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Wednesday, June 25, 2003
Not a single centavo from PLDT yet -- Kong
By Christie Enriquez-Uayan
THE city has not received a single centavo from the P20 million-franchise tax owed by the Philippine Long Distance Telecommunications (PLDT) Company to the city, treasurer Engdian Kong said Tuesday.
"They promised to pay before the second week of June, but we have not received anything from them yet," he said.
At the end of this month, Kong said his office would be sending another letter to the PLDT central office in Manila "to remind them about their obligations to the city government".
The City Treasurer mentioned that he took the word of the PLDT's corporate lawyer, and remains confident that the giant telecommunications company will pay.
Early this year, the Supreme Court sided with the city government of Davao in its case against PLDT.
Court records reveal PLDT Davao owes the city about P20 million after failing to pay its franchise tax since 1997. Of the total figure, the principal amount is P13 million, while P7 is the computed surcharge fee.
Kong said PLDT's corporate lawyer, who is based in Manila, had earlier requested City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to waive the surcharge fee but the city's chief executive passed on to the legislators the responsibility of making the decision.
"I reiterated the Mayor's decision and told PLDT to write a letter to the council (for their request) but I think they did not do that," the City Treasurer added.
The city, Kong said, is always open to a compromise agreement.
"If they cannot pay the city P20 million right away, then we are always open for any agreement, as long as hindi naman malugi ang city government sa arrangement," he said.
According to Kong, PLDT has financial obligations to almost all of the major cities in the country including Cebu, Zamboanga and Bacolod. The cumulative cost of these dues, according to him, would amount to billions of pesos.
(June 25, 2003 issue)
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