Bayanihan Act Loan Moratoriums: Did Your Housing Loan Qualify and How to Check (Philippines)

This article explains, in the Philippine legal context, how the COVID-19 “Bayanihan” laws affected housing loans, who qualified, what reliefs were mandated, how they were implemented by lenders (banks, financing and lending companies, cooperatives, and the Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-IBIG Fund), and how you can verify and, if necessary, assert your rights.

1) Legal basis and scope

Two national statutes created mandatory payment relief during the pandemic:

Republic Act No. 11469 — Bayanihan to Heal as One Act (effective March 2020).
- Core rule: A minimum 30-day grace period per due date for loans falling due within the period of community quarantine (ECQ/MECQ and extensions).
- Coverage: “All loans” from banks, quasi-banks, financing and lending companies, and other financial institutions, including credit card issuers; in practice this covered housing loans from commercial banks and financing companies. Government lenders (e.g., Pag-IBIG) separately adopted the same policy through their own resolutions and public issuances.
- No additional charges: No interest on interest, no penalties, fees, or other charges during the grace period.
- Loan term: Lenders must extend the term by at least the length of the grace period (so installments are moved, not stacked).
Republic Act No. 11494 — Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (September 2020).
- Core rule: A one-time, mandatory 60-day grace period for loans with due dates on or before 31 December 2020.
- Coverage and prohibitions mirror RA 11469: applies to lenders across the financial sector; no interest on interest, penalties, or other charges for the period; loan term extension required; parties could agree on how to pay the accrued (base) interest (e.g., amortized over remaining term), but compounding remained prohibited.

Key idea: If at least one of your scheduled housing-loan due dates fell within the applicable covered period(s), your account qualified automatically—no application required—and your lender was legally obliged to apply the grace period and extend the term accordingly.

2) What counts as a “housing loan”?

The grace periods applied to any loan—so long as it had a due date covered by the laws—including:

Bank mortgages (home acquisition, home equity, refinancing).
Financing/lending company housing loans (including in-house developer financing if structured as a loan contract).
Cooperative loans used to purchase a home (if the co-op is a lending entity).
Pag-IBIG Fund housing loans (the Fund implemented aligned moratoria and term extensions).

Tip: “Contract to sell” arrangements with purely installment sales (title transfers only after full payment) may be governed by the Recto Law and special housing laws. Many developers, however, channel payments through in-house financing arms or banks; if your arrangement involved a promissory note/loan, it fell under the grace-period regime.

3) What relief were you entitled to?

A. Grace periods

RA 11469: At least 30 days per due date within quarantine months. If two monthly installments fell within the covered months, you received two 30-day grace periods (effectively two months of deferral).
RA 11494: A one-time 60-day grace period if your installment was due on/before 31 December 2020. (If you had multiple loans, each loan gets its own 60-day deferral.)

B. No charges or compounding

No penalties or late payment fees for the deferred period.
No “interest on interest” (no compounding). Lenders could not capitalize unpaid interest or charge higher effective rates because of the pause.

C. Loan term extension

The maturity must shift by at least the length of the grace period, preserving your original amortization schedule structure (e.g., if two installments were deferred, maturity moves two months later).
Lenders could distribute any base interest that accrued during the pause evenly over the remaining term, without compounding.

D. Credit reporting

Lenders were expected to avoid adverse reporting based solely on the legally mandated deferral. Borrowers should not be downgraded for availing of grace periods required by law.

4) Did your housing loan qualify? A practical test

Answer these in order:

What kind of lender is it?
- Bank/quasi-bank? Financing/lending company (including developer in-house financing)? Cooperative? Pag-IBIG Fund? → All are within scope (with Pag-IBIG applying aligned rules).
Did any of your due dates fall within the covered windows?
- RA 11469: Any installment due during ECQ/MECQ months in 2020 (and extensions) → 30-day per due date.
- RA 11494: Any installment due on or before 31 Dec 2020 → one-time 60-day.
Was your account already past due before the window started?
- The grace periods applied to installments falling due within the window. If you were already in default before the covered date, the laws did not retroactively cure the prior default. (But a current installment falling within the window still enjoyed deferral.)
Did you apply?
- Application was not required to be eligible. Some lenders asked for confirmation to opt-in to specific scheduling choices (e.g., whether to add the skipped months at the end vs. re-spread). Failure to submit a form cannot erase the statutory minimum grace period.
Was there compounding or penalties added?
- Not allowed. Any “interest on interest,” penalty, or fee during the grace period violates the statutes and their guidelines.

If you answered yes to (1) and (2), your housing loan qualified.

5) How should the numbers look? (Worked examples)

Below, “AI” = accrued base interest (allowed), “IOI” = interest on interest (prohibited).

Example 1 — Bank mortgage, two months covered by RA 11469

Monthly amortization: ₱20,000 (principal + interest).
Due dates: April 15 and May 15, 2020 covered by quarantine.
Effect:
- Grace: 30 days per installment (April and May both deferred).
- No penalties, no IOI.
- Term extension: Maturity moves two months later.
- AI handling: The base interest accruing during the two months may be spread over remaining installments (e.g., add a small amount to each future bill) without compounding.

Example 2 — Pag-IBIG housing loan, RA 11494 60-day

Monthly amortization: ₱9,500; next due October 10, 2020.
Effect:
- One-time 60-day deferral (next required payment effectively in December 2020).
- No penalties, no IOI.
- Term extension: Maturity moves by two months.
- AI handling: Base interest for Oct–Nov may be collected pro-rata over the remaining term.

