Meco asks court to stop Cordova auction

THE Mactan Electric Company (Meco) asked the court to stop the Cordova municipal government from auctioning the utility’s properties on July 2.

The electric distribution utility also asked the Regional Trial Court of Cebu City to nullify the P2.8 million real property taxed levied on them.

Meco said that without the electrical poles and transformers, Meco would not be able to distribute electric power to residents and businesses in Cordova. “Without electric power, the local economy would definitely collapse,” Meco said.

Meco said under the Local Government Code, real taxes can only be collected from “residential, agricultural, commercial, industrial, mineral, timberland, or special” properties.

“Electrical poles are not buildings. They stand on public lots and public easements, which are not residential, agricultural, commercial,” Meco lawyers said.

A Notice of Delinquency in the Payment of Real Property Tax was published by the provincial treasurer in Cebu Daily News last April 11.

The notice listed Meco as delinquent in payin taxes for its electric posts and transformers.

Meco in its petition to the court said the Municipality of Cordova has no power to levy real property tax.

The Local Government Code of 1991, Meco said, does not empower a municipality, except those within the Metropolitan Manila Area, to levy real property tax.