Stakeholders back land valuation reform bill

MANILA, Philippines - Various real estate and property stakeholders from the government and the private sector unanimously urged President Aquino to certify the Valuation Reform Act (VRA) bill as part of his priority reform agenda. The Senate version of the bill is numbered 3510 while the House version is numbered 7094. 

The proposed reforms respond to President Aquino’s policy pronouncements to pursue more revenue generation measures, promote transparency, accountability and good governance, and eradicate corruption in government transactions.

Close to 300 delegates earlier adopted the valuation reforms at the 1st National Congress on Property Valuation and Taxation, held at Hyatt Hotel Manila recently. The congress was organized by the Second Land Administration and Management Project (LAMP2), a joint project of the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Technical and funding assistance comes from the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the World Bank.

The congress participants were drawn from national government agencies, the banking and finance sector, the real estate industry, and the academe exchanged ideas and reached consensus on the proposed reforms in land valuation.

At the Congress, former finance secretary Margarito B. Teves, in his keynote address, underscored the need to continue reforms in the Aquino administration, citing the huge potential of real property tax as the country’s biggest resource that will link efficient land management to more revenue generation, better fiscal governance and meaningful decentralization.

“It is estimated that 50 to 75 percent of a country’s wealth is in real estate,” Teves said. “Unfortunately, in the Philippines, real property contributes only six percent to the national income.”  

LAMP officials said the reforms support President Aquino’s revenue generation agenda because VRA bill would expand the current land tax base through market-based valuation, and generate equitable real property taxes. These, in turn, will fund vital social services and development programs without imposing new taxes or increasing existing tax rates, they added.

When then President Aquino was still senator at the 14th Congress, he co-sponsored the VRA bill in his capacity as chair of the Senate committee on local government, along with Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson who was the bill’s main sponsor.

Ma. Presentacion Montesa, executive director of DOF’s Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF), said that the VRA bill will be re-filed in the 15th Congress.

Earlier, former mayor and newly appointed Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse M. Robredo showcased the success of Naga City in demonstrating that valuation and taxation reforms are “actually doable” at the LGU level after two years of LAMP2 reforms. Robredo revealed that Naga City experienced a hefty increase of 22 percent in collections, with its income rising from P200 million in 2006 to P300 million in 2009.