Archival pushes for aggressive tax collection

Local

CEBU City Mayor Nestor Archival Sr. is ramping up tax collection efforts without raising rates.

He said this will be achieved by pursuing billions in uncollected dues and cracking down on unregistered businesses among more than 50,000 operating in the city.

Archival said the strategy is central to meeting his administration’s P11.5-billion revenue target for 2026, a goal he insists is achievable with tighter enforcement and improved permitting systems.

“We will not increase real property or business taxes. Instead, we will focus on our collectibles. There are billions of pesos we haven’t collected yet,” he said in an interview on Sunday, August 10.

He added, “We also have to tax real properties that should be on the roll but aren’t, and identify businesses operating without registration.”

The mayor noted that a significant number of enterprises have avoided securing business permits, often due to the difficulty of the application process.

“We have over 50,000 businesses in the city, and some are unregistered. Many have complained about the challenges in getting a business permit. That has to change,” Archival said.

He added that the Business Permits and Licensing Office (BPLO) has been tasked to streamline the process.

The intensified collection drive forms part of Archival’s broader fiscal approach to keep spending grounded on “realistic revenue projections” of P9.5 to P10.5 billion, while pushing revenue-generating offices to stretch toward P11.5 billion.

The plan avoids the pitfalls of previous budgets flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA) for overestimating income and running up deficits.

In its 2023 audit report, COA criticized Cebu City for projecting P49.7 billion in revenues but collecting only P6.948 billion, a shortfall of over P42 billion. Similar gaps were recorded in earlier years.

Archival said hitting revenue targets without new taxes will require not only better enforcement but also removing bottlenecks that discourage compliance.

“If we make it easier for people to register and pay, more will comply. We owe it to the public to make government work efficiently,” he said.

The city is also studying investments in collection-supporting infrastructure, such as additional garbage trucks for the Department of Public Services, to improve service delivery and ensure timely payments of service-related fees.

The collection push comes as the City Council has urged Archival to submit the 2026 proposed budget earlier than the October 16 deadline to give ample time for deliberations, especially for programs tied to Sinulog 2026 preparations.(TGP)