Board members concerned over mining firm’s unpaid property taxes

TACLOBAN CITY – The members of the provincial board of Leyte were concerned when they received the report from the provincial assessor’s office that the Nicua Mining had not paid their real property taxes despite the fact that they have an on-going commercial mining operation in the municipality of Macarthur, here in Leyte.

This was revelead by Leyte second district Board Member Anlie Apostol over their recent talks with the representatives of Nicua which was also attended by the regional director of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.

“Based on the documents that the provincial assessors provided to us, up to now they had not paid their real property taxes,” revealed Apostol.

Their properties in the areas of their operation do not only include the land which they had bought from farmers but including the equipment they are using for their operations,Apostol said.

Apostol stressed that with Nicua not paying taxes to the provincial government, the delivery of basic services of the provincial government could be affected real property tax is one of the major source of the provincial government.

“More than anything, it is the people that are being affected by their actions not to pay taxes,” she stressed.

It was learned that the mining company is waiting its application for tax exemption from the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

“But whether or not they get that tax exception they should pay their real property taxes as they had already bought several lands in the area of their operation,” she added.

Apostol added that December last year the mining firm had promised to pay said tax but until this month said promise had not materialized.

Apostol added that the MGB in the region should have checked if the company had fulfilled their duty as it is part and partial of the documents needed before the company can start their operations.

“They should have checked it first, it is their job to help the company secure all the documents needed to make their operation unopposed and without experiencing any problem such as this,” she added. (Roel Amazona)