Example 3 — In-house developer financing with post-dated checks (PDCs)

PDCs dated April 5 and May 5, 2020 were deposited despite the law.
Effect: The lender should have held those checks for the grace period. If deposited:
- You may demand reversal of penalties/fees/IOI and re-dating of checks consistent with the grace period plus term extension.
- Any bank charges (e.g., returned-check fees) arising because the lender deposited during the statutory grace can be protested.

6) How to check your account (step-by-step)

Pull your documents.
- Loan agreement, amortization schedule, and all statements of account (SOAs) from March–December 2020 and the months following the grace.
- For Pag-IBIG, download your latest loan record/ledger from Virtual Pag-IBIG or request a Statement of Account.
Locate covered due dates.
- Mark every installment due during quarantine months (for RA 11469) and any due on/before 31 Dec 2020 (for RA 11494). Count how many installments were covered.
Check how your lender implemented the grace. Look for any of the following on your SOA/ledger:
- “Deferred,” “Payment holiday,” “Bayanihan,” or “Grace period” markers.
- No penalty lines for those months.
- A maturity date pushed back by the same number of deferred months.
- A small “spread” adjustment to future bills attributed to accrued base interest (this is allowed if clearly labeled and not compounded).
Run a red-flag scan.
- Penalties/late fees posted during the grace months → not allowed.
- “Capitalized interest,” “interest adjustment (compounded),” or “interest on deferred interest” → not allowed.
- Unmoved maturity date despite deferrals → non-compliant.
- Adverse credit reporting tied to taking the grace period → challengeable.
Cross-check auto-debits/PDCs.
- If your bank auto-debited or the lender deposited PDCs during the grace months, ask for reversal or re-application consistent with the law, and refund of any charges caused by premature presentment.
Document everything.
- Keep copies of SOAs, emails, text advisories, and call logs. Make a 1-page timeline of due dates, what was deferred, and how the lender posted adjustments.

7) Disputes and where to escalate

Start with the lender’s formal complaints channel.
- Ask, in writing, for a Bayanihan compliance review of your account. Request a revised ledger showing: (a) covered due dates; (b) grace applied; (c) term extension; (d) removal of penalties/IOI; and (e) method for any base-interest re-spread.
If unresolved, escalate to the proper regulator:
- Banks and quasi-banks: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) — Consumer Protection.
- Financing/Lending companies: Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — Financing & Lending Division and Enforcement & Investor Protection Department.
- Cooperatives: Cooperative Development Authority (CDA).
- Insurance-linked products (e.g., mortgage redemption insurance issues): Insurance Commission (IC).
- Pag-IBIG Fund loans: HDMF customer care/branch escalation (and, if needed, COA for fund-administration issues).
Legal remedies.
- For significant, unresolved violations (e.g., foreclosure threats based on charges incurred during the grace period), consult counsel on injunctive relief and damages, citing the Bayanihan statutes and implementing guidelines.

8) Frequently asked edge cases

“I kept paying voluntarily—can I still claim the grace?” Yes, the right existed by law, but if you paid, you generally cannot claw back payments absent lender misconduct. You may still insist on no penalties/compounding and the term extension if applicable.
“My loan was approved after the first ECQ—am I covered?” If your due date fell within a covered period (or on/before 31 Dec 2020 for the 60-day grace), the installment still qualified, regardless of approval date.
“Balloon payments and step-up/step-down schedules?” The same no-penalty, no-compounding, and term extension rules apply; the balloon’s due date controls whether it qualified.
“Restructured loans during 2020?” Restructuring could not waive statutory minimums. Any restructuring must still reflect the grace period, ban compounding, and extend the term by the deferred months.
“Advance interest schemes?” Lenders could not capitalize deferred interest. If you see “add-on interest” multiplied by extended months, check that the lender did not compute interest on previously accrued interest.
“Foreclosure timelines?” Grace periods tolled scheduled payments; they did not eliminate your obligation. But penalties/fees posted during the grace cannot be part of a default computation.

9) Simple self-audit checklist (keep this)

My lender is a bank/finco/lending company/co-op/Pag-IBIG.
I listed all covered due dates (quarantine months; any due ≤ Dec 31, 2020).
My ledger shows deferred entries for those dates.
No penalties/late fees posted for covered months.
No interest on interest or “capitalized deferred interest.”
Maturity date shifted by the same number of deferred months.
Any base interest from the pause was spread without compounding.
Credit record shows no adverse mark tied to the grace.
If PDC/auto-debit occurred during grace, the lender reversed/reapplied it.
I have written confirmation (or a corrected SOA/ledger).

10) Model letter you can send your lender

Subject: Request for Bayanihan Grace-Period Compliance Review — Housing Loan [Account No. ______]

Dear [Lender],

I write to request a Bayanihan compliance review of my housing loan pursuant to RA 11469 and RA 11494. The following installments fell within the covered periods: [list due dates].

In line with the laws and their guidelines:

A 30-day grace per due date (RA 11469) and/or one-time 60-day grace (RA 11494) should have been applied;

No penalties, fees, or interest on interest should have been charged; and

The loan term should have been extended by at least the length of the grace period.

Kindly provide within 15 banking days a revised ledger showing the grace application, term extension, and removal of any prohibited charges, and advise how any base interest was spread without compounding.

Thank you.

11) Bottom line

If any scheduled installment of your housing loan fell within ECQ/MECQ months of 2020 or was due on or before 31 December 2020, your loan qualified by law for a payment grace period—30 days per covered due date under RA 11469 and a one-time 60-day grace under RA 11494—without penalties, fees, or interest-on-interest, and with a mandatory term extension. Your statements and maturity date should reflect that. If they don’t, use the self-audit above, write your lender, and escalate to the appropriate regulator if necessary.