"The court will be our last resort," Simeon Marfori, businessman and DCCCII president, told reporters Wednesday.

Members and officers of DCCII were still in an emergency meeting over the issue as of late Thursday afternoon.

But Marfori reiterated they are still very much open to a dialogue with the mayor.

The chamber, which is composed of individual and corporate members including the Landowners Association of Davao Inc., Davao Board of Realtors Foundation Inc., high and low cost housing property development firms, expressed its opposition to the increase in the fair market value of real properties for taxation purposes currently being imposed by the Davao City local government through Ordinance 040-07.

In a position paper, DCCCI said the increase was very untimely.

"The world is in the midst of an economic recession. We, in Davao City, have begun to feel its effects in the palpable slowdown of consumer spending. Shopping centers such as malls and public markets and retailers such as department stores, appliance stores, as well as restaurants and other establishments, are all experiencing declines in their sales. The burden of higher realty taxes at this time will be counter-productive and will help deepen the recession locally, rather than alleviate it," the group said.

The group added the current increase in the fair market values of real properties of as much as 40 to 1,100 percent is unjustifiably excessive and confiscatory.

This has resulted in the dramatic increase in the assessed market value per square meter by up to 1,100 percent in many subdivisions in the city.

"To cite a few examples, the market value of residential lots in Garcia Heights Subdivision has risen from P250/sqm to P2, 500/sqm (or by 900%). The value of residential lots in Ledesma Village has increased from P250/sqm to P3,000 /sqm (or by 1,100%). Newly developed subdivisions and several districts (e.g., Robinson Highlands/Crest, SM Drive, Ecoland Drive, Generoso Bridge, etc.), which had no pre-existing market valuations, have likewise been imposed market values of up to P4,000, which is higher than the values assigned to other existing subdivisions which are more progressive, developed, and with higher actual market values. The low cost housing in Emily Homes, Cabantian Buhangin -- having an average of 100 square meters in area -- has also increased the assessed market value from P10,000 to P50,000," DCCCI said in its position paper.

They said "this staggering, one-time increase in the market values of real properties within the jurisdiction of Davao City is excessive and confiscatory because many lot owners will not be able to pay such extremely large increases, all within one year." (CPM/Sunnex)