MERALCO v.

CITY ASSESSOR
GR No. 166102 – 5 August 2015 – Leonardo de Castro

DOCTRINE:
1. Posting of surety bond may be considered as a substantial compliance with the requirement of
“payment under protest” as a condition sine qua non before an appeal may be entertained.
2. It is settled that tax exemptions must be clear and unequivocal. A taxpayer claiming a tax
exemption must point to a specific provision of law conferring on the taxpayer, in clear and plain
terms, exemption from a common burden. Any doubt whether a tax exemption exists is
resolved against the taxpayer.
3. For determining whether machinery is real property subject to real property tax, the definition
and requirements under the LGC are controlling, not the NCC. Sections 199(o) and 232 of the
LGC, respectively, gives an extensive definition of what constitutes “machinery” and
unequivocally subjects such machinery to real property tax. (see issue No. 3 for further
discussion)

FACTS:
 Beginning 1922 until present time, MERALCO has been successively granted franchises to
operate in Lucena City.
 In 1989, Meralco received from the City Assessor of Lucena a copy of Tax Declaration (for
brevity, I will refer to this as TD1) covering the following electric facilities, classified as capital
investments, of the company (transformer and electric post; transmission line; insulator; and
electric meter).
o Under TD1, these properties has a market value of around 81.8M and an assessed value
of around 65.4M, and were subjected to real property tax as of 1985.
 MERALCO appealed TD1 before the Local Board of Assessment Appeals (LBAA), claiming that its
capital investment consisted only of its substation facilities, the true and correct value of which
was only around 9.4M, and that it was exempted from payment of real property tax on said
substation facilities.

LBAA: (1989 decision) ruled as follows:

1. Under its franchise, MERALCO is liable for real property tax on its transformers, electric posts (or
poles), transmission lines, insulators, and electric meters, beginning 1992.
2. However, applying the ruling in Board of Assessment Appeals v. MERALCO (1964), the steel
towers fell within the term “poles” expressly exempted from taxes under the franchise of
MERALCO; and the steel powers were personal properties under the provisions of the Civil Code
and, hence, not subject to real property tax.
3. As such, TD1 would remain and the poles, wires, insulators, transformers, and electric meters of
MERALCO would be continuously assessed, but the City Assessor would stamp on TD1 the word
“exempt.”

 The City Assessor of Laguna filed an appeal with the CBAA.

CENTRAL BOARD OF ASSESSMENT APPEALS (CBAA): (April 1991 decision) Affirmed LBAA.

 The City Assessor of Laguna no longer appealed the said CBAA decision and it became final and
executory.
  In Oct. 1997, MERALCO received a letter from the City Treasurer of Lucena, which stated that
the company was being assessed real property tax delinquency on its machineries beginning
1990, in the total amount of around 17.9M.
o Attached to the letter are: (1) Notice of Assessment, pertaining to another Tax
Declaration (for brevity, I will refer to this as TD2), which increased the market value and
assessed value of the machinery; (2) Property Record Form; and (3) TD1.
 MERALCO appealed TD1 and TD2 before the LBAA and posted a surety bond to guaranty
payment of its real property tax delinquency. It asked the LBAA to cancel and nullify the Notice
of Assessment and declare the properties covered by the two TDs exempt from real property
tax.

LBAA: (June 1998 decision) declared that Sec. 234 and Sec. 534(f) of the LGC repealed the provisions in
the franchise of MERALCO and PD 551 pertaining to the exemption of MERALCO from payment of real
property tax on its poles, wires, insulators, transformers, and meters.

CBAAA: (2001 decision) Affirmed LBAA decision with modification.

CA: ruled against MERALCO.

ISSUE: (author’s note: I don’t know what issue ma’am will focus on so I included all the issues in the case)
1. W/N by posting of the surety bond before filing its appeal of the assessment with the LBAA,
MERALCO substantially complied with the requirement of payment under protest under the
LGC. YES
2. W/N MERALCO can claim exemption claim exemption from real property tax of its transformers,
electric posts, transmission lines, insulators, and electric meters based on its franchise.
Beginning January 1, 1992, it can no longer claim exemption from real property tax
3. W/N The transformers, electric posts, transmission lines, insulators, and electric meters of
MERALCO may qualify as “machinery” under the Local Government Code subject to real
property tax. YES
4. W/N appraisal and assessment of the transformers, electric posts, transmission lines, insulators,
and electric meters of MERALCO as machinery under TD1 and TD2 is valid. NO.

HELD: The SC finds that the transformers, electric posts, transmission lines, insulators, and electric
meters of MERALCO are no longer exempted from real property tax and may qualify as “machinery”
subject to real property tax under the LGC. Nevertheless, the Court declares null and void the
appraisal and assessment of said properties of MERALCO by the City Assessor in 1997 for failure to
comply with the requirements of the LGC and, thus, violating the right of MERALCO to due process.

