Bureau of Local Government Finance Opinion

July 5, 2002 BUREAU OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE OPINION The City Assessor City of Himamaylan S i r : This refers to your letter dated April 16, 2002, in effect requesting opinion as to whether or not the newly created City of Himamaylan should still undertake the CY 2002 general revision of real property assessments pursuant to Section 219 of R.A. No. 7160, also known as the Local Government Code of 1991, which provides that: "The provincial, city or municipal assessor shall undertake a general revision of real property assessment within two (2) years after the effectivity of this Code and every three (3) years thereafter." It is informed that Section 57 of R.A. No. 9028, otherwise known as "An Act Converting the Municipality of Himamaylan, Province of Negros Occidental into a Component City to be known as the City of Himamaylan," signed into law on March 5, 2001, provides, among others, for the suspension of increase in the rates of local taxes within the period of five (5) years from its acquisition of corporate existence. In this connection, and considering that the tax rates being referred to in the subject Charter of the City of Himamaylan pertains, among others, to the basic and SEF rates of levy in real property taxes, this Bureau is of the opinion that the abovementioned CY 2002 general revision of real property assessments should still be undertaken considering that the restriction is only on the rates of local taxes, real property tax included, and not on the values of real properties. It is emphasized, however, that the once every three (3) year principle on the conduct of the general revision should be observed. 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 201 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, that Office should assign district barangay index numbers to each district/barangay under the jurisdiction of the City 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. cAHIaE "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. Be guided accordingly. Very truly yours, (SGD.) JUANITA D. AMATONG Undersecretary and Officer-in-Charge, BLGF