Tagaytay City – The Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) Central Office Capacity Building Division, in collaboration with the BLGF Regional Office Mimaropa, capacitated the skills of the local assessors, assistant local assessors, assessment staff, appraisers of local government units (LGUs) in the Mimaropa Region, and concerned licensed real estate appraisers, through a Skills Enhancement Training on the Updating of Schedule of Market Values (SMV) and conduct of General Revision (GR) of Real Property Assessments. The said training was held on 28 to 31 March 2023 at the Hotel Casiana, Tagaytay City, in Cavite.  

In a welcome message, BLGF Regional Office Mimaropa Acting Regional Director Marilou Q. Cañete underscored the importance of the training in the improvement of the real property tax administration in the region. 

“All of the provinces in Mimaropa Region have lapsed the three-year period provided by the Local Government Code of 1991 for SMV updating and between the two cities of Mimaropa, only Puerto Princesa City has an updated SMV. Nationwide, only 42% of the total number of provinces and cities were reported as compliant in terms of SMV updating, as of year 2021”, Director Cañete said.  

Pursuant to the Local Government Code of 1991, the provincial and city assessors of local government units (LGUs) nationwide are mandated to update their respective SMVs for the different classes of real property for enactment by ordinance of the Sanggunian concerned once every three years.  

Director Cañete also highlighted the need to conduct a general revision of real property assessments.  

“By regularly conducting general revision, market values stay current and it provides a great opportunity to cleanse assessment data and rectify non-compliant assessment practices which has been carried onto assessment records”, Cañete emphasized.  

Among the provinces and cities of Mimaropa region, only Calapan City has submitted a new proposal for the updating of its SMV within the last three (3) years, as certified approved by the BLGF.  

The training program equipped the local assessors on the steps and procedures of SMV development for urban and agricultural lands and revision of real property assessments pursuant to the issuances of the Department of Finance (DOF) and the governing local laws, rules, and regulations.