SC lifts TRO on property valuation hike in Quezon City

The Quezon City government can finally implement its 2016 ordinance increasing the fair market values (FMVs) of land, buildings, and other structures in the city from 100 percent to as much as 500 percent.

This developed after the Supreme Court dismissed the petition filed by the Alliance of Quezon City Homeowners’ Association Inc. (AQCHI) questioning the legality of Quezon City Ordinance No. SP-2556, Series of 2016.

The dismissal of the petition lifted the temporary restraining order (TRO) the high court issued on April 18, 2017 against the implementation of the said ordinance.

In a 13-page decision penned by Associate Justice Justice Estela M. Perlas-Bernabe, the SC unanimously dismissed the petition filed by AQCHI on a technicality.

“All told, while this case falls under the exceptions to the doctrines of exhaustion of administrative remedies and hierarchy of courts, the Court is still constrained to dismiss the petition due to Alliance’s lack of legal capacity to sue,” the Court said.

“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,” it added.

The high court noted that even if the AQCHI admitted that it has no juridical personality to file the petition because its Certificate of Registration issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission has been revoked and it has failed to register with the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB).

The high court explained that the Rules of Court mandates that only natural or juridical persons or entities authorized by law may be parties in a civil action.

The high court said the failure to comply with the requirement renders the case dismissible on the ground of lack of legal capacity to sue.

The high court did not even give credence to the fact that the petition was filed by its board of trustees through its treasurer Danilo Liwanag, a taxpayer and a Quezon City resident.

“The Court disagrees. A perusal of the petition readily shows that it was filed by Alliance, and not by the individual members of its Board of Trustees in their personal capacities,” it said.

AQCHI said the hike in the FMVs up to 500 percent of the previous values was arbitrary and has no factual basis because the 2016 Ordinance contains no standard or explanation on how the Quezon City assessor arrived at the new amounts in the schedule of FMVs.

Named respondents in the petition were Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista and the officials of the city’s assessor’s office and treasurer’s office. /ee

READ: SC halts QC ordinance on property valuation hike 

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