The Internal Rules of the Supreme Court

May 18, 2001 BUREAU OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE OPINION The City Assessor Cotabato City S i r : This refers to your letter dated November 6, 2000, requesting opinion as to whether your Office is in the position to request authority from your Local Sanggunian to appropriate the funds collected from the Administrative Fine/Penalty solely for the operation of your said Office. It appears that the abovementioned request is being made pursuant to Section 104 of P.D. No. 464, also known as the Real Property Tax Code which, although superseded by R.A. No. 7160, otherwise known as The Local Government Code of 1991, the provision on Disposition of Proceeds was allegedly not among those expressly repealed. In this connection, attention is invited to Section 202 of the said R.A. No. 7160 and Article 293 of its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), which read in part, as follows: "SEC. 202. Declaration of Real Property by the Owner or Administrator . It shall be the duty of all persons, natural or juridical, owning or administering real property, including the improvements therein, within the city or municipality, or their duly authorized representative, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and file with the provincial, city or municipal assessor, a sworn statement declaring the true value of their real property, whether previously declared or undeclared, taxable or exempt, which shall be the current and fair market value of the property, as determined by the declarant. Such declaration shall contain a description of the property sufficient in detail to enable the assessor or his deputy to identify the same for assessment purposes. The sworn declaration of real property herein referred to shall be filed with the assessor concerned once every three (3) years during the period from January first (1st) to June thirtieth (30th) commencing with the calendar year 1992." CAaEDH "ART. 293. Declaration of Real Property by the Owner or Administrator . . . . "xxx xxx xxx. "The sangguniang panlungsod and sangguniang bayan may enact their respective ordinances providing for the imposition of penalties or pecuniary fines on property owners or administrators who fail to comply with this Article." Accordingly, that Office can make representations with the Sangguniang Panlungsod thereat and request that the ordinance providing for the imposition of penalty shall include the provision authorizing to appropriate the funds collected from the said penalties/fines solely for the operation of the City Assessor's Office. We trust that this clarifies matters. Very truly yours, (SGD.) BENJAMIN A. GERONIMO Executive Director