Cebu City shows title to city slaughterhouse

Rama

The Cebu City slaughterhouse may be located in barangay Subangdaku, Mandaue City, but the Cebu City government owns the lot where it stands.

General Services Office (GSO) chief Dionisio Gualiza showed a copy of Transfer Certificate of Title No. 51284 issued by the Land Registration Authority which states that the 2,476-square meter lot was bought by Cebu City.

“This TCT is proof that the City of Cebu owns the lot where the abattoir stands, even if it’s in Mandaue City,” Gualiza said.

He said the TCT was dated June 4, 2003 although it’s possible that the land was purchased earlier.
The GSO said the lot was bought from a certain Rosendo Maglasang.

Politics

Records from the GSO’s Property Management Division showed that the abattoir’s building is covered by an insurance by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

The Cebu City government has a P3 million one year insurance for the building starting last February until February next year.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said he was surprised why the Mandaue City government only decided to try and collect the taxes now when there was none before.

“If they’re making an issue of this based on politics, I’m not running for any position in Mandaue. If it’s personal, that’s not my cup of tea,” he said.

Rama, who just arrived from Hong Kong yesterday, said the City Administrator and the City Legal Office will have to review the issue and decide if Cebu City will pay or not.

“If there’s merit, why not? If there’s no merit, why should we pay?” Rama said.

Demand letter

City Legal Officer Jerone Castillo earlier said real property owned by a local government unit cannot be taxed by another as stated in the exemptions for real property tax under the Local Government Code.

Even if it is taxable, Castillo said there’s a prescriptive period of five years to collect taxes.

The Mandaue City government sent a demand letter to Cebu City asking for a P2.853 million payment in real property taxes from 2001 to 2014.

The amount consists of P383,806.74 for the land occupied by the slaughterhouse, P1,587,123.51 for the building and P882,399.68 for the North Bus Terminal building.

Castillo said they plan to file a formal reply to Mandaue City next week.

Word war

Mandaue City Treasurer Regal Oliva is adamant on collecting the taxes from Cebu City’s slaughterhouse and the North Bus terminal unless Cebu City Hall proves with certainty that they are exempt from paying them.

“They don’t have to shout it to the moon and to the stars because Regal Oliva is not there, they only have little things to prove,” Oliva said.

Oliva denied that his office’s aggressive push to collect the taxes stemmed from the word war between Rama and Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes over the footbridges in Mahiga Creek.

He said it was while Mandaue City Hall personnel checked on the structures within the three-meter easement on Mahiga Creek that he learned about the Cebu City slaughterhouse and how it didn’t pay taxes since 2001.

He said the abattoir didn’t have a sanitary permit, fire clearance and environmental clearance.

Oliva said the North Bus terminal is located near the demolition site which is also leased by a cooperative under Cebu City Hall’s supervision.

If Cebu City fails to pay these taxes, Oliva said the Mandaue City government will proceed with auctioning off these buildings. /With Correspondent Norman V. Mendoza

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