Tuesday, January 08, 2008 Guv hopes to get national wealth tax shares By Jane Cadalig
BENGUET Governor Nestor Fongwan is optimistic about the efforts of the provincial government to get its rightful share from the utilization of its water resources.
This is aside from the share the province is expecting from the operation of mining companies here.
Fongwan claimed the management of the San Roque Power Corp. recently manifested its intention to give Benguet its share from the operations of the dam.
Fongwan said San Roque has initially agreed to pay P20 million to the provincial government.
Benguet is demanding P116 million from San Roque, as its share from the National Wealth Tax (NWT) paid by the power company from 2004 to 2007.
In November last year, Fongwan wrote the president of San Roque demanding the release of the province's share from the operations of the dam.
In his letter, Fongwan said Benguet is entitled to a share from the dam's operation, being the sole source of water used in firm's generation of power.
Fongwan is optimistic that all the province's demands for release of its shares from the utilization of its natural resources would be achieved.
"We hope all our collections would be realized so we could fund the urgent needs of our people," Fongwan said.
The provincial government filed a P56 million worth of collection suit against the National Power Corporation (NPC) and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) last November, which took over ownership of NPC's properties in Benguet.
The amount being demanded represents the NPC's unsettled franchise taxes derived from the operations of Binga Dam in Itogon.
Prior to the filing of the case, several demand letters have been sent to the NPC and PSALM but these remained unanswered.
Aside from the shares derived from power generating companies, Benguet is also awaiting the release of its NWT share from mining companies.
Recently, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assured that the national government would release P124 million to the province as its share from the NWT paid by Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company in Mankayan and Philex Mines Corp. in Tuba.
