BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan created a team that will be tasked to conduct an inventory of the donated properties to the local government and to facilitate the transfer of the titles to the city to prevent the alleged mishandling of the said properties.
The committee will be composed of City Legal Officer Melchor Carlos Rabanes, City Planning and Development Officer Evelyn G. Cayat, City Assessor Ma. Almaya Adawe, Assistant City General Services Officer Eugene Buyocan and other representatives from various offices of the city.
Domogan said the team will inventory all properties donated to the local government, facilitate the transfer of the properties to the local government, and work out the possibility of the city paying for whatever taxes that will be paid to formalize the donation.
Earlier, Almaya raised the issue on the donated properties to the city that are covered by tax declarations which could not actually be transferred in the name of the local government considering the absence of legitimate titles to such properties.
He explained there is a need for the local government to put in place the needed inventory and eventual titling of the said properties to make sure it will be able to have records of the donated properties for future references.
“We have to iron out the database of our donated properties that will serve as our basis in the processing of the titles of the properties and for our future reference. We have to task the responsible officers who will take charge of the inventory and eventual titling of the properties to prevent the same from being encroached by informal settlers,” Domogan stressed.
He reminded the team to look into the legality of the local government paying for the donor’s taxes of the donated properties to facilitate their speedy transfer to the name of the city in the future, to prevent the properties from remaining in the name of the donor.
According to him, donors are adamant in paying the donor’s taxes to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) that is why numerous donated properties still remain in their names, thus, the need for the local government to institute appropriate measures that will guarantee the transfer of the properties to the name of the city.
Under existing laws, rules and regulations, donors are mandated to pay a total of 20% of the market value of the properties donated to certain individuals or institutions representing the so-called donor’s tax for the said properties.
He learned that there are some donors who did not pursue the formalization of the donations of their properties to the local government because they were mandated by the BIR to pay the required donor’s tax before the eventual transfer of the titles of their donations to the city pursuant to existing laws, rules and regulations.
The newly created team will be given a few months to conduct the needed inventory of the donated properties and that the proposed titling of the donated properties in the name of the city will be done by the concerned offices that will take a longer period of time because of the tedious process involved in the titling of properties by the designated government agencies.
By Dexter A. See
