The Chamber of Real Estate and Builders' Association and the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association, Negros Occidental chapters, are asking the Regional Trial Court Branch 42 to deny the motion to dismiss filed by the Bacolod City government of against its petition for utter lack of merit.

The Bacolod City Government filed a motion to dismiss the civil case for the declaration of nullity of City Ordinance No. 08-14-700 with prayer for the issuance of temporary restraining order, filed by the CREBA and SHDA against it before RTC Branch 42, for being moot and academic ) after the decision of the Department of Justice came out declaring the city's tax code null and void.

The group also asked the court to issue an order directing the City of Bacolod to cease-and-desist from imposing Ordinance No. 08-14-700, or “An ordinance updating the schedule of Market Value of Real Properties in the city of Bacolod and other provisions relative to RPT Administration, that had already been declared null and void by the Department of Justice.

CREBA and SHDA, represented by Marvin Tañada, were furnished a copy of the motion to dismiss filed by the city of Bacolod on April 27, after it filed a petition ad cautelam before the RTC seeking the reversal of the DOJ's February 18 resolution declaring the ordinance null and void, for failure to comply with the prescribed procedure under the Local Government Code for the enactment of tax ordinances.

In their comment, the complainants said during the April 27 hearing, that, despite the DOJ resolution, the city continues to impose and collect property taxes under the new market value set by the ordinance. They said, however, that in case the taxpayers belligerently object, they could pay taxes based on the old 2014 fair market value.

“The group said it is now deemed ripe for the court to grant the preliminary injuction and issue an order directing the city of Bacolod to cease-and-desist from imposing and collecting the RPT under the new fair market value set in the ordinance that has been declared null and void by the DOJ.

The complainants also asked that the case proceed to the trial for the nullification of the ordinance that breaches the constitutional guaranty that taxes should be equitable, and uniform, and therefore, its imposition should be based on the actual use, one's ability to pay and should not be confiscatory.

A civil case for the declaration of nullity of City Ordinance No. 08-14-700 with prayer for the issuance of temporary restraining order, had been filed by CREBA and SHDA-Negros Occidental chapters, against the Bacolod City government before RTC Branch 42 early this year.

CREBA and SHDA claimed that the ordinance is “unconstitutional, unlawful, oppressive, excessive and confiscatory,” in Civil Case No. 14-14437 seeking a declaration of nullity with preliminary prohibitory and/or mandatory injunction, with prayer for temporary restraining order.*CGS

back to top