Tuesday, August 4, 2009
By Ian Ocampo Flora
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) here announced over the weekend that new zonal valuation for real properties in the province, particularly in this capital city and nearby towns, will be out before October this year.
This, after the one of the two BIR Revenue District Offices (RDO) submitted its recommendation on the possible increase in real properties valuation here.
According BIR Regional Director Romulo Aguila Jr., the RDO 21B which comprises of the City of San Fernando and southern Pampanga towns, has recommended around 30 to 100 percent increase in real property value.
"This has been the most reasonable increase, according to the members of the committee under RDO 21B. This will be presented to the national office and we are very optimistic that it would be most acceptable and that it would be good as approved without any revision," Aguila said.
He added that this would put to rest opposition on the zonal valuation issues in the City of San Fernando.
It could be recalled that businessmen here led by Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Levy Laus, along with realtors, have objected to the previous plan of the BIR to raise zonal values which they said were "unrealistic and did not undergo enough public consultation."
Under the previous planned scheme, properties along Jose Abad Santos Avenue, formerly known as Gapan-Olongapo Road, have been valued as high as P40,000 per square meter while other properties in other parts of the province have been assessed at a low P25 per square meter only.
Because of the objection, the BIR national office directed its bureau offices here to hold new round of talks on the issue through RDOs and their working committees.
The working committees are composed of representatives from the private sector, two licensed appraisers, assessors and local government officials. The groups would then forward their own recommended zonal values to be streamlined with those of the national office.
"We expect to come out with a new zonal valuation scheme by October this year as directed by the national office and this is expected to be received favorably by businessmen," Aguila said.
However, he said RDO 21A has yet to forward their recommended zonal values.
RDO 21A is composed of Angeles City and the towns of Arayat, Porac, Magalang and Mabalacat. The rest of the province's municipalities and the City of San Fernando are under RDO 21B.
Business leaders and politicians of the RDO 21A have previously passed a resolution asking for a five-year moratorium on the zonal valuation increase, saying such move would be most practical for the development of business in the area.
Aguila said if RDO 21A would not come out with its recommendations, the BIR would have to come out with zonal values based on the RDO 21B model.
"We will come out with a zonal valuation scheme for them but we assure that this would be most reasonable," Aguila said.
The regional director said the zonal values would greatly improve land values in favor of the property owner.
Published in the Sun.Star Pampanga newspaper on August 5, 2009.
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