TUBA, Benguet – Being a responsible and conscientious miner, Philex Mining Corp. has paid almost P15 million in local business taxes for 2018 to the municipalities of Tuba and Itogon. Tuba and Itogon host Padcal mine, the Company’s gold-and-copper operations in this province.
` Roselyn Dahilan, finance group manager at Padcal mine, said the timely tax payments empower the host and neighboring communities to shape their own future. “With our up-to-date tax payments, we fulfill our duties to our host and neighboring communities and help them develop and implement their various social projects on time,” Dahilan said.
Tuba and Itogon have become two of the four first-class municipalities in Benguet, owing to the “significant economic impact and fiscal contributions” of Padcal operations, Dahilan had said.
She added the nine other towns in this province listed under third, fourth, and fifth economic classes were all into agriculture, while three of the four first-class municipalities were predominantly mining communities.
“We continue to uphold our commitments in our pursuit of right-and-principled mining, and part of this is paying our taxes religiously,” President and CEO Eulalio Austin, Jr. said. “We are proud that we are able to fulfill our obligations amid the changing operating landscapes and, at the same time, thankful to our host municipalities for trusting us as their partner in community development.”
“We have not backed down on any of our duties and commitments in our pursuit of right-and-principled mining, so it is no wonder that we pay our taxes religiously,” President and CEO Eulalio Austin, Jr. said. “We are proud that we are able to fulfill our obligations and, at the same time, thankful to our host municipalities for trusting us as their partner in community development.”
Dahilan said the tax payments were done in January, with Tuba receiving P7,689,832.68 while Itogon having a share of P7,207,771.81, or a total of P14,897,604.49, in accordance with the towns’ respective revenue codes.
Tuba’s share, in other words, translates to 44 percent of 1 percent of Philex Mining’s gross receipts of P9,984,792,117.17 for 2017after the mandated deductions, one of which was the company’s 50-perecent incentive as a full exporter while Itogon’s is 41.25 percent.
“With our up-to-date tax payments toward the public coffers, we do not only fulfill our duties to our host and neighboring communities, we also help them develop and implement their various social projects on time,” Dahilan said.
Philex Mining, one of the country’s top corporate taxpayers, paid Tuba P7.91 million and, Itogon, P7.41 million, in LBTs last year, while the 2016 taxes paid toward the two host municipalities reached a total of P12.8 million. In 2013, the company coughed up P1.048 billion in local, national, and withheld taxes.
Dahilan earlier said Philex Mining, which has Padcal for its sole operating mine, paid 100 percent of the required regular taxes amounting to P6.6 billion as well as the P3.5 billion in mining-related taxes in the five years to 2015. Which means the company paid 153 percent in taxes for the said period, she stressed.
By HENT
The anti-mining forces like to claim that the 2% Excise Tax is too small. That’s because they don’t include other taxes like this business tax. They like to say that the total contribution of mining to the national treasury is only about 2% also. But they fail to mention that mining takes up less than 1% of the country’s land area. On a national scale that might seem small but to Tuba and Itogon, it is a bigger boon than they would otherwise get from the national government. As long as we encourage responsible mining, these benefits to host communities will continue.