'Owners should have right to redeem foreclosed property'
City Councilor Jose Espinosa III said the city government should allow the owners of the property forfeited in favor of the city government for failure to pay necessary taxes to redeem their property.
Espinosa said, it is not the business of the local government unit to own private properties.
His reaction was in response to the discussions at the city council over the plan of Milagros Divinagracia to redeem their property. They failed to pay the tax of P5,800. Eventually, after much discussions and verbal arguments among the city councilors, Divinagracia was given the right to redeem the property.
Divinagracia's right to redeem her property at Barangay San Agustin, City Proper was made after a resolution on the matter was passed. The resolution was authored by Majority Floor Leader Eduardo Peñaredondo. It has been a practice at the City Hall to allow and give the property owner the right to redeem any foreclosed property.
In the case of Divinagracia, no records at the City Register of Deeds was available to prove her property was already foreclosed in favor of the city government.
The councilor, who is Divinagracia's relative by affinity, said the city government would rather prosecute cases involving laws on imminent domain rather than taking the properties of private people.
"They (owners) should be allowed to redeem their properties. The government should not take interest on the small amount rather it should have interest in transactions amounting to millions of pesos," Espinosa ended.