Plea vs integrity pledge for Subic investors junked

Investors at Subic Bay Freeport have one less requirement to complete with the removal of the integrity pledge. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

OLONGAPO CITY — A regional trial court here dismissed a petition filed by a company inside the Subic Bay Freeport that challenged a requirement made by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) for investors to sign an integrity pledge.

In his order issued on July 26, Judge Raymond Viray of RTC Branch 75 said the petition was rendered moot and academic after the SBMA removed the integrity pledge as a prerequisite for business registration and renewal of permit.

Viray said the  SBMA asked the court to dismiss the petition of Brighterday Subic Ltd. Inc., saying the agency had already removed the integrity pledge from its business requirements.

The SBMA  described the integrity pledge as a commitment to ethical business practices and good corporate governance.

But on May 23, the SBMA board of directors passed a resolution which removed the integrity pledge from the prerequisites in obtaining a certificate of registration and tax exemption.

Instead, the board decided to make the integrity pledge a voluntary document as a “good governance practice.”

The petition was filed in December last year.

Brighterday chair, Mark Dayrit, complained to the court that free port investors were being “coerced and forced” to sign the integrity pledge for their business operations to continue.

They were previously required to submit the signed integrity pledge at least a week before the renewal or issuance of their business permits. —Allan Macatuno