The Province of Iloilo has taken center stage nationwide for its initiatives in the implementation of Republic Act No. 12001 also known as the Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act (RPVARA).
Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. served as the resource speaker during the RPVARA National Executive Forum held on July 9, 2026 at the SMX Convention Center Aura in Taguig City, Metro Manila.
The event was organized by the Bureau of Local Government Finance under the Department of Finance and was graced by Department of Finance Secretary Frederick Go.
The RPVARA establishes a single, uniform real property tax valuation standards and imposes an updating of Schedules of Market Value (SMVs). The law provides local government units with credible data and ensures fairer taxation to better fund government projects.
Governor Defensor shared to his fellow local chief executives Iloilo’s best practices in implementing the law, particularly how the province adopted mitigation measures to alleviate the impact to taxpayers of the updated SMV.
Schedule of Market Value refers to a table of base unit market value for all kinds of real property within a municipality. While “market value” refers to the amount of a real property agreed upon by the willing buyer and the willing seller.
Governor Defensor highlighted that even before the passage of RPVARA, Iloilo had already launched its in-house digital platform to centralize the real property assessment records of its 42 component municipalities.
Managed by the Office of the Provincial Assessor, this system, known as the Province of Iloilo’s Assessment System (AsSys), automates the generation of tax declarations, assessment notices, and statutory reports.
Iloilo has also been updating its Scheduled Market Value since 2017 with its general revisions taking effect in 2018. Iloilo also became Region VI’s pilot LGU for the Local Government Reform Project (LGRP) in 2023 due its continuous conduct of valuation. To date, the province has successfully completed its SMV updates in full alignment with the RPVARA mandate.
Moreover, in preparation for RPVARA, the province has also mobilized its technical teams and strengthened its information and market data gathering to determine the affordable valuation for taxpayers.
Governor Defensor said that aside from increasing its revenue, one of the major considerations of the Iloilo provincial government in the RPVARA implementation is the capacity of the Ilonggos to pay their taxes.
Specifically, Iloilo set its assessment levels well below the maximum thresholds prescribed under the 1991 Local Government Code to ensure fair tax collection for its constituents.
“Taxes should be affordable and reasonable and it must go with the taxpayers’ capacity to pay and the development of the economy,” Defensor said.
He also underscored that one pillar of taxation is “good governance” which has been the mantra of his administration. He said that in imposing higher taxes, the constituents must understand that tax revenue is translated into social services and other government programs which aim to uplifit our living conditions.
“Good governance begets taxation…One important thing is performance. When you are doing well, hindi ka mahihiya na humingi ng taxes. And when you ask for additional taxes, you have to justify that we need taxes for the healthcare system of our country,” the governor said.
Another best practice of Iloilo is data cleansing of its assessment records through validating ownership, eliminating inconsistencies, deleting duplicate and non-existing entries, and verifying that every property in AsSys actually exists.
In the conduct of data cleansing and ocular inspections, the province of Iloilo has allotted a total of P15,680,126.18 from 2023 to 2025.
This efficient data cleansing enabled the province to cancel 31,588 non-existent real property units. Furthermore, Iloilo discovered and assessed 24,912 new structures, uncovering ₱101.250 million in collectibles, while validating 194,655 existing structures to secure an additional ₱442.720 million in collectibles.
If the 2017 assessment level is retained, the province of Iloilo estimates P495.920 million additional revenue by 2028.
𝐀 𝐌𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐋 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐔𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓
BLGF Executive Director Consolacion Agcaoili lauded Iloilo for its sound policy, strong local leadership, institutional readiness, and sustained stakeholder engagement.
“Through digitalization, data cleansing, capacity building, and community-based information campaigns, the province of Iloilo showed that modernization and taxpayers’ trust can go hand in hand. Their experience reminds us that lasting reforms are achieved not through enforcement alone but through collaboration, transparency, and public confidence,” Agcaoili.
After learning about Iloilo’s experience in RPVARA implementation, many LGUs have signified their intention to conduct a learning visit in the province. This includes the provinces of Kalinga and Biliran. Biliran has in fact sent a letter to the governor immediately after the forum regarding their plan to benchmark Iloilo’s best practices.
Meanwhile, accompanying the Governor during the national event are Provincial Assessor Rema Calderon, Assistant Provincial Assessor Marissa Daquilanea, Iloilo Municipal Assessors Association, Inc President Ma. Annaliza C. Camago - Leon Municipal Assessor, Head Executive Assistant to the Governor and Provincial Population Officer Atty. Ruel Von Superio, and staff from the Office of the Provincial Assessor.
As a champion of tax reform, Governor Defensor was the principal author of House Bill No. 4814 which paved the way for the enactment of Republic Act No. 11213 otherwise known as the Tax Amnesty Act of 2019.
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