ILOILO CITY – Former Finance Secretary Jesus “Jess” Estanislao suggested a gradual implementation of the 300 percent hike in real property tax (RPT) here.

“The way it is implemented, I would structure it is that it would not be 300 percent in one year,” Estanislao said.

“It could be within the period of five years to seven years to make it reasonable,” he told the media during the Aug. 29 membership meeting of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) in this city.

A petition was filed before the Supreme Court (SC) last year questioning the Iloilo City government’s excessive RPT hike which is being pushed by the administration of former Mayor Jerry Treñas and his daughter incumbent Mayor Raisa Treñas.

Prior to the passage of the 2023 tax ordinance, the last land valuation was done in 2006 and remained for 18 years.

“I do not know the facts, but it seems to me that 300 percent over a period of 18 years is not unreasonable,” Estanislao added.

Estanislao said that Iloilo City’s share from the national tax allotment (NTA) has dramatically gone down and needs to collect local taxes to deliver public services.

Since fiscal year 2024, the Iloilo City government is only implementing 60 percent rate of the 300 percent RPT hike when local businesses aired their frustrations that the 2023 tax ordinance was approved without proper public consultation.

The Iloilo City Council is currently debating whether to extend the 40 percent reduced RPT rate until 2028 that it is set to expire by the end of this year.

Local businesses, including Riverside Group of Companies, the petitioner before the SC, has noted that the 40 percent reduction did not help at all when its RPT rose to 765 percent and as high as 6,200 percent.

A Riverside Group company had to pay P3.3 million in RPT under the 2023 tax ordinance. Its RPT payment was only P376,000 years before.