New investment code features tax breaks, investment board

Registered enterprises with a capital investment of at least P5 million are exempted from paying business taxes, and the creation of the Cebu City Investment Board and the Cebu City Investment Center are among the new features of the Investment Incentive Code which was passed by the City Council last week.

Councilor Alvin Arcilla, who sponsored the proposed ordinance, said the code aims to “create investor confidence and institutionalize the city government’s willingness to embrace the idea of helping businesses flourish in the city.”

The code includes tax breaks for new investors and the creation of the Cebu City Investment Board and the Cebu City Investment Assistance Center.

The board and the center will implement the rules and guidelines of the code.

The board will be composed of the mayor as chairperson and the council committee on trade, commerce and entrepreneurship as vice chairperson.

Its members will include the council committee on budget and finance head, city planning and development officer, city treasurer, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) provincial director, DTI-Cebu, Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president, and two private sector representatives to be appointed by the mayor.

“The primary function of the board shall be to establish a favorable and stable policy on Cebu City’s business climate, which will encourage and support private sector investment and in the operation of business activities consistent with the economic development needs of the City,” the ordinance reads.

The code also outlines the qualifications of possible investors that can avail of the investment incentives.

Another new incentive is the additional 10 percent discount in the basic real property tax of the annual tax due for prompt payments made for all real properties consisting of land buildings and machinery acquired by the business establishment during a period of three years from the date of registration.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, however, said he will still have to go over it (Investment Incentive Code) with his investment people including South Road Properties (SRP) manager Roberto “Bu” Varquez and other outside experts.

“I will have to meet with them… We’ll try to check (the passed ordinance). Are there additional things needed? So I can approve it, partially disapprove it or totally veto it,” Rama said.