SC strikes down QC ordinance on garbage fees

THE Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional a Quezon City ordinance enforcing the collection of annual garbage fees from domestic households, and ordered the government to refund the amounts already collected since the ordinance was implemented in 2013.

“Respondents are directed to refund with reasonable dispatch the sums of money collected relative to its enforcement… respondents are permanently enjoined from taking any further action to enforce Ordinance No. SP-2235,” the high court said in the decision written by Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta.

At the same time, the high court affirmed the city’s Socialized Housing Tax saying the law is consistent with the Comprehensive and Continuing Urban Development and Housing Program.

Voting unanimously at 12-0, with Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco, Jr., Arturo Brion and Bienvenido Reyes on official leave, the high court partially granted the petition filed by Jose J. Ferrer, a Quezon City resident.

The high court lifted the restraining order issued last Feb. 5, 2014 against the Socialized Housing Tax but nullified the Garbage Fee collection ordinance saying it was oppressive and violated the resident’s equal protection clause.

Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista said the Garbage Fee is valid considering that the local government is already collecting garbage fee under Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000. The ordinance was enacted and took effect in 2013. The annual garbage fee ranges from P100 to P500 depending on the size of the residential area.

A few months after its implementation, the local government has collected over P4-million.

Petitioner argued that the said tax is tantamount to double taxation “because garbage collection is a basic and essential public service that should be paid from property tax, business tax, amusement tax, community tax certificate fees and other taxes and the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) of Quezon City.”

The high court said the ordinance “violates the equal protection clause and the provisions of the Local Government Code that an ordinance must be equitable and based, as far as practicable, on the taxpayer’s ability to pay and not be unjust, excessive, oppressive and confiscatory.”