CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu International Convention Center has been operating without a business permit and has failed to pay its taxes due to the Mandaue City government since it opened in 2007.
New Mandaue City Treasurer Regal Oliva, in a press conference yesterday, said that CICC since its operation in early 2007 the management of the Convention center has failed to secure a business permit and pay income taxes to the city government.
Oliva said that when they came to inspect the establishment last January to ask for its business permit, the management failed to the present it to them as they have not yet complied with the requirements need to get one.
Although a representative came to visit their office to get the form needed to apply for a business permit, but the said person never came back to their office to comply.
The CICC is now considered as one of the city’s delinquent taxpayers.
Oliva, however, said that they cannot yet determine as to how much the CICC owes the city government as they have not opened its books of accounts yet.
In his conservative estimate of an annual gross income of P2 million, most probably the city will have a P200-P300 thousand tax collectible from CICC.
This as the plenary hall alone is being rented out for P130,000 per night while the other function rooms of the said facility are also being rented out.
Since the CICC has been a delinquent tax payer for five years now, the city government will be imposing penalties.
Oliva said that a two percent interest per month or up to 72% interest of penalty for CICC’s delinquency will be imposed on CICC since it is stipulated in the Local Government Code that an LGU can only impose an interest of only up to 72% for every delinquent taxpayer.
A demand letter will soon be sent to CICC and if the management will not make the necessary actions within ten days, the treasurer’s office will be compelled to recommend to the City Legal Office the closure of the said facility.
The said demand letter will also require the CICC to open its books of accounts to the city treasurer’s office.
Not Donated
In a separate interview with former mayor and now Provincial Board Member Thadeo Ouano, he said that the lot where the CICC stands was never donated to the province.
There is, however, a contract that was entered into by Mandaue City and the province that allows the province to use the lot for a period of 99 years.
The CICC was built by the Cebu Provincial Government in time for the 12th ASEAN Summit in January 2007.
No Obligation
Capitol consultant Rory Jon Sepulveda said that such local government unit undertaking is not subjected to tax by another LGU.
Besides, Sepulveda said that the CICC is joint venture of the Province of Cebu and the City of Mandaue, which means the two LGUs are the owners of the said facility.
However, Sepulveda said they will answer formally the issue as soon as they get the communication from Mandaue City asking them to pay the taxes.
The 3-story CICC was built at the cost of about P1 billion. It has a gross floor area of 28,000 square meters.
It is situated on 3.8 hectares of reclaimed land owned by the Mandaue City Government.
Construction for the substructure began on April 2006 and work on the superstructure itself which was largely made up of structural steel, glass and aluminum cladding began three months after.
The center was finished four months later sometime late November and was officially inaugurated on January 6, 2007 in time for the ASEAN Summit. —with Gregg Rubio/NLQ (FREEMAN)