CEBU CITY: Illegal override-based real property tax assessments yet to be corrected

Local

A MONTH after being flagged as “void from the beginning,” the controversial override-based real property tax assessments in Cebu City remain uncorrected.

This is after the Assessor’s Office says it is still waiting for clear direction from Mayor Nestor Archival Sr.

In a letter dated July 29, 2025, Acting City Assessor Nova Batiller told the City Council that her office has yet to act on reassessment requests filed by affected property owners due to the absence of a formal directive from the executive department.

“This office awaits a directive from the executive on how to respond to the requests of the property owners-taxpayers,” Batiller wrote, referring to declarations issued between March 19 and May 8, 2024, under the now-questioned “stamp override” scheme.

Her statement was officially endorsed by the Sangguniang Panlungsod during its session on Tuesday, August 5.

Batiller said her office recognizes the legal findings of the City Legal Office, which in May declared the override-based assessments illegal and recommended their invalidation for having no basis in law or local ordinances.

But until the mayor gives the green light, she said they are unable to proceed.

“These assessments violate existing rules and regulations,” she reiterated in the letter. “The law requires that the basis of the market value should be the schedule of market values provided in the City Ordinance.”

The override scheme in question involved the direct input of owner-declared values into the city’s tax system, bypassing the official schedule of market values (SMV) approved by the City Council and reviewed by the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF).

Some taxpayers received assessment hikes of over 1,000 percent, based solely on declarations that were originally intended for data collection, not for taxation.

The assessor’s response highlights a bureaucratic standstill. Though former Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia issued an executive order last June nullifying the override-based assessments, Batiller insists that proper coordination among the Assessor’s Office, the Treasurer’s Office, and the Council is still lacking.

She cited the City Legal Office’s recommendation that the Council should craft a specific measure declaring all override-linked tax declarations as invalid, adding legal weight to the principle that an act contrary to law “produces no legal effect.”

Until that happens, and until the mayor formally acts, the issuance of corrected tax declarations cannot move forward, Batiller said.

The delay has left taxpayers in limbo, and City Council members are under pressure to act.

Some legislators have already drafted proposed ordinances to assert that only assessments derived from the approved SMV are valid and enforceable.

Others are pushing the Assessor’s Office to directly notify affected residents about the invalid assessments and reassure them that future tax hikes must go through legislative scrutiny.

In previous sessions, councilors also demanded a clear timeline from the executive branch on resolving the issue and ensuring that those wrongly charged are not penalized further.

The override scandal has shaken City Hall. A 32-page investigative report by the City Legal Office accused former officials, including ex-City Assessor Dr. Maria Theresa Rosell and former Acting City Treasurer Jerone Castillo, of instructing staff to override the tax system and manually encode higher market values declared by owners.

These actions, the report claimed, were often based on verbal instructions or even sticky notes, leaving no formal documentation and depriving taxpayers of due process.

Many property owners said they were unaware of the adjustments and missed the 60-day window to contest the valuations.

Former city administrator Atty. Collin Rosell, who was also named in the City Legal’s report, has strongly pushed back against the accusations.

He said he was never invited to respond to the findings and called the report “malicious” and “libelous.”

“A mere computer system cannot cause an increase in real property tax due and payment,” Rosell said in a public statement, arguing that valuations are not equivalent to taxation.

He also said the declarations were voluntarily signed by owners and based on documents like building permits or actual construction costs.

“If an owner valued his studio condo unit at P4 million rather than the P280,000 outdated valuation of the assessor, is the owner at fault?” Rosell asked. “A prudent owner would not want to under-declare just to save on taxes.”

He maintained that no new tax rates were implemented under his term and called for an impartial review of all affected tax records.

Archival, for his part, has committed to reviewing the AS400 tax system and looking into ways to help affected property owners. But as Batiller made clear, her office won’t move until formal instructions are issued from the top.(TGP)