Subic traders want end to tourism, env’t fees

Subic Bay Freeport is one of the major drivers of Central Luzon region’s economy. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—Ten companies operating inside this free port have asked Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) to review its resolutions which, they said, have caused the business community here to “distrust the agency.”

In an April 24 letter to the SBMA board of directors, owners of these companies asked for the reexamination of the resolutions enforcing a common use service area (Cusa) fee, environment and tourism administrative fee (Etaf), and integrity pledge.

They said these new fees and obligation were not part of the original lease agreements signed with SBMA.

“Some of us have had to seek judicial relief. Some took the option of paying fees and taxes under protest and others reluctantly paid and obeyed to buy peace and convenience,” they said.

In their letter, they asked the board to “bring back the level of trust between locators and SBMA.”

SBMA Chair Martin Diño said he was backing the businessmen’s position to keep the free port a “conducive business environment.” “In the most recent board meeting, I reiterated my stand. There should be a moratorium on imposing the Cusa [fee], Etaf and integrity pledge,” Diño said during his State of the Free port Address on April 24.

“The locators should know where the fund [generated from Cusa and Etaf] goes. There should be a consultative and participatory democracy here,” he added.

The Cusa fee, imposed in 2012, pays for SBMA’s expenses for municipal services, such as street cleaning, street lighting, firefighting and law enforcement inside the free port.

Locators are being charged

2 percent of the appraised value of their leased land or 20 percent of their monthly lease rental, whichever is higher, as their Cusa fee.

Etaf has been collected since 2014 to “protect and conserve the environment and implement programs that will mitigate the carbon footprint caused by free port tourists or visitors.”

Under the Etaf, each tourism establishment will collect P20 per person who visits theme parks, beaches and other firms with fixed entrance fees.

Etaf requires certain enterprises to collect P100 per person per playing day at golf courses and P100 per room per night for hotel clients.

Both revenue-generating measures have been opposed by the business sector here. Some investors turned to the courts to stop the collection of the fees which they described as “excessive” and “illegal.”

SBMA also required investors to sign the integrity pledge as a prerequisite for business registration and renewal of permit.

“Without looking into the merits of the court cases already filed against SBMA, we believe it is necessary that the said resolutions be reviewed,” the locators said in the letter.

Mark Dayrit, chair of Brighterday Subic Limited Inc., was one of the businessmen who objected to the three resolutions. His firm operates a hotel, restaurant and beach resort inside the free port.

In November 2016, Dayrit filed a petition for mandamus and preliminary injunction at an Olongapo Regional Trial Court (RTC) against SBMA’s integrity pledge, saying the agency “coerced and forced” locators to sign the document to ensure the continuity of their business operations.

SBMA initially refused to issue the certificate of registration and tax exemption (CRTE) of Dayrit’s firm after the latter declined to sign the integrity pledge.

But Judge Raymond Viray of RTC Branch 75 in Olongapo City issued in February this year a writ of preliminary injunction that stopped SBMA from imposing the integrity pledge on Dayrit’s company.

“The manner by which it is being implemented is abhorrent. It is prone to abuse as
SBMA may impose other similar requirements in the future which really serve no purpose at all,” Viray said in his order.

The order prompted SBMA to release the CRTE of Brighterday Subic Limited. —ALLAN MACATUNO