Cavite, Bataan, and Zambales – The Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) Local Assessment Operations Division (LAOD) advocated for sustainable valuation system through the conduct of the Training of Trainers on the Development of Schedule of Market Value (SMV) and Conduct of General Revision (GR) in three (3) batches held last 05 to 09 September (Hotel Dominique Tagaytay City, Cavite), 26 to 30 September (The Oriental Hotel, Mariveles, Bataan), and 28 November to 02 December 2022 (Subic Bay Peninsular Hotel, Subic Bay Freeport Zone, Zambales), respectively.

In a message, LAOD Acting Chief Atty. Neil Lamban, is optimistic that the local assessors and assistant assessors will be instrumental in the success of the Real Property Valuation and Assessment (RPVAR) bill once this becomes a law.

“We will take pride in the passage of this bill as it will bring great reform in property valuation as you continue to deliver the mandated functions and duties in giving life to the local fiscal economy and in support to the goals of the Marcos administration”, Atty. Lamban said.

The BLGF has been pushing for the passage of the RPVAR under the Package 3 of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP), one of the prioritized legislative measures of President Marcos, which promotes the development of a just, equitable, and efficient real property valuation system in the country.

RPVAR was recently approved in the third and final reading of the House of Representatives, which seeks to strengthen the BLGF through the creation of a Real Property Valuation Service (RPVS) to oversee and manage the valuation-related concerns of local government units (LGUs). The said bill will adopt the internationally accepted real property valuation standards and rationalize the valuation process; establish a single valuation base for taxation; recentralize the approval of the SMVs to the Secretary of Finance; and establish a comprehensive and updated electronic database to support valuation function.

Participants who successfully completed the training will be part of the professional pool of trainers to serve as subject matter experts on SMV and GR in the Asian Development Bank’s loan funded Local Governance Reform Project (LGRP).