Subic Bay Freeport—The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority has released its revenue shares to neighboring local government units, this time in the amount of P222.13 million for the second semester 2018 dividends.
SBMA Senior Deputy Administrator for Support Services Ramon Agregado distributed the shares to representatives of eight LGUs at the SBMA Board Room on Tuesday.
The biggest share went to Olongapo City at P51,663,390.29, followed by Subic, Zambales with P33,960,079.44; Dinalupihan, Bataan, P27,628,579.88; and San Marcelino, Zambales, P26,622,181.11.
The rest went to Hermosa, Bataan with P23,129,326.47; Castillejos, Zambales, P20,791,833.84; Morong, Bataan, P19,303,258.14; and San Antonio, Zambales, P19,035,516.74.
The revenue shares are taken from corporate taxes collected from registered Subic Bay Freeport enterprises, which are rated at 5 percent of their gross income.
Under Republic Act No. 9400, which amended RA 7227 or the Bases Conversion and Development Act of 1992, business enterprises within the Subic Freeport Zone only pay a 5 percent tax on their gross income earned within the zone.
Three percent of the 5 percent corporate tax directly goes to the national treasury, while the other 2 percent is distributed to neighboring LGUs as revenue share.
The amount that an LGU gets from the SBMA collection is determined according to population (50%), land area (25%), and equal sharing (25%).
SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said the agency has now released a cumulative total of P1.87 billion to the neighboring LGUs in the last nine years that the SBMA had directly released shares to them.
However, Eisma said the agency does not have any record of what projects the LGU shares were used for, since the law did not require LGUs to report back to the SBMA on the disbursement of the shares.
“We just hope that the LGUs would be using the shares properly and accountably because these releases are precisely intended for them to be able to keep pace with the developments in the Subic Bay Freeport,” Eisma said.
According to SBMA records, Olongapo City has received a total of P448.45 million in LGU shares since 2010, the biggest among the recipients.
Next comes Subic with P280.38 million; Dinalupihan, P234 million; San Marcelino, P225.51 million; Hermosa, P192.41 million; Castillejos, P165.82 million; San Antonio, P163 million; and Morong, P162.35 million.