Sixteen out of 44 municipalities have failed to submit to the Provincial Government an updated reassessment of fair market values of improvements on business establishments in their areas.
Gov. Gwen Garcia, during a meeting at the Capitol on July 5, showed her displeasure at the apparent inaction of 16 municipal assessors and their team while their counterparts from 28 other LGUs were able to deliver what the Capitol had earlier asked.
To recall, the governor had ordered the formation of an assessment team in all 44 municipalities of the province that would religiously survey and report the updated improvements done by business establishments in their respective LGUs for improved real property tax (RPT) collection.
The Capitol gets a share of the RPT from municipalities. The team is composed of the municipal assessor, municipal treasurer, municipal engineer, and a representative from the mayor’s office.
The governor lamented that because of a decreased national tax allocation (NTA) for LGUs this year, the local chief executives would be hard pressed in coming up with additional sources of funds to compensate for the loss income, and so continually finance their programs and projects for the year.
For the Capitol, the NTA is down to P4.8 billion from P5.9 billion last year. Provincial treasurer Atty. Roy Salubre said this is due to a decreased national collection by the Bureau of Internal Revenue at the height of the pandemic in 2020.
Gov. Garcia said an under-declaration of the fair market value of business establishments in the province is a form of corruption because it deprives the government of income that would finance programs and services for the people.
After listening to each of the 16 municipalities’ reasons for not coming up with updated assessment, the governor has given them another three weeks to get the job done before she meets them again on June 26.
Among the municipalities that lagged behind in their assessment duties are Bantayan, Daanbantayan, Pinamungajan, Asturias, Badian, Dumanjug, San Francisco, Alegria, Borbon, Madridejos, Santa Fe, Santander, Tabuelan, Malabuyoc, Ronda, and Samboan. | IPA