Caloocan insists Ever Gotesco has to pay taxes

MANILA, Philippines - Despite the reported truce proposed by Caloocan City Mayor Recom Echiveri with Gotesco Investments, Inc., he said that Gotesco must still pay the alleged P722.3 million in real property taxes. Radio dzBB quoted Echiveri as saying that they still couldn’t put into action the writ of possession served against the mall owners by the Caloocan City regional trial court (RTC) sheriff last week. However, he reportedly said that they will still ask the Gotesco Grand Central Mall to pay their unpaid taxes under the right process as stated in Philippine law. A row on the ownership of the mall erupted after the Caloocan city government said that Gotesco Investment had been negligent in its duty to pay real property taxes for the past 23 years – resulting in the P722.3 million worth of unpaid taxes. In the statement, Gotesco Investment said that it is not liable to pay the amount because they only acquired the property in September 2008. It added that prior to the sale, the payment of the taxes “fell on the shoulders of the owner of the land they were renting, which is the Caloocan City government." Gotesco said that the sale of the property would not have been consummated if the real property taxes were not properly paid. The city government then reportedly tried to take over the mall but the establishment’s personnel and tenants refused to vacate it. Trixie Angeles, Gotesco Investment’s counsel, said that they want to “talk in peace" with the city government so that they may come up with “a good solution" on the matter.- Kimberly Jane T. Tan, GMANews.TV