Metro Briefs: Makati settles P1-B tax dues from elder Binays’ terms

Makati settles P1-B tax dues from elder Binays’ terms

The Makati City government on Friday said it had paid up its tax obligations of around P1 billion with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), which were incurred during the administrations of then Mayors Elenita and Jejomar Binay. Makati and the BIR agreed to amicably settle the city’s unremitted withholding tax on obligations, expanded withholding tax, withholding tax on government money payments and value-added tax from 1999 to 2004. City legal officer Michael Arthur Camiña turned over a check worth P301,979,220.58 to BIR Commissioner Cesar Dulay as “full and complete settlement of the basic assessment as well as any and all tax obligations” of the city. Based on records, Makati had made payments to the BIR totaling P600 million: P20 million on Sept. 6, 2005; P30 million on Oct. 28, 2005; P150 million on Feb. 23, 2006, and P400 million on Jan. 17, 2011. Because of the amicable settlement, the BIR approved Makati’s application for the nonpayment of surcharges, penalties and interest amounting to P554.7 million, Camina said. —DEXTER CABALZA

No need to sketch: QCPD gets tech upgrade

The Quezon City government recently turned over a dozen digital facial composite machines worth P18.6 million to the Quezon City Police District (QCPD). Through the Frontalis Facial Composite System, the technology offers an alternative to the old system of relying on sketch artists to come up with images of crime suspects’ faces. Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, QCPD director, said the district was the first to be equipped with such units in Metro Manila, and that all police stations in Quezon City would soon be receiving one machine each. The machines may be upgraded with programs that can make a face look older or younger, as well as produce three-dimensional images.—JHESSET O. ENANO