1. By posting a surety bond before filing its appeal of the assessment with the LBAA, MERALCO
substantially complied with the requirement of payment under protest in Section 252 of the Local
Government Code

Sec. 252 of the LGC mandates that “no protest shall be entertained unless the taxpayer first pays the
tax.”
 In the case of Camp John Hay Dev. Corp v. CBAA (2013), it was ruled that the requirement of
“payment under protest” is a condition sine qua non before an appeal may be entertained.
Sec. 231 of the LGC also dictates that “appeal on assessments of real property shall, in no case, suspend
the collection of the corresponding realty taxes on the property involved as assessed by the provincial or
city assessor, without prejudice to subsequent adjustment depending upon the final outcome of the
appeal.”
 Clearly, under the LGC, even when the assessment of the real property is appealed, the real
property tax due on the basis thereof should be paid to and/or collected by the LGU concerned.

In the present case:

 the City Treasurer of Lucena, in his 1997 letter sought to collect from MERALCO the amount of
around 17.9M as real property taxes on its machineries, plus penalties, for the period of 1990 to
1997, based on TD1 and TD2.
 MERALCO appealed TD1 and TD2 with the LBAA, but instead of paying the real property taxes
and penalty dues, it posted a surety bond in the among of around 17.9M.
 By posting the surety bond, MERALCO may be considered to have substantially complied with
Sec. 252 of the LGC for said bond already guarantees the payment to the Office of the City
Treasurer of Lucena of the total amount of real property taxes and penalties due on TD1 and
TD2.

2. Beginning January 1, 1992, MERALCO can no longer claim exemption from real property tax of
its transformers, electric posts, trans mission lines, insulators, and electric meters based on its
franchise.

The LGC contains a general repealing clause under Sec. 534(f) which states that “all general and special
laws, acts, city charters, decrees, Eos, proclamations and administrative regulations, or part or parts
thereof which are inconsistent with any of the provisions of this Code are hereby repealed or modified
accordingly.”
 The limited and restrictive nature of the tax exemption privileges under the LGC is consistent
with the State policy to ensure autonomy of local governments and the objective of the Local
Government Code to grant genuine and meaningful autonomy to enable local government units
to attain their fullest development as self-reliant communities and make them effective partners
in the attainment of national goals. As such, MERALCO’s invocation of the non-impairment
clause of the Constitution is unavailing.
 The obvious intention of the law is to broaden the tax base of LGUs to assure them of
substantial sources of revenue.

Sec. 234 of the LGC particularly identifies the exemptions from payment of real property tax, based on
the ownership, character, and use of the property.
 The last paragraph of said section had unequivocally withdrawn, upon the effectivity of the LGC,
exemptions from payment of real property taxes granted to natural or juridical persons,
including GOCCs, except as provided in the same section.

In the present case, MERALCO, a private corporation engaged in electric distribution, and its
transformers, electric posts, transmission lines, insulators, and electric meters used commercially do not
qualify under any of the ownership, character, and usage exemptions enumerated in Sec. 234 of the
LGC.
Express mention of one person, thing, act or consequence excludes all others as expressed in the
familiar maxim expression union est exclusion alterious.
 In the present case, not being among the recognized exemptions from real property tax in Sec.
234 of the LGC, then the exemption of the transformers, electric posts, transmission lines,
insulators, and electric meters of MERALCO from real property tax granted under its franchise
was among the exemptions withdrawn upon the effectivity of the LGC on 1 January 1998.

Lastly, the subsequent franchises for operation granted to MERALCO, i.e., under the Certificate of
Franchise (28 October 1993) issued by the National Electrification Commission and RA 9209 (9 June
2003), are completely silent on the matter of exemption from real property tax of MERALCO or any of its
properties.

It is settled that tax exemptions must be clear and unequivocal. A taxpayer claiming a tax exemption
must point to a specific provision of law conferring on the taxpayer, in clear and plain terms, exemption
from a common burden. Any doubt whether a tax exemption exists is resolved against the taxpayer.
 In the present case, MERALCO has failed to present herein any express grant of exemption from
real property tax of its transformers, electric posts, transmission lines, insulators, and electric
meters that is valid and binding even under the LGC.

3. The transformers, electric posts, transmission lines, insulators, and electric meters of
MERALCO may qualify as “machinery” under the Local Government Code subject to real property tax.

Under Section 199(o) of the Local Government Code, machinery, to be deemed real property subject to
real property tax, need no longer be annexed to the land or building as these “may or may not be
attached, permanently or temporarily to the real property,” and in fact, such machinery may even be
“mobile.”

The same provision though requires that to be machinery subject to real property tax, the physical
facilities for production, installation, and appurtenant service facilities, those which are mobile, self-
powered or self-propelled, or not permanently attached to the real property (a) must be actually,
directly, and exclusively used to meet the needs of the particular industry, business, or activity; and (b)
by their very nature and purpose, are designed for, or necessary for manufacturing, mining, logging,
commercial, industrial, or agricultural purposes.

