Isko Moreno gives hotel owners tax credits for giving health workers free rooms

MANILA, Philippines — Manila Mayor Isko Moreno has turned over P100,000 in tax credit certificates to owners of hotels, motels, dormitories, and apartments who provided free lodging for medical frontline workers based in the capital city.

Moreno said the tax credit is a “token of appreciation” for the services given by hotel owners to health workers who have risked their lives to treat patients infected with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the city.

“I told my City Council, let’s meet them halfway as a matter of token of appreciation. We came up with (the tax credit) upon consultation with Licenses Division chief Atty. Paul Vega and Bureau of Permits director Levi Facundo,” Moreno said in a mix of Filipino and English, in a statement on Thursday.

Under Manila City’s Ordinance No. 8646, the tax credit “may be applied on all forms of local business taxes, regulatory fees, and services including the appropriate surcharge and penalty interests.”

It can be recalled that Moreno issued Executive Order No. 17 which mandated hotels and motels in Manila to give free lodging for medical workers assigned in Manila.

Data from the Bureau of Permits showed that over 1,000 healthcare workers received free rooms following the mayor’s executive order.

Admitting that P100,000 is not enough, the mayor said it is the local government’s way to give incentives for the owners’ services.

“Most of you went to us voluntarily, and I am grateful for that. It cost you millions, but you did not ask for a single cent. On behalf of our doctors, nurses, hospital staff who were accommodated in your place of business, we thank you. I cannot thank you enough,” he said.

Aside from this, Moreno said medical frontliners “are able to give back not only to the accommodation operators” but also the entire city through a free drive-thru and walk-in mass COVID-19 testing centers.

“Your taxes will go back to you, you without spending a single cent, by having your employees tested in our drive-thru COVID-19 serology testing,” the mayor said.

“I guarantee you, that whatever we’re doing right now, scientifically and independently audited by known institutions in the world, that the machines we’re using in mass testing are better than the regular rapid test kits,” he added.

/MUF