1st semester quarry income at P155M

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The quarry income of P77 million for the first quarter this year more than doubled to push the first semester revenues to P155 million.

The Provincial Government Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro) headed by Engineer Art Punsalan reported over the weekend that collection for the month of June was posted at P24,920,000 as of 4:30 p.m. Friday, with many more truckers and quarry operations scrambling to beat the deadline.

“The collections during the months of April (P23, 520,000), May (P28, 962,500) and June surpassed the first quarter revenues of more than P77 million by some P402, 500, making the first semester or first six months collection this year at P155, 360,000. It means we are on track and right on target,” he told Sun.Star Pampanga.

Aside from efficiency of collections and operations plus strict monitoring and policy implementation, Punsalan attributed the increase to the additional levy based on Tax Ordinance No. 5, which brought fees to P350. Quarry stakeholders have recently agreed to the tax amendments.

“Based on this trend, we are breaking our own records set in 2011. The first six months of last year saw collections of P125 million. Comparatively, this is a big leap because we have been improving operations and collections,” Punsalan added.

Total quarry collections now stand at P513,125,000. Revenues at the onset of the Pineda administration, from July to December 2010, were recorded at P119,385,000, while last year’s collection was posted at P238,380,000.