Residents of Ayala Alabang Village in Muntinlupa City have expressed alarm over an increase of up to 4,304% in the value of residential land in the posh neighborhood that will raise their payments of the yearly “amilyar,” or real property tax (RPT).
At a public hearing on Feb. 11 in the barangay hall of the city’s biggest and richest subdivision, residents urged the city government to consider that most of the Ayala Alabang Village (AAV) property owners are retirees.
One resident said retirees may have to sell their property should they find the amilyar too burdensome and just move elsewhere.
The schedule of market values (SMV) that the City Assessor’s Office has updated will be the basis for computing RPT starting in 2028. The SMVs of all cities, towns and provinces that Finance Secretary Frederick Go is scheduled to approve by the second half of 2026 will take effect 15 days after publication in the Official Gazette or on the Department of Finance website.
Local government units (LGUs) are required to revise SMVs every three years under pain of penalty, as mandated by the Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act (RPVara), or Republic Act No. 12001, that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed in 2024.
One of the law’s aims is to “promote the fiscal autonomy of LGUs to provide basic services to their constituency by enhancing their capacity to generate local revenues from real property.”
Of the LGUs, 60% have outdated property valuations, according to the Bureau of Local Government Finance. As of 2021, 137 of 227 LGUs had not revised land values every three years, in violation of the Local Government Code.
Amilyar in Muntinlupa is computed based on valuations set 18 years ago, when residential land was (and still is) valued at ₱3,960 per square meter (sq.m.) in the 661-hectare AAV, and ₱2,340 per sq. m. in Alabang Hills.
Most subdivisions in the southernmost city of Metro Manila still have land values lower than ₱1,000 per sq. m.
In Makati City, land values were last revised almost 30 years ago.
Reason to be wary
Residents have reason to be wary of the proposed SMV, which subdivided AAV from the existing single category R1 (₱3,960 per sq. m. for all residential land in the subdivision) into three categories—R1, R2 and R3, with much higher land values.
- R1 covers Madrigal Avenue and has the highest value at ₱174,400 per sq. m, a 4,304% jump from ₱3,960 per sq. m.
- R2 applies to Acacia Avenue and AAV “main,” where land values are set at ₱144,100 per sq. m. — an increase of 3, 539%. “Main” is the rest of AAV outside R1 and R3.
- R3 refers to land in the Employees Housing areas and in the subdivision’s periphery to the south, east and west of Batangas Street. Its valuation leaped 2,385% to ₱98,400 per sq. m.
Palms Pointe is the only subdivision in Muntinlupa that has proposed land values equal to those on AAV’s Acacia Avenue. Palms Pointe is located in Filinvest City and is adjacent to AAV.
Filinvest City, Muntinlupa’s central business district, along with Madrigal Business Park, commands the highest value of land under the proposed SMVs.
Commercial land in Filinvest City and Madrigal Business Park is valued at ₱378,900 per sq. m. — a whopping 6, 215% increase for both areas. A city official said a recent transaction saw land in Filinvest City being sold for ₱700,000 per sq. m.
The lowest valuation in the city is ₱8,500 per sq. m., which applies to residential land along Laguna de Bay. The land gets flooded when the lake swells under sustained heavy rains.
14 categories
The Assessor’s Office classified residential land in the city into 14 subclasses:
R1 (₱174,000 per sq. m.), R2 (₱144,100), R3 (₱98,400), R4 (₱67,200), R5 (₱55,500), R6 (₱45,900) and R7 (₱37,900).
R8 (₱31,300 per sq. m.), R9 (₱25,900), R10 (P19,600), R11 (P14,600), R12 (₱12,100), R13 (₱10,0000) and R14 (₱8,300).
Five subdivisions — Alabang Hills, Hillsborough, Pacific Village, Pacific Malayan and Residencia — are classified as R4.
Alabang 400, Kalipayan Homes and Likha Residences are classified as R5. Eleven subdivisions, including BF Homes Phase 4, San Jose Village, Tierra Nueva, Brittany Bay and Presidio, fall under R6. Augusto Posadas, Victorianne Row and new Victorianne Row are R7.
There are four R8 communities — Brazilia Heights, Lindenwood Residences, Katarungan Village 1 Phase 2 and Villa Donata.
