Paz says MCIAA taxes for schools, Lapu infra

The P1.3 billion in real property taxes that the Lapu-Lapu City government is asking the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) to pay will help address the shortage of classrooms and fund other infrastructure projects of the city.

Mayor Paz Radaza gave this statement yesterday after the issue was tackled during Wednesday’s Congressional Hearing in Manila discussing the three bills to amend the MCIAA charter filed by Rep. John Pablo Garcia (Cebu 3rd district), Rep. Rachel “Cutie” del Mar (Cebu City north district) and Rep. Arturo Radaza, (Lapu-Lapu City).

Garcia and Del Mar proposed that the MCIAA be exempted from paying taxes to the city government because it’s a state facility.
The other bills discussed redefining who selects the private sector members in the board and whether airport employees should remain subject to Civil Service laws.

Mayor Radaza, however, said she hoped that Congress would decide for the common good of the constituents that they were serving.
“It’s about time nga mubayad na sila kay dako kaayo mawala sa among projects sa syudad,” Radaza told Cebu Daily News about the P1.3 billion in overdue taxes that the MCIAA incurred since 2002.

Radaza warned that if Congress would allow MCIAA to be exempted from paying taxes, then a big portion of the city’s infrastructure projects and other services would be affected.

“If the MCIAA pays its obligations to the city, the taxes would be used to finance our priority infrastructure projects, especially our streets and roads leading to our tourism belt, which badly needs widening and rehabilitation to ensure that our foreign tourists and investors will have a reason to frequent the city, and consequently the airport and the rest of Cebu,” said Radaza.

Radaza said MCIAA was occupying 800 hectares of land or about 1/5 of Lapu-Lapu City.

Paul Nigel Villarete, MCIAA general manager, told CDN that it’s difficult for him to make a stand on the matter, but he was glad Congress had discussed the matter.

He said his stand as general manager would be different from him being an urban planner since as a GM he would always go for a tax exemption provided that the amount would be proportionate of the taxes that would have been collected.

But as an urban planner, Villarete, who was the former Cebu City administrator, said due taxes should be collected for the local government unit would need to render services to the public.

Villarete, however, assured that he would abide with whatever Congress would decide.