Dumalagan.
In 2018, Dumaguete was cited as a retiree-friendly city and it is incumbent upon the local government to help the more than 400 foreign retirees here and in other parts of the province, Remollo said.
The mayor said the city and PRA should make the retirees aware of existing laws stating that foreigners cannot own real properties in the Philippines. Many are circumventing the same by putting their properties in the name of their Filipino spouses, he said.
When the spouses of these foreigners leave them, the latter are left with nothing, so Remollo said part of the help desk's function is to educate the retirees about the existing laws.
Remollo, a lawyer, said a retiree does not have to marry a Filipino woman to get a Special Resident Retiree’s Visa (SRRV).
He said the innovations are very advantageous to foreigners, as these will lessen the impact on foreigners of being deserted by their Filipino wives.
Chy said the best thing to do is for a foreigner-retiree to put up a corporation with a 60-40 scheme -- 60 percent for the Filipino counterpart and 40 percent for the foreigner, so the retiree will not be at the mercy of his Filipino wife.
Remollo said he is in favor of allowing foreigners to own real properties in the country provided there’s a cap as to land area, as a way of protecting them.
He admitted that there are cases, in which foreigners are at the mercy of their wives.
He noted that under the SRRD, a foreigner does not have to go back and forth in renewing his or her residency status, and with just a one-time investment, they can already become permanent residents in the country.
The mayor said the MOA will be presented to the city council for ratification. (PNA)