R9 comprises 17 communities, such as Agro Homes, Liberty, Mintcore Townhomes, Rizal Village, Katarungan Village 1 Phase 1, and Victoria Homes (Emerald Hills, Jade, Ruby Park and Sapphire Hills).
Surprisingly, Susana Heights, where land is currently being sold at between ₱65,000 and ₱100,000 per sq. m., is classified as R10, along with 52 other communities, such as Bruger, Camella (1, 2, 4A and 4B), Intercity, Mutual Homes (1,2 and 3), RCE, Pleasant, Primavera and Soldiers Hills.
Many of these subdivisions, including AAV, sprang up not long after the South Luzon Expressway was built. SLEx, a toll road between Nichols and Alabang, opened to traffic in 1970, cutting travel time to Muntinlupa from Manila and from Pasay, Makati, Mandaluyong and Quezon City.
Fixed incomes
At the Feb. 11 public hearing, Paul Daza said many AAV residents, especially pensioners on fixed incomes, would be affected if the RPT is raised, adding that “there are multigenerational households” in the subdivision. He himself is paying ₱30,000 a year in RPT, he said.
One senior citizen said his annual RPT would “increase from ₱19,000 to ₱400,000 a year under the proposed SMV.”
The RPT due a property owner can be derived by multiplying the fair market value (FMV) with the assessment level (20% for residential land) to get the assessed value. Then the assessed value is multiplied by the tax rate (2.5%, including 1.0% for the special education fund that goes to public school teachers).
Thus, tax due = (FMV x 0.20) x 0.025.
The market value is the product of the land area and unit value. For example, the market value of a 500-sq.m. lot that an AAV resident owns on Madrigal Avenue (₱174,000 per sq. m.) would be ₱87 million. The assessed value is ₱17.4 million (₱87 million x 0.20) and the tax due is ₱435, 000 (₱17.4 million x .025) — an increase of 4,294% from the current ₱9,900.
City officials assured the residents that the high land values would not translate to substantially high property taxes.
“Updated property values do not mean higher taxes as LGUs are empowered to adjust tax assessment levels and tax rates,’’ the Assessor’s Office said in a presentation.
Mayor Ruffy Biazon, who was present at the public hearing, described as “shocking” a computation resulting in a 31-fold increase in RPT that was being shared in Viber group chats. He told the AAV residents that the computation using the formula [RPT=(FMV x assessment level) x tax rate] is “half correct, half wrong.”
‘Palatable’
“Our elbow room is the setting of tax levels,’’ Biazon said in assuring AAV residents that the RPT increase would be “palatable’’ to property owners.
He added: “This is not the end. There is still a chance for people to air their side as we go along the process. The law requires two consultations. This is our third. We are giving the people the opportunity to ask questions.
“The city leadership is here to listen to you and to do this properly.”
A resident said many retirees had bought land in AAV decades ago when land prices did not cost a lot.
Between 1994 and 2008, residential land was valued at ₱2,200 per sq. m., according to Ordinance No. 07-018 prescribing the revised SMVs starting Jan. 1, 2008. The ordinance is still in effect.
The zonal value of all residential land in AAV was just ₱700 per sq. m. between Oct. 1, 1987, and March 9, 1989. The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) uses zonal values as basis for capital gains, estate and donor’s taxes.
Once the SMVs of Muntinlupa and those of other local governments nationwide are approved, the BIR will use these in lieu of zonal values. Other national agencies like the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will also use the new SMVs.
Pogos, money laundering
An AAV resident blamed the influx of the rich and powerful for the surge of real estate prices in the subdivision.
Others were more specific, blaming the surge on public officials and contractors laundering money, and on online gambling operators snapping up real estate at high prices.
They said the data that the Assessor’s Office used in coming up with the new SMVs could be inflated because these captured prices paid by Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) and corrupt officials and politicians. Pogos are known to pay in cash.
At the first public hearing on the proposed SMVs on Feb. 5 at the Muntinlupa Sports Complex in Barangay Tunasan, AAV resident Benny Quiblat said the Assessor’s Office needs to consider major events like the buying spree of Pogos and of DPWH officials who had received kickbacks from government infrastructure projects.
Quiblat said land values in AAV were now going down in the wake of the ban on Pogos and the investigation and prosecution of those involved in the flood-control kickback scandal.
