ILOILO City – Panay Electric Co. (PECO) finally paid its real property tax (RPT) yesterday.
The city government threatened to auction P90-million worth of PECO assets on Dec. 12 if the power distributor failed to settle its RPT dues from 2006 to 2016.
PECO administrative manager Marcelo Cacho paid P134,927,522.63. Mayor Jerry Treñas and City Treasurer Jinny Hermani received the check.
PECO paid the first and second RPT assessments.
The first assessment reached P59 million, excluding the P38-million interest which is still being questioned in court. It covered poles from 2006 to 2016 which were supposed to be auctioned on Dec. 12.
“The court still has to rule whether surcharges should be applied or not,” said Cacho.
It was in 2016 when the city government started charging RPT on PECO’s electric poles and lines. It based such move on the 2015 ruling of the Supreme Court which allowed local government units to impose real property taxes on electric posts and lines.
The city government made a 10-year period retroactive computation (2006-2016), including surcharges. PECO challenged this in court.
For the second assessment, PECO paid in full (including the fourth quarter of 2019) P75 million; this covered transformers, wires and one substation.
“Highlighted in the agreement were the items we paid for to make sure there is no confusion…Para segurado nga there won’t be another assessment all of a sudden on items that were previously assessed,” said Cacho.
Mayor Treñas welcomed PECO’s payment.
“With this, we can properly fund programs intended to improve social services and other initiatives that would benefit the Ilonggos in our quest to bring Iloilo City to the next level,” he said.
Treñas announced last month that an auction of PECO assets was a legal step against the power distributor for refusing to pay long overdue real property taxes.
The unpaid real property taxes went way back to two past city administrations, said Treñas. Multiple demands for payment were made but these went unheeded.
These resulted to the nonrenewal of PECO’s permit this year, said Treñas.
Norman Tabud, head of the Business Permits and Licensing Office, confirmed his office had yet to issue PECO a business license to operate for 2019.
“PECO applied for a business license but we deferred the issuance pending the recommendation from the City Treasurer’s Office,” said Tabud.
PECO’s franchise as sole power distributor in Iloilo City expired on Jan. 19 this year. It failed to secure an extension from Congress over several issues such as poor customer relations, erroneous billings, power failures, high rates, etc./PN
