House may amend local gov’t code to force property valuation adjustments

A KEY legislator said the House intends to review a rarely-enforced Local Government Code provision requiring real estate values to be adjusted every three years.

Representative Noel L. Villanueva of Tarlac, who chairs the House Committee on Local Government, said Thursday that the chamber will study the feasibility of adjusting real estate valuation on the timetable prescribed by the Local Government Code of 1991.

“We have to study if we can make it mandatory on the part of LGUs (local government units) to comply with the provision of law, the local government code, that they should adjust real property valuation or taxation every three years. But the wording of the law is directory, not oftener than three years,” Mr. Villanueva told ����ý by phone Thursday.

Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code requires realty valuation adjustments every three years. Since local officials are also elected every three years, the requirement is often been ignored.

According to Mr. Villanueva, the law is still “directory” and does not compel LGUs to comply with the realty tax adjustment.

“It is only directing them to review and adjust the schedule of real property taxes not over three years. That is the wordings of the law. So it’s more directory, it is not mandatory. So there is no heat in it. You cannot compel LGUs to raise their real property tax… because as you know, in the local government setting, taxes are political suicide. If it is made mandatory, and there is a penalty for those who would not comply, that is still to be discussed in the Congress,” Mr. Villanueva said.

Mr. Villanueva also said that he will file a bill to “compel LGUs to comply” with the mandatory adjustment of real property taxation should it be deemed feasible. Mr. Villanueva said that may involve amendments to the Local Government Code which will specify “corresponding administrative and criminal sanctions.”

“It’s amendatory to a particular provision. I have to see first if that is part of (the) bill of Rep. Mariño (Mario Vittorio A. Mariño) of Batangas. If not, then I will propose (the) amendment” Mr. Villanueva said.

Mr. Mariño is one of the principal authors of House Bill 4664 or the Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act which seeks to centralize the valuation and assessment of real property.

The bill, which is also known as Package three of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP), was approved on third and final reading by the House of Representatives on Nov. 25. The Senate received the bill the day after.

Section 12 of the bill provides that “all real properties, whether taxable or exempt, shall be valued or appraised based on prevailing market values in the locality where the property is situated.”

The Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act is one of the priority bills that President Rodrigo R. Duterte outlined in his 2019 State of the Nation Address (SONA). — Genshen L. Espedido