MANILA, Philippines — Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina said the bureau will return the tax levied on a Filipina fighter's championship belt.
In an interview with Philippine STAR columnist Boo Chanco, Lina said he will meet with Jujeath "Badgirl" Nagaowa and return the amount paid for the belt.
just got a call from Bert Lina who said he will meet with the athlete and return the taxes paid for her championship belt.
— Boo Chanco (@boochanco) August 28, 2015 Nagaowa was waiting for her newly won championship belt to be shipped home only to find out the Bureau of Customs was asking for nearly P6,000 in tax for it.
Nagaowa, who recently earned her Women's International Boxing Association light flyweight title after defeating Chinese boxer Lou Yu Jie in Macau on June 6, decried in a viral Facebook post the tax imposed on her belt.
"Yes, it's true and yes, it hurts, that after battling full 10 rounds of boxing for this belt, and after some days of agony waiting for its arrival... [I would be] so much disappointed," the post read.
The 27-year-old fighter from Benguet said bureau personnel at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport estimated that the belt had a P20,147.77 dutiable value, from which the P5,809 in fees and value added tax were derived.
Nagaowa said she was forced to settle the amount or risk losing the "only evidence" of her victory.
Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina said in an interview aired on ABS-CBN that trophies and similar awards may be exempted from taxes once a clearance with the Department of Finance is secured.
Lina said that the agency will investigate the matter.
Nagaowa was the first Igorot to be signed with ONE Championship with a 13-15-1 boxing record, as well as eight knockouts.
In an interview with Chinese media after crushing Lou in June, Nagaowa said she was about to stop boxing, but the new title gave her new reason to continue.
"Thank God I was given the chance to fight for this title, and I feel so great," she said.
Nagaowa admitted she was not fully prepared for the fight and was not satisfied with her performance.
"I got this fight [on] short notice but I was very lucky that I just followed the game plan, my coach on the corner thought it was okay," she said.