The Sangguniang Panlungsod of Bacolod City passed the Revised Revenue Code of Bacolod City on second reading during its special session yesterday.
Councilor Al Victor Espino, chairman of the SP Committee on Appropriations and Finance and Committee on Ways and Means, said they intend to pass the measure, which he authored, in their regular session on its third and final reading today. “I believe we will have this enacted for effectivity on January 1, 2012,” he said. Espino said that before the approval of the ordinance, the request and suggestions given by the stakeholders, particularly SM City Bacolod, were incorporated in the ordinance, and the requests for tax exemptions were also evaluated and included, while the tax on idle lands was removed upon the request of CREBA and, instead, the municipal rate was adopted in the imposition of the real property taxes that is based on the Local Government Code. He said “The proposed ordinance had been in the pipeline since 2010 and we have conducted at least eight public hearings together with the stakeholders who will be affected by the ordinance.” And just this week, they conducted two special sessions to debate and deliberate on the ordinance, he added. Espino said “We have allotted enough time to evaluate and discuss the requests of the stakeholders in the position papers that they have submitted and we came up with solutions and included their requests in the ordinance.” The ordinance was supported by Councilors Homer Bais, Em Legaspi Ang, Roberto Rojas, Dindo Ramos, Caesar Distrito, Mona Dia Jardin and Carl Lopez, while Councilors Archie Baribar, Sonya Verdeflor, Catalino Alisbo and Elmer Sy voted against the ordinance. Espino said Councilor Keith Ramos had to leave early because he had an entrance examination to take. When asked for his opinion, acting Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, who presided over the special session, said he is not against the increase in taxes as long as it does not exceed 10 percent. Familiaran said a tax increase should be the last recourse. If the city’s income has decreased, there are many measures it can take, he said. The city can implement cost-cutting measures by doing away with unnecessary expenses, and by generating funds from the Vendor’s Plaza and Annex building at the Libertad Market by having them leased to interested businessmen, Familiaran said It can also have the vacant offices at City Hall leased to national agencies, he said. Familiaran cited for example that Valenzuela City, an industrial and residential suburb in Metro Manila which has the same population as Bacolod, had no tax increase for five years, yet its annual budget increased from P900 million to P2.1 billion due to its collection efficiency. Bacolod, on the other hand, had no tax increase for 18 years.*CGS
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