SC allows QC ordinance raising existing fair market values of land and structures by 500 %

October 24, 2018

The Supreme Court lifted a 2017 temporary restraining order stopping Quezon City from implementing the  ordinance that effectively increases existing fair market values of land, buildings, and other structures in the city from 100 per cent to as much as 500 per cent.

In an en banc decision penned by Associate Justice Estela Perlas Bernabe, the SC stressed that the lifting of the TRO and dismissal of the petition against the Quezon City ordinance was because the Alliance of Quezon City Homeowners’ Association, Inc. (AQCHI), which filed the case, has no legal standing.

 “Thus, the resolution of the issues anent the validity and constitutionality of Quezon City Ordinance No. SP-2556, Series of 2016, while indeed of great public interest and of transcendental importance, must nonetheless await the filing of the proper case by the proper party,” the tribunal said.

According to SC, it was informed that the registration of homeowners association had been revoked by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2004 because it is not registered with the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board.

“The Rules of Court mandates that only natural or juridical persons, or entities authorized by law may be parties in a civil action. Non-compliance with this requirement renders a case dismissible on the ground of lack of legal capacity to sue…” the high court ruled.

The Quezon City government, answering the petition by the homeowners gryup, told the SC the 2016 ordinance complied with all requirements.

It said that 29 public consultations were conducted in barangay assemblies throughout the six city districts and, in fact, in the presence and with participation of  the homeowners group head Gloria Soriano.

The Quezon City government said the last adjustment in fair market values was done in 1995.

Increases in fair market values were reasonable, Quezon City said, adding that assessment levels were reduced from 18 per cent to five per cent for residential classification, and from 45 per cent to 14 per cent for commercial and industrial classifications.

The Quezon City government said its fair market values are lower than Pasay, Caloocan, Manila, and Mandaluyong. DMS