Power firm to pay P.17-B tax arrears to P’sinan

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – The company that took over the operations of the coal-fired power plant in Sual town has pledged to settle the facility’s unpaid real property taxes amounting to P179 million with the provincial government.

Federico Puno, president and chief executive officer of Team Energy that replaced Mirant Corp. as manager of the power firm last July 15, assured Gov. Amado Espino Jr. that he “wanted to start it right and clear” during a meeting of the Sual plant’s corporate board last week.

Puno said Team Energy and the National Power Corp. (Napocor) agreed that the principal obligation – amounting to P142 million – would be settled first with the province.

He requested that the payment of P37 million in penalties and surcharges waived by the previous provincial administration, be deferred.

Puno said Napocor, which owns the power plant, should be the one held responsible for the payment of the real property tax arrears.

“We just wanted to clear everything before we start taking over the plant’s operations, and so we are paying in advance the unpaid taxes, but this has to be reimbursed by Napocor,” Puno said.

Board member Tyrone Agabas, for his part, said condoning the penalties is unfavorable to the province and would only result in a “vicious cycle of delinquencies.”