Bataan’s quick action on property assessment report, cited

BALANGA CITY, Bataan – The province of Bataan is among the 29 provinces in the country who have revised their Schedules of Market Values (SMV) helping the government reach its annual financial goals, the Department of Finance (DoF) reported.

The DoF, along with the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGC), reported that the national government deemed it lost almost P9.4 billion in real property taxes due to the outdated Schedules of Market Values and low collection efficiency.

Fifty two out of 81 provinces in the Philippines still use outdated SMVs contrary to what the Local Government Code of 1991 provides, the report said. “The amount (P9.4B) can finance 700 public markets; 979 kilometers of roads; 2,738 day care centers; and 9,580 classrooms,” the report stated.

If fully enforced and properly administered, real property tax (RPT) is a progressive and stable source of revenues to be shared to municipalities, barangays and local school boards, the two agencies said.

Aside from Bataan, the province of Pampanga, is also among the seven provinces in the region, who have updated its real property assessments resulting to the annual increase in RPT collections.