Public auction moved to Dec

CEBU, Philippines - Delinquent taxpayers in Cebu City still have until December this year to settle their obligations otherwise their properties shall be subjected to public auction.

Assistant city treasurer Tessie Camarillo was able to convince the City Council to give them four months to prepare the necessary documents for public auction of the delinquent properties.

Of the 240,000 real property units in the city’s 80 barangays, hundreds of owners failed to pay the corresponding taxes worth millions of pesos of assessed value.

The Local Government Code of 1991 provides that delinquent properties shall be subjected to public auction to satisfy the tax payment for the government.

The city’s Land Management Bureau headed by lawyer Jade Ponce is still collating the records to know how many properties that are owned by the city for want of bidder.

The law provides that if no interested buyers of delinquent properties during public auction, the properties are deemed purchased automatically by the city government.

Its owners, however, still have one year period to redeem their lots by paying the amount and the two percent interest rate.

Records show that there are several owners whose properties have been forfeited by the city for want of bidder but want to redeem their properties now by paying the unpaid taxes and the interest rate provided for by the law. — (FREEMAN)