ILOILO CITY—Neophyte Mayor Raisa Treñas-Chu was irked as she defended the 300 percent increase in real property tax (RPT) pushed by her father and predecessor former Mayor Jerry Treñas.

Chu was visibly angry on Monday, Aug. 18, when media asked for reaction after the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) revealed that in general, an increase in RPT results to higher prices of commodities or services.

“I am an economics graduate. I know this is just politics,” Chu said as she raised the tone of her voice.

Chu claimed economists are approaching her as she doubled down on her claim that a 300 percent RPT had nothing to do with the rise of inflation or closures of local businesses.

Her father’s administration wanted to implement the 300 percent RPT hike starting this year as the last valuation was conducted in 2006.

But due to opposition from stakeholders, her father’s administration implemented a 40 percent reduction and only imposed a 60 percent RPT rate that would last until 2026.

PSA data showed Iloilo City consistently having the highest or second highest inflation rate in Western Visayas region for the first six months of the year.

Iloilo City had the second highest inflation rate for the first three months of 2025 – 5.1 percent in January, 3.7 percent in February, and 3.9 percent in March.

In April, Iloilo City was tied with Iloilo province, which has 42 towns and a component city, with the highest inflation rate at 3.2 percent.

In May and June, Iloilo City had the highest inflation rate at 3.3 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively.

Iloilo City had second highest inflation rate in the country in December with 5.4 percent.

Think-tank Institute of Contemporary Economics (ICE) found out that Iloilo City has “unusually severe increase in real property taxes” even with the 40 percent RPT reduction.

ICE said this resulted in higher food and housing costs as landlords generally hike the rent to offset the cost of higher RPT.