CEBU CITY, June 17 (PNA) - A real estate industry executive has called on the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) to control the operation of illegal real estate agents.

There must be a concerted effort from the different parties concerned, said Zosimo Cano, vice president of Asian Pacific Realty and Brokerage Corp. and chairman of the National Alliance of Filipino businessmen board of trustees.

He also asked developers to cooperate in getting rid of illegal real estate agents.

"The developers should utilize only licensed brokers. Licensed brokers, for their part, should employ only licensed salesmen. Those who are currently having unlicesned salesmen should have them licensed now," Cano said.

A licensed real estate broker negotiates between the buyer and seller of real estate. While some brokers do their jobs without any other associate, there are brokers who have subordinates called salesmen. They are not licensed by the DTI to sell properties.

DTI Cebu Provincial Office Trade and Industry Regulatory Division chief Zaide Bation admitted that it is hard for the agency to control the proliferation of unlicensed salesmen.

"How are we supposed to know the actual transactions of those unlicensed salesmen? Unless somebody complains, it would be hard to track them down," she said, noting that licenses for brokers and salesmen are good for three years.

DTI-Cebu records show that there are 301 licensed brokers, 16 salesmen and three realtors' associations registered in Cebu province for the period 2004-2006. Another 53 brokers and four salesmen were given license for the 2005 to 2007 period.

DTI conducts the brokers and salesmen licensing exams twice a year. (PNA)