Only 5 real properties sold in city auction

CEBU, Philippines - Millions of pesos worth of lots and buildings, whose owners have been delinquent in their tax payments for the past few years, were publicly auctioned by the Cebu City government yesterday, but only five of the 152 real properties were sold to private buyers.

Cebu City treasurer Ofelia Oliva explained that while there was no interested buyers for the 147 other real properties, the law provides that the concerned properties are already considered as sold to the city, although there is no need for the city to pay for them.

Section 263 of the Local Government Code provides that in case there is no bidder for the real properties auctioned by the local government unit, or if the highest bid is insufficient to pay the real property tax and the interest and cost of sale, then the treasurer who conducted the auction shall purchase the property in behalf of the LGU.

Oliva said Handel Lee Yu Yap was the one who offered the highest bid of P15,950,000 for the two lots owned by Anastacia Abangan that was auctioned at P14.6 million.

Among the properties that were auctioned yesterday were previously owned by Aznar Bros. Realty Corp., but presently owned by the Alta Vista Golf Course, according to Oliva.

The city treasurer said those delinquent real property tax owners still have a year to redeem their properties if they want to recover them, but they should pay the bid price plus the two percent interest of the amount.

The former Citicenter Commercial Complex in barangay Kamagayan has been forfeited already by Cebu City when its owners failed to redeem the property after the lapse of the one-year redemption period.

Oliva explained that before the auction, the city treasurer’s office sent a series of communications to the concerned owners of the properties, but they chose to ignore the demand for them to pay their taxes.

In all, the owners of the auctioned lots and buildings failed to pay the government P74.3 million in taxes. (THE FREEMAN)