The real properties of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System located in Quezon City are DECLARED EXEMPT from the real estate tax imposed by the Local Government of Quezon City. All the real estate tax assessments, including the final notices of real estate tax delinquencies, issued by the Local Government of Quezon City on the real properties of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System located in Quezon City are declared VOID, except for the portions that are alleged and proven to have been leased to private parties.
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In 2011, Congress passed Republic Act No. 10149 or the GOCC Governance Act of 2011, which adopted the same categorization and explicitly lists petitioner together with the other government agencies that were previously held by this Court to be exempt from the payment of real property taxes:
Thus, petitioner is not liable to respondent Local Government of Quezon City for real property taxes, except if the beneficial use of its properties has been extended to a taxable person.
Respondents have not alleged that the beneficial use of any of petitioner's properties was extended to a taxable person. In the absence of any allegation to the contrary, petitioner's properties in Quezon City are not subject to the levy of real property taxes.
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In 2011, Congress passed Republic Act No. 10149 or the GOCC Governance Act of 2011, which adopted the same categorization and explicitly lists petitioner together with the other government agencies that were previously held by this Court to be exempt from the payment of real property taxes:
(n) Government Instrumentalities with Corporate Powers (GICP)/Government Corporate Entities (GCE) refer to instrumentalities or agencies of the government, which are neither corporations nor agencies integrated within the departmental framework, but vested by law with special functions or jurisdiction, endowed with some if not all corporate powers, administering special funds, and enjoying operational autonomy usually through a charter including, but not limited to, the following: the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC), the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA), the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA), the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), the Cebu Port Authority (CPA), the Cagayan de Oro Port Authority, the San Fernando Port Authority, the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) and the Asian Productivity Organization (APO).[80] (Emphasis supplied)The Executive and Legislative Branches, therefore, have already categorized petitioner not as a government-owned and controlled corporation but as a Government Instrumentality with Corporate Powers/Government Corporate Entity like the Manila International Airport Authority and the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority. Privileges enjoyed by these Government Instrumentalities with Corporate Powers/Government Corporate Entities should necessarily also extend to petitioner. Hence, petitioner's real property tax exemption under Republic Act No. 6234[81] is still valid as the proviso of Section 234[82] of the Local Government Code is only applicable to government-owned and -controlled corporations.
Thus, petitioner is not liable to respondent Local Government of Quezon City for real property taxes, except if the beneficial use of its properties has been extended to a taxable person.
Respondents have not alleged that the beneficial use of any of petitioner's properties was extended to a taxable person. In the absence of any allegation to the contrary, petitioner's properties in Quezon City are not subject to the levy of real property taxes.
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