Joseph Araneta Gamboa l November 22, 2023 l Business Mirror
FOR the second consecutive year, BusinessMirror won the top prize of the Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards. Henry Empeño’s article titled “Good as Gold” was adjudged the Agriculture Story of the Year during the awarding ceremony held last week at the Fairmont Hotel in Makati City.
Business Mirror Reporters Cai Ordinario, Jovee Marie dela Cruz and Jovy Noelle Rodriguez garnered the Best National Feature Story award for their report on “Skyrocketing Sugar Prices Stoke Industry Liberalization Stakes” in the 2023 edition of the annual competition, with “Harvesting Progress” as this year’s theme.
Winners in 10 other categories were Genory Vanz Alfasain of Sunstar Davao, Carmela Reyes-Estrope of Philippine Daily Inquirer, Erwin Nicavera of Sunstar Bacolod, Shyla Francisco of TV5 Network, Zhander Cayabyab of RMN-DZXL, Rhoy Cobilla of Edge Davao, Wilfredo Lomibao of Sunday Punch, Bong Sarmiento of MindaNews, Jervis Manahan of ABS-CBN News and Cristina Eloisa Baclig of Inquirer.net.
They received prizes and trophies from officers of Bright Leaf’s Presentor PMFTC Inc. led by Director for Global Communications Dave Gomez and External Affairs Director Chita Herce. Over the past 16 years, the Bright Leaf Awards have recognized outstanding stories and photos depicting agricultural and rural development.
Funding countryside development
THE National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended by the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) Law of 2017, mandates that an excise tax of 4 percent is imposed on minerals or quarry resources based on the actual market value of their gross output at the time of their removal.
Local government units (LGUs) are entitled to a 40 percent share of the gross earnings from mining taxes and royalties from mineral reservations under the Local Government Code of 1991. The collected tax is to be divided among LGUs hosting the mining operations: 35 percent to the barangay; 45 percent to the municipality; and, 20 percent to the province.
But for several decades, many LGUs have not received their rightful share of the excise taxes. For example, the province of Eastern Samar still has to get its more than P100 million estimated mining tax share from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
Governor Ben Evardone has been requesting the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the DBM to release the province’s excise tax share. Up to now, the BIR’s Revenue Accounting Division is still processing the pertinent tax data to support the release of the funds due to the LGUs of Eastern Samar, the municipality of Guiuan, and its barangays hosting the mine sites. LGU officials expect the national government to remit their respective tax shares in 2024 based on the joint certification issued by the BIR and the Bureau of the Treasury.
Evardone also met with officers of mining companies operating in the province and asked them to settle at once their unpaid real property taxes (RPT). Six of these miners have combined RPT arrears of some P133.9 million based on their ore stocks transport permits issued by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Provincial Treasurer Antonia Macawile disclosed that Evardone wants the miners to settle their RPT arrears because the unpaid taxes will go a long way in funding development projects such as roads, bridges, school buildings, and water supply facilities for Eastern Samar’s half a million citizens.
According to Provincial Legal Officer Eden Balagasay, Evardone instructed his staff to find out what social and community development programs have been carried out by the mining companies for their workers and the residents of the host-communities in their concession areas. This was during his dialogue with the miners held in Borongan City.
He warned them that he would not hesitate to ask the DENR to revoke their mineral production sharing agreements or MPSAs should they be found not in full compliance with their environmental and social protection obligations. These MPSA holders have been involved in mining activities on the island of Homonhon, where Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan first landed in 1521 when he “discovered” the Philippines for the Spanish Empire.
Other similarly situated LGUs should emulate Eastern Samar’s initiative to channel funds generated from taxation to the social and economic development of their respective areas for the long-term welfare of their constituents.
*** Joseph Gamboa is the vice-chairman of the Ethics Committee of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (Finex) and a director of Noble Asia Industrial Corp. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the opinion of these institutions and the BusinessMirror. #FinexPhils www.finex.org.ph.