Bureau of Local Government Finance Opinion

May 2, 2002 BUREAU OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE OPINION 2nd Indorsement Respectfully returned to the Regional Director for Local Government Finance, Department of Finance, Region XI, Helen K Lee Bldg. Corner J. Luna & J. dela Cruz Sts. Davao City. This refers to the letter dated December 3, 2001 of the City Assessor of Panabo City, inquiring if it would have any legal impediment in the event the Sangguniang Panlungsod of said city, decides not to revise the 2000 Schedule of Market Values (SMV) for reason that R.A. No. 9015, the law creating the said City has imposed a 5-year moratorium in the increase of taxes. In this connection, this Bureau is of the opinion that there will be no legal impediment if the Sangguniang Panlungsod decides not to revise the 2000 SMV as the said City is precluded from any increase in taxation. Incidentally, in pursuance of Section 207 of R.A. No. 7160 (The Local Government Code of 1991) and Article 298 of its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), and in order to provide proper identification and control over all real property units (RPUs) within the city, the number 195 is hereby assigned to that newly converted city as its Index Number, in addition to the City Index Numbers already prescribed in the Manual on Real Property Tax Administration. As a consequence thereof, the previous PIN assigned to that LGU as a municipality is considered retired. Accordingly, the said City Assessor of Panabo should be instructed to assign district barangay index numbers to each district/barangay under your jurisdiction following the procedure provided for in the Tax Mapping Operations Manual (Assessment Regulations No. 1-78 dated March 16, 1978), the pertinent provisions of which are quoted as follows: "SEC. 3.04.01. Municipal Index Number or City District Index Number . . . "xxx xxx xxx. "b. City District Index Number. The City Districts shall be numbered consecutively beginning with "01" in the northwesterly most district, thence on an easternly direction, thence drop southward to the next district and then repeat in an easternly direction until all the districts within the city are assigned with numbers. "SEC. 3.04.02. Barangay Index Number . The next three (3) digits (6th, 7th and 8th) in the Property Identification Number are used to identify the barangay. Barangays are numbered beginning with "001" for the poblacion and continuing serially through all barangays on an alphabetical basis by municipality. To illustrate, the numbering of districts will start on the "northernmost" portion of the map going to the east, thence, southward and then to the west and repeat until all areas have been numbered. In barangays, the Poblacion is assigned the number "001" and continuing with the other barangays after it has been arranged alphabetically. Please see attachment "1" for ready reference. DIEcHa Be guided accordingly. (SGD.) JUANITA D. AMATONG Undersecretary and Officer-in-Charge, BLGF