Friday, July 11, 2008 [ sunstar.com.ph ]
By Carlo P. Mallo and Ben O. Tesiorna
THE Davao City Water District (DCWD) will only pay the real property tax, which was pegged at over P4 million, subject to a reassessment of their tax dues.
Imelda Magsuci, manager for finance of DCWD, said the company will pay the real property tax on the condition that it must be reassessed, saying that DCWD's tax dues were "erroneously" assessed by the City Treasurer's Office.
DCWD board president Ed Bangayan also reiterated the water utility is willing to pay the City Government its real property taxes, but maintained that it has to follow the law.
"The real property tax, we will pay it but we want it to be reassessed," Magsuci said.
Other than the P4 million real property tax being demanded, the City Council has also sought for the payment of over P44 million covering the shares of the City Government from the operation of the DCWD in the years of 1992 to 2004.
However, the legal division of the DCWD said the local government could not assess the local water district for utilization of national wealth. This is based on the opinions of the Office of the Government Corporate Council (OGCC), the counterpart of the Solicitor General in these matters, and the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA).
According to Bangayan, the Local Government Code states that the city is only entitled to 10 percent of the value of the assessed real property and not 15 percent as allegedly demanded by the city.
He said that being a government owned and controlled corporation, they could not easily give in to the demand of the city if it would mean violating the law.
"We will give what is due to the government. We will pay if the law so provides. While the City Council says that we should pay, we also have our basis of not doing so," Bangayan said.
He said DCWD is now more focused on their programs and projects in bringing enough and high quality water to every household in the city rather than dwell on the issue.
"Again we would want to focus our efforts in water supply and protection of water resources. These include the completion and operationalization of our Panorama reservoir 2, improving water quality and continue our opposition to the hydropower plant in Tamugan. Our Tamugan project will answer both water quality and quantity," Bangayan said.
He said they are now threshing out the problem with the City Council and hope to come up with a win-win solution.
DCWD's take on its real estate taxes slightly differs from its direct refusal to pay the city's share of its profits for using local water amounting to P44,231,068.80, which covers the period of 1992-2004.
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