UNCOLLECTED real property taxes in Davao City have reached P4.5 billion as of August 2022, the highest in the last three years, according to the records of the Tax Mapping and Computer Division of the City Treasurer’s Office (CTO).
A 2022 audit report uploaded last July 18 called out the city government for failing to address the rising number of delinquent property owners despite available administrative and judicial action under its 2017 Revenue Code.
“Had the CTO availed of the remedies allowed by law to enforce the collection of delinquent realty property taxes …the City could have generated more funds necessary to finance its various programs, projects, and activities,” the audit team pointed out.
Among the city’s 11 districts, the city treasurer’s list tagged Talomo as having the worst record with P1.76 billion in unpaid RPT, followed by Buhangin with P1.106 billion, and Poblacion with P834.82 billion.
Other districts with more than P100 million in RPT delinquency were Agdao (P244.88 million); Toril (P236.74 million); Bunawan (P206.48 million); and Calinan (P116.53 million).
The rest of the districts had unpaid taxes ranging from P18 to P33 million, except for Tugbok which had “no data available.”
The Commission on Audit urged Davao City to conduct a physical inspection of all real properties to have a more accurate assessment of potential revenues and to notify delinquent owners of real property about their obligations.
“We recommended that CGD (city government of Davao) Management strictly observe/comply with the applicable provisions of the law and require the concerned office or department …(to) apply legal remedies to enforce the collection of delinquent realty taxes,” the COA said.
The 2017 Revenue Code of Davao City empowers the local government to levy on the property with unpaid taxes and to force its sale through public auction to satisfy accountability.
Under the same rules, the city treasurer may issue a warrant of levy identifying the owner of the property or any other person with a legal interest in it, a description of the property, and the amount of tax due.
Likewise, the revenue code makes it mandatory for the Register of Deeds and the City Assessor to annotate the levy on the tax declaration and the certificate of title on the property.
Within 30 days of service of the warrant of the levy, the city treasurer is already authorized to put up the property for public auction through publication in a newspaper of general circulation for two consecutive weeks.
The property owner or his authorized representative may stop such sale at any time but only through the payment of the tax delinquency in full, including interest due, as well as the expenses incurred by the city for putting up the notice of sale.
However, auditors noted that it has been 20 years since the Davao City government last resorted to legal remedies to force payment of taxes due.
The city explained that doing so would require a clean-up of the titles and records since there were already recorded cases of duplication and double assessments that could cause a lot of legal problems for the local government.
In a 2022 case, the city treasurer issued a final demand to a supposed property owner in Barrio Calinan for payment of P1.02 million RPT from 2011 to 2022 only to learn later that the subject property had been donated to the city government way back in 2011.
The city government assured the COA that it is prepared to take all avenues available to collect the outstanding real property taxes.
