Leaders of the Philippine real estate industry, through the infrastructure group of the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC), submitted a three-point relief proposal to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during a meeting at Malacañang on September 22, asking the government to defer full implementation of the Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act (RPVARA, Republic Act No. 12001) by four years, to 2031.
RPVARA requires local government units to update their Schedule of Market Values (SMV) — the benchmark used to assess real property tax — to reflect current market prices. Robinsons Land Corp. Chief Executive Officer Mybelle Aragon-GoBio, representing the advisory panel, outlined the proposal to Marcos: a four-year deferral of full RPVARA implementation to 2031, a four-year extension of the real property tax amnesty, and a temporary six percent annual cap on real property tax increases for the first three years. “The RPVARA’s intent remains sound and necessary, and we fully support it,” Aragon-GoBio told Marcos, while cautioning that higher valuations could raise costs well beyond real estate, adding pressure on households already facing elevated living costs.
Megaworld Corp. Chief Executive Officer Kevin Tan, speaking on behalf of PSAC, said every peso spent in real estate generates ₱3.44 in economic output across construction, banking, retail, logistics, business process outsourcing and tourism — the multiplier effect the council cited as the basis for its request. Ayala Corp. Chief Social Infrastructure Officer Paolo Borromeo said developers remain committed to working with the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) on public-private socialized housing projects regardless of the proposal’s outcome.
The submission is the latest development in a story Zagdim has covered before: Marcos had earlier directed Congress to suspend RPVARA’s rollout timeline, and the advisory council’s new relief package is the property sector’s formal response to that directive, spelling out how a longer transition could work in practice.
Marcos has not yet responded publicly to the proposal; it now sits with Malacañang and Congress, which retains authority over any change to RPVARA’s statutory timeline.
References
Manila Bulletin – Philippine property giants seek four-year delay on land tax overhaul
