By Danessa Rivera (The
Philippine Star) | Updated September 26, 2016 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines – The Department
of Energy (DOE) has maintained that the consortium operating Malampaya deep
water gas-to-power project has not been remiss in paying government taxes.
After much review, Energy Secretary
Alfonso Cusi reiterated the previous DOE administration’s stand on the the tax
issue besieging the Malampaya consortium as ruled by the Commission on Audit
(COA).
“First time it was raised I said I
need to study the full background of the issue. Then discussed it to economic
cluster and the Cabinet. We concurred with the DOE stand,” he said.
The previous leadership of DOE said
income tax was deductible from the government’s 60 percent share of Malampaya’s
earnings.
COA earlier wrote to the Energy
chief asking the new administration’s position on the P53.14-billion tax
dispute of the Malampaya consortium, composed of Shell Philippines Exploration
B.V. (SPEX), the Philippine National Oil Co. Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) and
Chevron Malampaya LLC.
In turn, Cusi said he will study the
issue as the agency gathers all necessary and related information.
COA found the tax deficiency in 2009
and it was upheld in an April 6, 2015 decision after the Malampaya consortium
appealed the ruling.
Because of this, SPEX then decided
to sue the Philippine government by filing an arbitration case with the
Singapore International Arbitration Center in late 2015 and another with the
International Center for the Settlement of Investment Dispute in July 2016.
Since then, Malampaya’s tax dispute
has ballooned to around P151 billion, according to COA.
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