Besides AAV, the swanky Forbes Park in Makati and Corinthian Gardens in Quezon City were reported to be among the subdivisions where those who had received huge kickbacks from government projects were laundering their ill-gotten wealth. Dirty money also found its way into high-end condominium units.
Acting City Assessor Antonio Aniñon Jr. said the data used in coming up with the revised SMV were based on deeds of absolute sale (DOAS), and that outliers or special values (such as transactions involving Pogos and public works officials, contractors and politicians) were excluded.
Aniñon said any downtrend in land prices in AAV would be reflected in the second round of revision of SMVs for 2031-2033 under RPVara, which prescribes that the raw data be taken from the previous three years.
For the newly revised SMVs, the city drew selling prices in 2025, 2024 and 2023, contained in the DOAS that new owners had submitted to the Assessor’s Office when applying for a new tax declaration.
The city officials allayed fears of AAV residents, saying that the increase in RPT starting in 2028 would be minimal despite the surge in land values.
6% increase in first year
Property owners in the city will pay an additional 6% in 2028 as prescribed by the RPVara. This means that a landowner who has been paying ₱10,000 in RPT yearly over the past 16 years will pay an extra ₱600 in 2028.
For 2029 and 2030, however, the increase will no longer be 6%. It will be based on the assessment levels and tax rates the city council will set. Currently, the assessment level for residential land is 20% and the tax rate is 2.5%. For agricultural land, the assessment level is 40%, and for commercial, industrial and mineral lands, 50%.
Before setting the assessment levels and tax rates, the city council will conduct in the third quarter of the year a study to determine the impact of the new SMVs on taxpayers. During this time, it will seek position papers from different groups.
By the fourth quarter, based on the findings of the impact study, the city council will pass an ordinance for new assessment levels and tax rates that will take effect in 2029 and 2030.
Fair, reasonable
Councilor Mamerto Sevilla said any tax increase would be “fair.” Before the assessment levels and tax rates are finalized, the city council will hold hearings to ensure that the new rates are “acceptable and reasonable,” he said.
Aniñon said the assessment level for residential land and improvements could be reduced from 20% to the point that property owners may not feel the increase.
At the second public consultation on Feb. 6 also held at the Muntinlupa Sports Complex, Local Assessment Operations Officer II Mark Christopher Gianan said: “It doesn’t mean that if the SMV is high, the RPT will also be high.”
Gianan said the assessment level for residential land is at a maximum 20%. “It can be lowered to up to 1.5 or 0.1%,” he said. “It’s in the law.”
An AAV resident wondered whether there is a need to raise taxes at all.
Biazon said there are projects being done in phases in the city. “We need to build a third building at City Hall, where parking is a problem. We can have a better design of the building if we have additional resources,” he said.
The city budget for 2026 is about ₱10 billion, according to City Treasurer Erwin Vibora. Revenue for 2025 was ₱7.6 billion.
Asked on the sidelines of the consultation about the total RPT revenue in 2025, Vibora said the city collected ₱1.485 billion — ₱964.6 million in basic tax (1.5% rate) and P520.6 million in SEF (1% rate).
What will Barangay Ayala Alabang, or any other barangay in the city, for that matter, get in return for paying higher property taxes?
As much as 30% of the 1.5% in basic tax goes to barangays. That was equivalent to ₱289.4 million last year.
Corruption
The issue of corruption was mentioned more than once at the consultations.
“How much was stolen from us by congressmen and senators? How much are they supposed to return and how much will be released to local governments?’’ These were questions raised by an AAV resident during the open forum. The mayor had left by then.
Earlier in the forum, a resident asked what the city government would do to avoid taxes being lost to corruption, and Biazon said: “What happened in the national budget will not happen in Muntinlupa’s budget.”
Tens of billions of pesos in the national budget were assigned to certain lawmakers to fund ghost or graft-ridden infrastructure projects.
Biazon said the Engineering Office’s projects would be posted online so people could raise questions. The financial system is also being upgraded to improve recording and transparency, he said, and reminded the residents that the city government had received the seal of good governance.
It was only at the consultation in the richest subdivision in Muntinlupa that the mayor made an appearance. He was a no-show at the two public consultations held a week earlier.
If the tune that city officials are singing is any indication, councilors (and even the mayor) may not have the stomach for approving assessment levels and tax rates that would place a heavy burden on taxpayers.
The general elections are just two years away. CS
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