SUBIC BAY FREEPORT, Philippines — The Subic Bay Freeport remitted P3.71 billion to the National Treasury in the first half of this year, an increase of P225 million over the P3.48 billion posted in the same period last year.
The remittances came from cash collections of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in this free port, said Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Administrator Armand Arreza.
Arreza said that while there was only a slight increase of 6.46 percent in revenue, this indicates that the SBMA has sustained its growth both in terms of investments and workforce.
Based on records submitted to the SBMA, the BOC posted cash collections of P3.12 billion coming from duties and taxes for ship calls, transshipment operations, and the importation of various inputs, including oil, motor vehicles, and other general merchandise.
The BOC reported that cash collection in Subic for the first half this year surpassed last year’s P2.51 billion by 24.33 percent, or a difference of P611 million.
However, the Subic revenue district fell slightly short of its target of P3.29 billion in the first six months.
In June alone, BOC-Subic collected a total of P661.48 million, the highest in the six-month period, followed by P623.02 million in April.
Apart from this, BOC posted non-cash collections of P299.82 million from government-to-government transactions.
Meanwhile, the Subic revenue district registered a first-semester cash collection of P587.75 million. This represented a surplus of P79.32 million or 15.6 percent over its collection goal of P508.43 million for the said period.
The Subic BIR office also said its actual collection dipped by 39.64 percent, or P385.98 million, when compared to the P973.72 million it collected in the first half of 2010.
Not included in the BIR collections in Subic, however, was the two-percent share of the corporate taxes paid by business locators in the Subic Bay freeport, which were directly collected by the SBMA through a new collection scheme and released to local government units (LGUs) that are either contiguous to or affected by the freeport.
The LGU shares, which are provided for under Republic Act 7227, which created the Subic Bay Freeport, are intended to finance development projects and provide for basic support services and livelihood programs of the seven municipalities and one city that are adjacent to the Subic Freeport.
Early this month, the SBMA distributed revenue shares collected under the new scheme for the first half of this year.
The beneficiaries are Olongapo City, which received P16.75 million; Subic, Zambales, P9.28 million; Dinalupihan, Bataan, P8.19 million; San Marcelino, Zambales, P7.87 million; Hermosa, Bataan, P6.59 million; Morong, Bataan, P5.78 million; San Antonio, Zambales, P5.77 million; and Castillejos, Zambales, P5.41 million.