Cebu City Council orders Assessor to clarify legality of tax hikes | FROUSA Media

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Council has directed the City Assessor’s Office to formally notify all real property owners that any increase in assessed values will only take effect after the City Council enacts and publishes an ordinance approving the new schedule of market values.

This came after Councilor Jose Abellanosa filed a corollary motion during the 17th Sangguniang Panlungsod’s regular session on Tuesday, July 15, seeking to address what legal officials described as a “grossly illegal” override scheme in the city’s real property tax system.

Abellanosa’s motion referred the matter back to the City Assessor’s Office and instructed it to issue written notices to property owners and publish a taxpayer advisory.

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The purpose is to clarify that “no increase in tax assessments is valid unless it complies with the proper legislative and publication process mandated by the Local Government Code.”

“To request the City Assessor’s Office to send notices to all real property owners and publish a notice to taxpayers clarifying that increases in assessed values are effective only after sanguinean enactment and official publication of a schedule via ordinance,” Abellanosa said.

This follows the release of an investigative report by the Cebu City Legal Office (CCLO), which found that city officials implemented large-scale and unauthorized increases in market values by overriding the AS400 Real Property Tax System, resulting in tax declarations inflating by over 1,000 percent in some cases.

The CCLO, in its May 21 report, endorsed to then-mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia, called the scheme a “systemic fraud,” and urged the nullification of all affected assessments, as well as administrative and criminal investigations of those responsible.

The override function, reportedly introduced in 2022 and 2023 under pressure from then-City Treasurer Lawyer Jerone Castillo and former City Assessor Dr. Maria Theresa Rosell, bypassed the city’s official valuation schedule.

Instead of relying on standardized, ordinance-backed values, the system was manipulated to accept unverified owner-declared market values, resulting in sudden and unjust tax hikes.

“We cannot, in good conscience, turn a blind eye to the gross illegality surrounding the large-scale increase of market values on tax declarations. To leave such irregularities hidden and unresolved would undermine the principles of accountability, transparency, and justice that form the foundation of good governance,” said City Attorney Santiago Ortiz Jr., who approved the legal report.

The report also noted that many taxpayers were blindsided, missing the 60-day window to appeal before the Local Board of Assessment Appeals (LBAA). Some stopped paying in protest but were left with no legal remedies.

To address these lapses, the CCLO recommended the establishment of help desks, immediate information drives, and legislative action to void the illegal override-based assessments.

It also warned that refunding overcollected taxes would be legally complex, as the revenues were already distributed to city coffers, barangays, and special funds.

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