The province of Iloilo has been recognized as a national model in implementing Republic Act No. 12001, or the Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act (RPVARA).
Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. shared the province’s best practices during the RPVARA National Executive Forum held on July 9 at the SMX Convention Center Aura in Taguig City.
Defensor said Iloilo’s implementation balances the need to increase local revenue with the taxpayers’ capacity to pay.
The province set its assessment levels below the maximum thresholds under the Local Government Code to help ensure fair and reasonable tax collection.
The governor also highlighted the province’s assessment system or AsSys, a digital platform that centralizes real property assessment records from the province’s 42 municipalities.
The system automates the generation of tax declarations, assessment notices, and statutory reports.
From 2023 to 2025, Iloilo’s data-cleansing and validation efforts led to the cancellation of 31,588 non-existent real property units and the discovery of 24,912 new structures.
The province also validated 194,655 existing structures, securing hundreds of millions of pesos in additional collectibles.
Bureau of Local Government Finance Executive Director Consolacion Agcaoili lauded Iloilo’s digitalization, data validation, and taxpayer-centered approach.
Following the forum, Kalinga and Biliran expressed interest in visiting Iloilo to benchmark the province’s real property valuation and assessment practices.Meriel Faith Dumapit, WVSU-COC, intern/IMT
