LUCENA CITY, Quezon, Philippines — The Department of Finance-Bureau Local Government Finance (DoF-BLGF)- Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) office commended the provincial government here for initiating a tax campaign aimed at drawing in P1.8 billion in uncollected real property tax (RPT).

DoF Regional Director Eduardo Del Rosario told a crowd of provincial and municipal treasurers, municipal mayors, barangay officials, and other stakeholders recently that Quezon increased by up to 131 percent its efficiency in collecting RPT for the year 2011.

The feat was attributed largely to a tax campaign dubbed “Sa Bawat Pisong Buwis Mo, Katumbas ay Serbisyo,” a collective effort of fiscal teams in the province to raise revenue collections with a chance to win prizes under municipal, barangay and individual categories.

The program initiated by Gov. David C. Suarez will be repeated this year and run from Jan. 9 to Oct. 30, 2012 with a touch of color purple that symbolizes nuetrality, love, hope, future, faith and with humility.

Suarez appealed to landowners to paying their taxes because the amount collected will boost the delivery of basic services on health, agriculture, education and countryside development.