LUCENA CITY, Philippines – Quezon Gov. David Suarez on Friday issued an ultimatum to the owner of Team Energy (TE), operator of the 735-megawatt coal-fired thermal power plant, to settle the company’s back taxes or they would put all plant properties in auction block.
“The public auction will push through on Jan. 26, as scheduled unless the plant operator settles its tax obligation to the Pagbilao local government and the provincial government,” Suarez said in an interview Friday afternoon.
Greggy Romualdez, TE head of external affairs department, has expressed optimism that the interagency committee currently studying the matter would be able to resolve the issue before the auction date.
“We have been doing whatever we can to help settle the matter,” Romualdez said in a text message to the Inquirer.
Suarez said the TE management had not been giving the local government any back-and-white offer that would show their “honest desire” to compensate the province in its tax claim.
“Their first proposal was unacceptable and since then nothing concrete [has been offered],” he said, referring to the offer submitted by TE management last year.
Federico Puno, TE president and chief executive officer, submitted a compromise agreement proposal and offered P1.1 billion to settle the basic back taxes due the local government, which has ballooned to P6.1 billion. But the offer was turned down by the Pagbilao municipal and Quezon provincial governments.
A source from the provincial government said two big companies have shown interest in joining the bidding of plant properties.
The electricity generated from Pagbilao power plant accounts for around 20 percent of the total power-generating capacity in Luzon.
Suarez said he was aware that some national government officials had been conducting dialogues with TE management on how to settle the back taxes due to the local government.
“But we were not even invited to participate. We should be there in the middle of whatever negotiation is going on because the local government is the principal party here,” he stressed.
Suarez said the plant operator could not escape responsibility on the payment of the back taxes. Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon
“The public auction will push through on Jan. 26, as scheduled unless the plant operator settles its tax obligation to the Pagbilao local government and the provincial government,” Suarez said in an interview Friday afternoon.
Greggy Romualdez, TE head of external affairs department, has expressed optimism that the interagency committee currently studying the matter would be able to resolve the issue before the auction date.
“We have been doing whatever we can to help settle the matter,” Romualdez said in a text message to the Inquirer.
Suarez said the TE management had not been giving the local government any back-and-white offer that would show their “honest desire” to compensate the province in its tax claim.
“Their first proposal was unacceptable and since then nothing concrete [has been offered],” he said, referring to the offer submitted by TE management last year.
Federico Puno, TE president and chief executive officer, submitted a compromise agreement proposal and offered P1.1 billion to settle the basic back taxes due the local government, which has ballooned to P6.1 billion. But the offer was turned down by the Pagbilao municipal and Quezon provincial governments.
A source from the provincial government said two big companies have shown interest in joining the bidding of plant properties.
The electricity generated from Pagbilao power plant accounts for around 20 percent of the total power-generating capacity in Luzon.
Suarez said he was aware that some national government officials had been conducting dialogues with TE management on how to settle the back taxes due to the local government.
“But we were not even invited to participate. We should be there in the middle of whatever negotiation is going on because the local government is the principal party here,” he stressed.
Suarez said the plant operator could not escape responsibility on the payment of the back taxes. Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon
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