Local government units that are adjacent to Subic Bay Freeport are expected to receive P140.6 million revenue shares from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority in the second half of 2021.. (File photo by Joanna Rose Aglibot)
SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Local government units (LGUs) in the provinces of Zambales and Bataan will receive a total of P140.6 million revenue shares earned by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) from the taxes paid by business locators for the second half of 2021.
SBMA Chair and Administrator Wilma Eisma on Tuesday (Jan. 25) said the amount is 18 percent lower than the LGU shares released in August last year, which totaled to P166.16 million, but surpassed by more than 12 percent the P123.1 million total distributed in February 2021.
Olongapo City, which is the biggest beneficiary since 2011, will receive P32,859,441.37.
It was followed by Subic (P21,145,468.61), San Marcelino (P16,883,070.73), Castillejos (P12,831,070.73) and San Antonio (P11,968,060.18), all in Zambales.
Other recipients are three Bataan towns: Dinalupihan (P17,509,805.94), Hermosa (P15,003,180.96) and Morong (P12,402,469.66)
Eisma said the shares, which are sourced from the five-percent taxes paid by business locators inside this free port, are meant to promote parallel development in their nearby communities and enhance LGU projects in tourism, infrastructure, education, peace and order, health, and livelihood generation.
“This time, SBMA will do away with the usual check-releasing ceremony as a precaution in face of the recent surge of Covid-19 cases nationwide, including in local communities,” Eisma said in a statement.
Based on the records from SBMA, the agency has now distributed a total of P2.83 billion in shares since 2011 when the SBMA started releasing shares directly to the LGUs.