CEBU, Philippines — Minglanilla town Mayor Rajiv Enad is disappointed with the municipal assessor who reportedly failed to meet the Capitol-imposed deadline on the reappraisal of real properties that earned the ire of Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia.
In a meeting live on Facebook with assessors from towns on June 25, Garcia called Enad’s attention over the town assessor's failure to do the reappraisal of values of real properties.
During the meeting, the governor asked Minglanilla municipal assessor Melanie Vargas about why the increase of values in the town’s real properties was only 47 percent when other local government units reached three-digit percentage.
Vargas replied that she was not yet finished as the rest of the papers are still on her table at her office.
The reappraisal is based on an approved provincial ordinance and the governor had already extended the deadline three times, giving the assessors “final ultimatum” last March.
The deadline was set for June 1 but was moved to June 5 and eventually to June 26.
The approved values of the real properties will serve as basis for the amount of taxes that will be collected.
Upon hearing the Capitol meeting, Enad called for an emergency meeting to demand explanation from the assessor.
Vargas admitted during the meeting that she failed to do her task since she was busy with her other duties, according to a Facebook post of the mayor’s official page and the page for Local Government Unit of Minglanilla.
According to the post, the mayor was surprised to learn of what happened considering that in his meeting with different departments every Monday, Vargas would always report that they have done the tasks required of her office.
Enad is expected to issue an executive order to form a task force that would do the reappraisal.
The task force, which will inspect establishments every day in the next two weeks, is composed of three teams which will report directly to the mayor.
The task force is composed of personnel from the Municipal Assessor’s Office, Municipal Treasurer’s Office, Municipal Engineering Office, and Office of the Mayor.
The Municipal Council led by Vice Mayor Lani Peña has approved a resolution authorizing the mayor to form the task force for the reappraisal and reassessment of real property.
“Nadismaya kaayo ang mayor sa gibuhat ni Vargas ug expected siya nga mohimo ug dakong lakang para ma-correct ang sitwasyon,” according to the town’s FB post.
Cebu Provincial Assessor Michelle Languido, in her memorandum dated May 10, 2023, called the attention of Vargas for still applying values lower than those reflected in the building permit as well as the 2019 Schedule of Market Values in several transactions submitted to her office for final review and approval.
Languido directed Vargas to immediately correct the tax declaration and to conduct assessment/re-assessment and appraisal/re-appraisal of 15 establishments in the municipality. — /LPM (FREEMAN)