THE Cebu City government will allow owners to recover their property the city has forfeited.
City Councilor Jose D. Daluz III authored an ordinance establishing a one-year redemption period for real property that has been auctioned.
The redemption period shall run upon the registration of the Certificate of Sale or Declaration of Forfeiture with the City Register of Deeds.
Despite being proposed by an opposition councilor, Cebu City Mayor Tomas R. Osmeña said he will sign the ordinance the City Council has passed.
Osmeña said the ordinance would allow the city to collect taxes.
“It’s kind of painful to lose property because you don’t pay your taxes,” he added. Records of the City Treasurer’s Office showed the city forfeited at least 639 units of real property.
With the new ordinance, the city government may collect at least P270 million in delinquency taxes from owners, Daluz said.
The amount, he added, is expected to increase as it does not include the taxes after the property was forfeited in favor of the city.
Osmeña said he is not only after for the collection of taxes; he also wants to give owners a chance to redeem their property.
“I’m giving them a chance to pay their taxes. I don’t have to steal other people’s property,” he added.
While saying that forfeiting property may be advantageous to the city, Osmeña said he does not have the heart for it.
“It can be very advantageous [for the city] just like Citicenter. They’ve been there for a long time; they did not pay taxes. We gave all chances in the world, and they still don’t like to pay. So, we just took over the property,” he said.
Of the 639 real-property units (RPUs) the city forfeited, at least 333 units are land, 276 are buildings and 30 are types of machinery.
Under the ordinance, the City Treasurer’s Office will register the RPUs’ Certificate of Sale or the Declaration of Forfeiture of auctioned tax-delinquent properties with the office of the City Register of Deeds.