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Thursday, January 05, 2006
Mayor to Clark firms: Get permits, pay taxes
By Reynaldo G. Navales
MABALACAT, Pampanga -- Mayor Marino Morales has called on some 350 foreign and local investors inside the Clark Special Economic Zone (CSEZ) to get the necessary permits and start paying business taxes to the local government this year.
His call followed the Supreme Court (SC) decision declaring null and void Section 5 of Executive Order (EO) 80, effectively canceling all incentives and tax exemptions of locators inside the economic zone.
In a letter to Antonio Ng, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Clark Development Corporation (CDC), Municipal Treasurer Angelito Pelayo noted that the locators in the zone are now "within the legal boundaries of the town beginning January 1, 2006."
"Considering the foregoing, we would like to inform you that the Municipal Government of Mabalacat, pursuant to its mandate and powers as contained in the Local Government Code, will commence collecting business taxes, inclusive of mayor's permits and building permits, from locators inside the Clark ecozone," Pelayo told Ng in a letter.
With the development, the mayor said the coterie of businesses in the zone should now get mayor's permits and building permits and start paying business taxes.
Pelayo's letter to Ng further stated: "We would appreciate it if you would inform all concerned locators of our intent. We would also appreciate it highly if you could provide us a list of locators, complete with relevant information such as full business name and addresses, authorized officers of the companies, historical revenues, number of employees, contact details, etc."
The local government units (LGUs) around the Clark ecozone are getting one percent of the total Gross Income Earned (GIE) of the Clark ecozone. About 90 percent of the zone falls in the territorial jurisdiction of Mabalacat town, now a first class municipality vying for cityhood status.
Morales did not say if he would collect from Clark investors back taxes, which is expected to ran into millions of pesos as the zone had opened shop in 1995. The government converted the former US-run Clark Air Base into productive civilian use, tapping its tourism, industrial, and airport potentials.
Earlier, Angeles City Mayor Carmelo Lazatin stopped the construction of SM Clark and Morales was equally exerting his political will on Clark locators based on the decision of the SC.
Reports said some delinquent locators had stopped operations in Clark while most of the attractions, notably duty free shops like the Las Vegas Duty Free Store, had closed shop.
In lieu of paying the normal rates of taxes and duties, Clark ecozone investors pay only five percent on their GIEs as a form of tax incentive to lure more locators.
But the high court has recently voided the grant of the tax incentive in Section 12 of Republic Act (RA) 7227, claiming that the privilege is exclusively granted to investors in the Subic Bay Special Economic and Freeport Zone (SBSEFZ). (Sun.Star Pampanga/Sunnex)
(January 5, 2006 issue)
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