MANILA - For failure to exhaust all available administrative remedies, the Court of Appeals (CA) has dismissed the Philippine Heart Center's (PHC) bid for exemption from payment of real property tax.
In a 14-page decision, the appellate court's 13th Division dismissed PHC's appeal of an earlier ruling that junked PHC's petition that seeks an exemption from payment of unpaid real property taxes in 2004 amounting to P36.5 million. The PHC invoked an exemption granted to it by the late President Ferdinand Marcos.
The appellate court stressed that PHC should have filed the petition before the Quezon City Local Board of Assessment Appeals (LBAA), then to the Central Board of Assessment Appeals (CBAA), and eventually the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA).
"The premature invocation of the intervention of the court is fatal to one's cause of action. The doctrine of exhaustion of administrative remedies is based on practical and legal reasons.
"The availment of administrative remedy entails lesser expenses and provides for a speedier disposition of controversies," the CA ruled.
In 2006, the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) informed PHC that consistent with the Supreme Court (SC) ruling in the case of Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) v. Court of Appeals, PHC is exempt from paying real property taxes.
PHC then stopped real property tax payments which led the local government to issue final notices of delinquency with corresponding warrants of levy.
This led PHC to elevate its case before the appellate court.
source: ABS-CBN News
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