SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—Eight local government units (LGUs) adjoining the Subic Bay Freeport Zone received a total of P203.14 million from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) as their shares in the revenue collected from business locators in this economic growth center.
SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma distributed the check payments to LGU executives during a lunch meeting on Monday at the Subic Bay Yacht Club. Eisma also urged recipients to use the funds to further develop their communities.
The releases comprised of the following: P47.24 million for Olongapo City; P31.05 million for Subic, Zambales; P26.34 million for San Marcelino, Zambales; P25.26 million for Dinalupihan, Bataan; P21.15 million for Hermosa, Bataan; P19.01 million for Castillejos, Zambales; P17.65 million for Morong, Bataan; and P17.41 million for San Antonio, Zambales.
According to SBMA records, Monday’s releases brought the total amount received by LGUs to P2.07 billion since February 2011 when the SBMA started directly releasing the revenue shares to them.
The shares given in August are derived from 2-percent of the 5-percent gross income taxes collected from business locators in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone from January to June each year. Shares from collections in July to December are released in February.
Eisma said the revenue shares are given to augment LGU resources and “enable stakeholder communities to carry out development projects in health, education, peace and order, and livelihood generation.”
However, she admitted the SBMA doesn’t have the means to determine how the LGUs use the shares. “While we don’t have any means to determine how the shares are utilized, we hope that these will be used for the communities to keep pace with developments in the Subic Bay Freeport,” Eisma said.
Olongapo Mayor Rolen C. Paulino Jr. promised to use the shares for development projects that would benefit the people of the city. Subic Mayor Jonathan John F. Khonghun said he would use their share for scholarship grants to deserving residents of his municipality.
The SBMA began releasing the shares directly to the LGUs after a new tax collection scheme was implemented in August 2010. Previously, corporate taxes were remitted first to the national government, which would then distribute the LGU shares.
As the LGU share is determined according to population (50 per cent), land area (25 per cent), and equal sharing (25 per cent), Olongapo, which is a highly urbanized city, always received the biggest chunk of the shares, the SBMA said.