Family of lot owner wants to redeem property from city

CEBU, Philippines – The family of a landowner in Barangay Mabolo whose property was forfeited by the city for non-payment of taxes is appealing that they be given another chance to redeem the land.

In a letter to the City Council, Hazel Teves - Almocera asked that they be given one more chance to redeem the property registered under the name of Gaudencio Teves. Teves has failed to pay real property taxes to the city for 10 years.

The Council had referred the letter to the committee on budget and finance for review and comment.

City Treasurer Ofelia Oliva, however, strongly objected to the request saying the owners of the property already lost the right to redeem the same because they did nothing even with the extension granted by the city.

Records of the city treasurer's office show that Teves has not been paying taxes since 2000, which prompted the city to auction his lot in 2007.

The Local Government Code provides that when no one wants to buy the property during auction, the property can be sold to the city government. The owner, however, has right to redeem it within a year.

In his case, Teves was allowed to redeem the property until January 31, 2008 or a year after the auction. The City Council even extended the timeframe to another year until December 31, 2009, but Teves and his family still failed to exercise their right within this period.

City Hall records show that there are several properties in the city, such as lands, buildings and machineries whose owners simply ignored the city's demand to pay taxes.

Oliva said her office is scheduled to conduct auction of several properties of delinquent tax payers in the next few days. (THE FREEMAN)