Manila sets ultimatum on unpaid realty tax

In a bid to generate income for the city government, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada has ordered the public auction of properties of delinquent taxpayers.

“I directed the city treasurer and city legal officer to write them letters. If they don’t pay, we will auction off their properties. That’s how I plan to raise money,” Estrada told the Inquirer in an interview.

The Committee on Auction was reconstituted through Executive Order No. 22, which Estrada issued in July. The order noted the “necessity to augment the present revenue collection of Manila to enhance the delivery of basic services and facilities to its residents.”

“We’ll see to it that everyone pays the correct taxes,” Estrada said, adding that the computerization for transparency of the city government’s income and expenditure can be expected by December.

City treasurer Liberty Toledo on Tuesday said her office had sent notices to 66 delinquent real property owners whose total uncollected payments amount to P143 million.

A second batch of notices to 99 property owners is also being sent, over unpaid taxes amounting to P281 million.

If the owners fail to pay within the given deadline, a warrant of levy will be sent to them and the property will be considered sold to the city. Afterwards, a notice for auction will be published.

Toledo said the owners could still redeem the properties up to the auction proper.

Toledo noted that a revision of assessed values was “long overdue” since the last assessment for real properties in Manila was done in 1996. The Local Government Code provides that it could be done every three years, she explained.

The city government has not increased business taxes since 1993.