DAVAO CITY—Tagum City’s new ordinance raising real property tax in some areas by over 800 percent could become a major election campaign issue in next year’s mayoral race there as one of the candidates is among the landowners who questioned the law at the Supreme Court.
The petitioner, lawyer Paulito Suaybaguio, filed his certificate of candidacy shortly before closing hours on Friday, and is running against De Carlo Uy, son of incumbent Mayor Rey Uy, and Vice Mayor Allan Rellon.
The new tax ordinance was passed during the Uy administration.
Ordinance No. 558 practically rezones Tagum into commercial and industrial areas and blots out the residential and agricultural areas, Suaybaguio told reporters here. It also increases real property taxes in some areas by up to 833 percent, making it very difficult for many landowners to pay their tax obligations, he said.
Mayor Uy said Suaybaguio had misread the law because the real property taxes only went up only by 20-30 percent in some commercial areas. “The trouble with some people is they want their land classified agricultural to keep their taxes low but when they sell, they classify their land as commercial to fetch a high price,” he said by phone.
Suaybaguio said the passage of the ordinance was irregular because only one public hearing was conducted and the landowners were not invited.
“The ordinance also violated provisions of the Local Government Code. It was confiscatory and unconstitutional,” he said.
Uy accused Suaybaguio of lying for claiming the ordinance was hastily passed.
Suaybaguio acknowledged that his candidacy was prompted by the reign of the tax ordinance. “If running for election can be an effective venue to express our objection to an ordinance, … then we will do it,” he said.
Uy, who is serving his third and final term, said that if Suaybaguio wanted to capitalize on the ordinance, then he was challenging him to a debate.
Suaybaguio doused cold water on the mayor’s challenge. “Is he a candidate?” Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao