Council to meet execs on RPT ordinance

CEBU, Philippines —  Having wrapped up a series of public hearings on the proposed ordinance revising Cebu City's Real Property Tax (RPT) rates, the City Council is meeting the executive department this week for a bicameral meeting to discuss the possibility of "softening" the fair market value (FMV) of properties that served as basis for the new tax rates.

The said proposed ordinance entitled, 'An Ordinance enacting the 2023 Revised Property Tax Code for the Taxing Jurisdiction of the City of Cebu' is authored by City Councilor Noel Wenceslao, head of the committee on budget and finance.

In an interview yesterday, Wenceslao said they had already wrapped up the public hearing.

The last one, he said, was held at the Cebu City Sports Club last Nov. 23, wherein various developers and business sector members were invited.

This time, Wenceslao said, they are gearing up for a bicameral meeting between the legislative and the executive departments that is set to be conducted within this week.

“After the bicameral (meeting), whatever outcome..., then mag second deliberation na 'ta (of the ordinance), ako lang ipasulod sa council,” he said.

He said the only critical factor that they have to tackle is the FMV, on which they would have to come up with a common ground to decide on something can be agreeable to property owners.

This is also after some of the business sectors raised concerns about the soaring tax rates due to the higher FMV.

“Ang ila lang, in fact ang president sa Cebu Business Chamber, gusto sya nga kung pila nga FMV, medyo i-70 percent lang. Then ang Ayala sad, kay medyo sila may dako kaayo'g impact gyud, and ila sad dili lang kaayo ibug-at sad kay dako kuno kaayo og impact especially sa yuta sa IT Park,” said Wenceslao.

He, however, added that although the majority of the property owners agreed to the revised RPT, they expressed the desire to “soften” the increase of FMV especially since most of the business sectors are still recovering from loss brought by the Covid-19 pandemic and the super typhoon Odette.

“So ang uban wala pa gyud ka fully recover sa ilang profit so mao nang they want to soften the impact. So, unsaon man pag soften sa impact? So ang ilang siguro nga ang FMV mura'g mao may contributing factor sa increase…mao ra ilang gipa-soften,” the councilor said.

He said these concerns would be brought up during the bicameral meeting.

Wenceslao said they are hopeful to implement the revised RPT July next year, if the ordinance is passed before the year ends. (CEBU NEWS)