She said the provincial officials also decided to call off the auction last year due to the significant increase in real property tax collections recorded by the province during the period.
Beltran said they earlier issued notices of delinquency to at least 59 delinquent real property owners who have piled up at least P30,000 in tax dues to the provincial government over the last five years.
She said they sent personal notices to the owners and published general notices in local publications before they decided to schedule the public auction.
"We've given them time to pay their dues and coordinate with us for some payment arrangements but 23 of them failed to even visit our office. So we have no other choice but to auction these delinquent real properties being our final remedy as mandated by the law," she said.
Based on the rules and procedures they adopted for the scheduled public auction, Beltran said they will award or sell the auctioned property to the highest bidder.
However, she said the delinquent real property owners may still redeem or stop their properties from being offered for auction before the auction proceedings will begin.
"The owners may also opt to bid for their own properties during the auction," Beltran added.
The Provincial Treasurer's Office issued a memorandum circular last January granting discounts for advanced and prompt payments on real property taxes to help residents pay their tax dues properly.
Memorandum Circular No. 01-2006 was issued based on the implementation of the 2004 Revenue Code that was implemented beginning October last year.
The code provides that real property owners are entitled to a 20 percent discount if both the annual basic real property tax and the additional special education fund tax are paid in full on or before March 31 of each year.
A 10-percent discount was also granted for the current year if the real property tax is paid before the twentieth day of the first month of every quarter. The tax dues must be paid on or before January 20, April 20, July 20 and October 20 of each year.
A penalty of two percent per month would be imposed to delinquent tax payers or 24 percent per year and a maximum of 72 percent for three years.
