Iligan City bucks total condonation of NSC taxes

The local government of Iligan City may not be able to completely condone the P755 million in overdue real estate taxes of National Steel Corp. (NSC) which is now known as Global Steelworks International Inc. (GSII).

According to Iligan City Mayor Franklin Quijano, the city is willing to waive the back taxes of GSII to help it get back on its feet.

"But the city government cannot completely write off GSII’s back taxes because certain provisions of the local government Code stipulates that a substantial portion of taxes collected by the city should be automatically allotted to education," Quijano said.

The city, instead, Quijano said, may waive part of the back taxes and offer a deferred payment for the rest of the unpaid taxes.

"We are willing to forego the entire P755 million, but there could be statutory limitations," Quijano said.

He added, "we want to waive the biggest possible amount, and those that we can’t waive, we are looking at a deferred payment."

Iligan City Resolution No. 03-662 computed the real estate taxes due plus interests and penalties of GSII at P755 million as of August 2003 plus transfer tax of P80 million "should properties of NSC in Iligan be transferred, ceded or conveyed to another corporation, person or entity."

Iligan City had agreed to condone last Aug. 8, 2003 real property taxes amounting to only P171 million.