spot_img
28.1 C
Philippines
Friday, March 29, 2024

Existing fair mart values in Quezon City get hefty increase

- Advertisement -

The Supreme Court has paved the way for the implementation of Quezon City ordinance that effectively increases the existing fair market values of land, buildings, and other structures in the city from 100 percent to as much as 500 percent.

This emerged after the Supreme Court lifted, on technical ground, its 2017 temporary restraining order that enjoined the Quezon City government from implementing the FMV increases under Ordinance 2256, Series of 2016.

“WHEREFORE, the petition is DISMISSED due to petitioner Alliance of Quezon City Homeowners’ Association Inc.’s lack of legal capacity to sue. The Temporary Restraining Order issued on April 18, 2017 is hereby LIFTED,” the SC ruled, capitalizations in the ruling.

In an en banc decision penned by Associate Justice Estela M. Perlas Bernabe, the SC stressed that the lifting of the TRO and the dismissal of the petition against the Quezon City ordinance on FMVs was only because the Alliance of Quezon City Homeowners’ Association Inc., which filed the case, had no legal standing on the issue.

“Thus, the resolution of the issues anent the validity and constitutionality of Quezon City Ordinance No. SP-2556, Series of 2016, while indeed of great public interest and of transcendental importance, must nonetheless await the filing of the proper case by the proper party,” the tribunal said.

- Advertisement -

According to the SC, it was informed that the registration of AWCHI had been revoked by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2004 because of its non-registration with the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board.

“The Rules of Court mandates that only natural or juridical persons or entities authorized by law may be parties in a civil action. Non-compliance with this requirement renders a case dismissible on the ground of lack of legal capacity to sue…” the high court ruled.

It junked AQCHI’s allegation that the petition was filed by its board of trustees through its treasurer Danilo Liwanag, a taxpayer, and a Quezon City resident.           

“The Court disagrees. A perusal of the petition readily shows that it was filed by Alliance, and not by the individual members of its Board of Trustees in their personal capacities,” it said.

 The SC said that “it is evident from the title and ‘Parties’ section of the petition, the same was filed solely in the name of ‘Alliance of Quezon City Homeowners’ Association Inc.,’ as petitioner.”

It also said, “the Authorization Letter clearly indicates that the signatories therein signed merely in their official capacities as Alliance’s trustees.”

“On these scores, the fact that Liwanag, a natural person, signed and verified the petition did not cure Alliance’s lack of legal capacity to file this case. By the same logic, the signatures of the supposed trustees in the Authorization Letter did not confer Alliance with a separate juridical personality required to pursue this case,” it added.

“All told, while this case falls under the exceptions to the doctrines of exhaustion of administrative remedies and hierarchy of courts, the Court is still constrained to dismiss the petition due to Alliance’s lack of legal capacity to sue,” it pointed out. 

In its petition, AQCHI told the SC that the rates contained in the ordinance “are unjust and excessive” and would unduly burden financially all landowners in Quezon City.

It acknowledged the need for an increase in property valuation, but it said the increase should be reduced and should be implemented on a staggered basis.

 Named respondents in the petition were Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista and the officials of the city assessor’s office and treasurer’s office.

The city government, in its answer to the petition, told the SC that the 2016 ordinance complied with all the formal and substantive requisites for its validity.

It said that 29 public consultations were conducted in barangay assemblies throughout the six city districts and, in fact, in the presence and with the participation of AQCHI president Gloria Soriano.

It argued that the last adjustment in FMVs was done in 1995 and the huge increase in assessment on land was due to the interplay of economic and market forces.

The increases in FMVs were reasonable, it said, adding that the assessment levels were reduced from 18 per cent to five per cent for residential classification, and from 45 percent to 14 percent for commercial and industrial classifications.

It even told the SC that its FMVs are even lower than those of its neighboring cities of Pasay, Caloocan, Manila, and Mandaluyong.

- Advertisement -

LATEST NEWS

Popular Articles