GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Oct. 7 (PNA) — The city government will auction by the end of the month some 924 private real properties here due to their unpaid taxes that already reached around PHP47.5 million.
Tess Sevilla, land tax division head of the City Treasurer’s Office, said they are currently finalizing the arrangements for the conduct of the public auction, which is mainly aimed to recover the real property tax dues of the concerned properties.
She said the auction, which will be facilitated by their office, is scheduled on October 31 at the city hall lobby.
“The auction covers real properties that have pending delinquencies and whose owners failed to settle despite notices from our office,” she said.
Sevilla said that under the law, real properties are deemed delinquent one year after their owners fail to settle their real property tax dues.
She was referring to provisions of Title II of the Local Government Code or Republic Act 7160 and its implementing rules and regulations.
Before a delinquent real property is subjected to public auction, the local government should first issue a notice of delinquency and publish it in a local newspaper.
A final demand letter will be issued to the owner and will be followed by a warrant of levy if no payment or settlement is made.
A warrant of levy means that a delinquent real property has been attached to the name of the city government.
Upon receipt of the warrant, property owners are given time to settle the tax delinquency. If no payment is made, the forfeiture of the property is published and the auction is scheduled.
“We’ve sent the required notices to the concerned real property owners before we scheduled the auction,” Sevilla said in an interview with a local television station.
But she said the delinquent real properties may still be taken off the auction list with the full or partial payment of the tax dues.
She said concerned owners may forge with their office a compromise agreement for the staggered settlement of the dues.
“Compromise agreements are allowed but the property owners have to make a partial payment or a down payment,” Sevilla added.(PNA)