KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/03 July)– The city government is set to auction some 1,571 real properties here that have already accumulated around P65 million in unpaid taxes in the last several years.
Marloun Gumbao, city treasurer’s office chief, said Wednesday they have already started the necessary processes for the forfeiture and public auction of real properties after the owners failed to settle their unpaid tax dues despite past notices issued by the local government.
He said the notice for the public auction of the forfeited real properties will be published in a local newspaper within this month as required by Republic Act (RA) 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991.
“We’re planning to conduct the auction by August or September,” Gumbao said in a radio interview.
The official said the upcoming public auction of forfeited delinquent real properties will be the first in the city’s history.
As part of their preparations, he said they earlier studied the processes adopted by the city government of Davao in their regular bi-annual public auction of forfeited real properties.
Gumbao said they initially discovered that the processes previously set by the local government involving the forfeiture and public auction of real properties are incomplete and inconsistent based on government regulations.
He said that before subjecting a delinquent real property to public auction, a notice of delinquency should first be issued and published 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 settlements are 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 some time to settle the tax delinquency. If no payment is made, the forfeiture of the property is published and the auction is scheduled.
“The entire process would take one to two months, starting from the issuance of the notice of delinquency,” Gumbao said.
The auction will be made in five batches, with each comprising at least 270 real properties, he said.
After the initial public auction, Gumbao said they are planning to hold them on a regular basis similar to the practice of Davao City.
The city government of Davao has been auctioning forfeited real properties twice a year since 2003, he said. (Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews)