P-Noy questions perks granted to Thai firm

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino has questioned the Board of Investments (BOI) for granting a foreign firm a six-year tax holiday, aside from a 30-percent incentive for the importation of corn and other raw feed as industry pioneer.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said the President shared his concerns over the BOI decision in favor of Thai-owned Charoen Pokphand (CP), which has been strongly opposed by almost all major agriculture stakeholders, for fear it would kill domestic hog and poultry growers.

“The President himself raised the question of how does one define pioneering status. How can the BOI grant the Thai company pioneering status when we have been raising hogs and chickens for so long?” Alcala said in a television interview.

Alcala, who was not consulted by the BOI on the matter, noted that the board only considered its required minimum capitalization of $200 million in granting pioneering status to CP.

Swine Development Council and Abono party-list chairman Rosendo So, however, said the BOI should also have considered the P300-billion domestic meat industry that would be adversely affected by the tax breaks extended to the firm.

“The domestic industry is a P300-billion industry. If you compare that to CP’s P2-billion investment, that is small. For so many years, the livestock industry has not enjoyed substantial benefits from the government, and now the BOI is killing us for such a paltry sum that would benefit a foreign company,” So said in a separate interview.

“The more important issue is this: we are leaving our food security in the hands of a foreign firm, which runs counter to the policy of the Department of Agriculture of self-sufficiency for the agriculture sector,” he added.

Alcala admitted that with the tax holidays extended to the global agriculture giant, the local industry would be put at a disadvantage.

“I myself do not agree with the decision of the BOI... I am afraid it could eventually kill our domestic livestock industry,” he said.