For lack of jurisdiction, the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) has denied the petition filed by the National Food Authority (NFA) which sought to suspend the collection of the P143 million real property tax (RPT) levied against it by the Cabanatuan City government in Nueva Ecija. 

The NFA filed its Petition for Prohibition on June 9, 2022 before the regional trial court (RTC).

It told the RTC that it is exempt from payment of all taxes under Section 6 of Presidential Decree No. 4. It also invoked the case of Manila International Airport Authority vs. Court of Appeals, et al. (MIAA case), stating that it is similarly situated with MIAA which the Supreme Court declared as exempt from RPT.

However, the petition was denied by the RTC on July 26, 2022. NFA's motion for reconsideration was denied by the RTC on Aug. 18, 2022. The denial prompted the NFA to file a petition before the CTA on Oct. 24, 2022.

In dismissing the petition for lack of jurisdiction, the CTA's special third division said that NFA had 30 days from receipt of the assailed resolution within which to file its petition for review.

While the NFA alleged that it received the resolution on Sept. 23, 2022, the records of the case are "bereft" of any document showing that it was indeed received on the said date, the CTA said. In fact, the resolution would show that it was signed and received on Sept. 5, 2022, it also said.

Thus, it said, the filing of the petition for review on Oct. 24, 2022 was beyond the 30-day reglementary period.

"Finding that this Court has no jurisdiction to entertain the present petition, it could not decide the case on the merits thereof, and its only jurisdiction is to dismiss the same," the CTA's decision stated. 

The nine-page decision was written by Associate Justice Corazon G. Ferrer-Flores with the concurrence of Associate Justices Ma. Belen M. Ringpis-Liban  and Maria Rowena Modesto-San Pedro.