Electric company settles tax payments with Cebu City — Labella

Visayan Electric Co. officials lead the inauguration of their new 12.5 MVA substation in San Fernando town. | CDN Digital file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella confirmed that representatives from the electric company, which owed the city P200 million in taxes, have met with him and agreed to settle their liabilities.

Labella and representatives of Visayan Electric (formerly VECO) met on November 26, 2020, to discuss the real property tax the company owed to the city from 1992 to 2019 over unassessed poles and transformers.

The mayor said he was glad to report to the public that VECO has taken the amnesty provided for the establishments with tax deficiencies, allowing them to pay only P164 million of their remaining tax balance.

The tax amnesty ordinance was passed this year to encourage taxpayers with penalties to pay off their deficiencies with discounts.

“I am glad that VECO has been cooperative and they came to us and they are willing to pay the amount. They also informed us that we have an outstanding balance of P22 million to them for the electrical bill,” said the mayor.

The Cebu City government also agreed to pay off the P22 million balance of the city as a gesture of commitment and cooperation to the electric company.

The mayor clarified that the P22 million will not be deducted from the payable of Visayan Electric to the city, but will be a separate transaction of the city government.

Labella said the city government will always be on top of its liabilities under his administration.

As for Visayan Electric, they said it was always the goal to pay off the remaining tax delinquencies.

“Visayan Electric is committed to fulfilling our responsibilities to our LGU partners. This is why we have been in constant communication with the Cebu City government for the computation and the payment of our real property taxes,” said Engineer Raul Lucero, President and Chief Operating Officer of Visayan Electric. /rcg