DOF unit inks information sharing agreements with LRA, banks

The Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) has entered into agreements with the Land Registration Authority (LRA) and with both state-run and private banks to improve property valuation system and credit transactions being undertaken by local government units (LGUs).

The Department of Finance -attached agency last Dec. 12 signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the LRA, under which the two agencies would exchange proprietary information pertinent to real estate valuation, transactions and taxation, the BLGF said on its website.

“The MOU on data exchange aims to collaboratively establish a real property valuation information system, through information sharing and data exchange between the BLGF and the LRA. The information system shall help triangulate real property-related information of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and supplement similar data lodged on the databases of LGUs. The MOU is also in keeping with the pertinent provisions of the Data Privacy Act as advised by the National Privacy Commission,” it said.

“The system, likewise, shall facilitate data analyses at both sub-national and national level of the government’s performance on the real property tax collection and assessment,” it added.

“The institutional collaboration between the BLGF and the LRA shall strengthen the bureau’s organizational readiness on the anticipated passage of the Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act or package three of the comprehensive tax reform program of the Duterte administration that aims to yield greater transparency in land transactions,” according to the BLGF.

Also on Dec. 12, the BLGF, the DOF and eight banks signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to exchange information on LGUs’ indebtedness, payments and balances.

Under the MOA, the government and the banks will “establish mechanisms for a more timely and accurate monitoring of the credit transactions of LGUs, which will serve as inputs to policy and system improvements in overseeing LGU loans.”

The banks that signed the MOA were state-run lenders Development Bank of the Philippines, Land Bank of the Philippines and Overseas Filipino Bank Inc., as well as private lenders Asia United Bank, Bank of the Philippine Islands, East West Banking Corp., Philippine National Bank and Philippine Veterans Bank.—Ben O. de Vera