CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is not yet over in running after business establishments that allegedly did not pay the right taxes to the City Government.
In his news conference yesterday, Osmeña announced that all Cebu City branches of Banco de Oro (BDO), an SM Group affiliate firm, are under investigation on their income and the taxes they have been paying to the City. Because of this, renewal of all their business permits are put on hold.
“All branches are under investigation. They can transact business, but at some point, when they don’t have business permit, then they don’t have any permit to do business,” he said.
Asked what will happen next since the concerned BDO branches no longer have licenses for their business, Osmeña said, these will be closed.
Asked when he will issue the closure order, the mayor said he will only implement it once he is able to establishe the facts against the banks.
A copy of the BDO’s annual report for 2015 distributed by Osmeña yesterday showed that the bank has total deposits of P1.7 trillion, P57 billion net interest income, P32 billion for non-interest income, P25 billion net profit and P1.3 trillion of gross customer loans.
Osmeña had filed a criminal complaint against the executives and board of directors of BDO Magallanes-Plaridel branch over the allegedly under-declared and falsified declaration of gross sales.
“I just want the people of the City of Cebu to know how we are being fooled. That the taxes that the branch is paying is sometimes the same as the stall holder in Carbon Public Market,” he told reporters yesterday.