Art. 290(o) of the Rules and Regulations Implementing the LGC, recognized the following exemptions:
Machinery which are of general purpose use including but not limited to office equipment, typewriters,
telephone equipment, breakable or easily damaged containers (glass or cartons), microcomputers,
facsimile machines, telex machines, cash dispensers, furnitures and fixtures, freezers, refrigerators,
display cases or racks, fruit juice or beverage automatic dispensing machines which are not directly and
exclusively used to meet the needs of a particular industry, business or activity shall not be considered
within the definition of machinery under this Rule.

In the 1964 MERALCO case, when the Assessment Law was still in effect, the SC ruled that the electric
poles of MERALCO are not subject to real property tax. This ruling was based on the express exemption
granted to MERALCO under its previous franchise with reference to the Civil Code definition of real
property as an alternative argument.
 However, the 1964 MERALCO case does not hold true anymore under the LGC.
  While the LGC still does not provide for a specific definition of “real property,” Sections 199(o)
and 232 of the said Code, respectively, gives an extensive definition of what constitutes
“machinery” and unequivocally subjects such machinery to real property tax.
 Under the LGC, the machinery subject to real property tax under the Local Government Code
“may or may not be attached, permanently or temporarily to the real property”; and the
physical facilities for production, installations, and appurtenant service facilities, those which are
mobile, self-powered or self-propelled, or are not permanently attached must (a) be actually,
directly, and exclusively used to meet the needs of the particular industry, business, or activity;
and (b) by their very nature and purpose, be designed for, or necessary for manufacturing,
mining, logging, commercial, industrial, or agricultural purposes.

Article 415, paragraph (5) of the Civil Code considers as immovables or real properties “[m]achinery,
receptacles, instruments or implements intended by the owner of the tenement for an industry or works
which may be carried on in a building or on a piece of land, and which tend directly to meet the needs of
the said industry or works.” The Civil Code, however, does not define “machinery.”
 The properties under Article 415, paragraph (5) of the Civil Code are immovables by destination,
or “those which are essentially movables, but by the purpose for which they have been placed in
an immovable, partake of the nature of the latter because of the added utility derived
therefrom.”
 These properties, including machinery, become immobilized if the following requisites concur:
(a) they are placed in the tenement by the owner of such tenement; (b) they are destined for
use in the industry or work in the tenement; and (c) they tend to directly meet the needs of said
industry or works.
o The first two requisites are not found anywhere in the LGC.

For determining whether machinery is real property subject to real property tax, the definition and
requirements under the LGC are controlling.
 As between the Civil Code, a general law governing property and property relations, and the
Local Government Code, a special law granting local government units the power to impose real
property tax, then the latter shall prevail.

4. Nevertheless, the appraisal and assessment of the transformers, electric posts, transmission
lines, insulators, and electric meters of MERALCO as machinery under TD1 and TD2 were not in
accordance with the LGC and in violation of the right to due process of MERALCO and, therefore, null
and void.

Under the LGC (Sec. 224 and 225), every machinery must be individually appraised and assessed
depending on its acquisition cost, remaining economic life, estimated economic life, replacement or
reproduction cost, and depreciation.

Article 304 of the Rules and Regulations Implementing the Local Government Code of 1991 expressly
authorizes the local assessor or his deputy to receive evidence for the proper appraisal and assessment
of the real property.

The LGC (Sec. 223) further mandates that the taxpayer be given a notice of assessment of real property
in the following manner: ‘When real property is assessed for the first time or when an existing
assessment is increased or decreased, the provincial, city, or municipal assessor shall within 30 days give
written notice of such new or revised assessment to the person in whose name the property is declared.
The notice may be delivered personally or by registered mail or through the assistance of the punong
barangay to the last known address of the person to be served.’

A notice of assessment, which stands as the first instance the taxpayer is officially made aware of the
pending tax liability, should be sufficiently informative to appraise the taxpayer the legal basis of the tax.
This requirement under the Real Property Tax Code has not changed under the LGC.

In the present case, there is a lack of a valid notice of assessment and the SC attributed this to the
apparent lack of a valid appraisal and assessment conducted by the City Assessor of Lucena in the first
place.
 City Assessor of Lucena simply lumped together all the transformers, electric posts, transmission
lines, insulators, and electric meters of MERALCO located in Lucena City under TD1 and TD2,
contrary to the specificity demanded under Sections 224 and 225 of the Local Government Code
for appraisal and assessment of machinery.
 City Assessor and the City Treasurer of Lucena did not even provide the most basic information
such as the number of transformers, electric posts, insulators, and electric meters or the length
of the transmission lines appraised and assessed under TD1 and TD2.
 There is utter lack of factual basis for the assessment of the transformers, electric posts,
transmission lines, insulators, and electric meters of MERALCO.

It is true that tax assessments by tax examiners are presumed correct and made in good faith, with the
taxpayer having the burden of proving otherwise.
 In the present case, MERALCO was able to overcome the presumption because it has clearly
shown that the assessment of its properties by the City Assessor was baselessly and arbitrarily
done, without regard for the requirements of the LGC.