Display News by: All • SCTEX • Investment & Projects • Freeports & EcoZones • Corporate Social Responsibility General News
CJHDevCo secures more permits
John Hay's One-Stop Action Center, which CJHDevCo claims is non-operational, granted numerous permits to the Sobrepena-led firm over the past two years
Author: BCDA
Posted: January 14, 2012 | Category: Freeport And Ecozones
The One-Stop Action Center (OSAC) of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) within the John Hay Special Economic Zone (JHSEZ) continues to issue permits to locators, including the Sobrepena-led Camp John Hay Development Corp. (CJHDevCo), amid claims that it has ceased operating.
Even while using the non-operation of the OSAC as an excuse for not remitting its lease payments for the John Hay properties to the BCDA, CJHDevCo was able to secure 46 building permits from the OSAC from 2009 to the first quarter of 2011: 22 in 2009, 18 in 2010, and six in January-March 2011. The company also attended two OSAC orientations, proving that the action center never stopped operating and continued to serve the needs of locators on the John Hay properties.
Other locators in the JHSEZ, including Ayala Land Inc., were also able to secure the required permits for their operations from the OSAC. According to OSAC records, of the 61 locators in the economic zone in 2009, 37 applied for and were granted permits to operate (PTOs), while 18 did not apply and four were not granted permits due to non-payment of fees.
The following year, when the JHSEZ had 65 locators, 18 were able to secure PTOs. Four of the 65 did not apply, while the remaining 43 did not get their PTOs for failure to make the proper payments. Last year, 60 locators were granted PTOs, six of which were still pending release until settlement of dues. Two locators did not apply for permits.
“CJHDevCo claims that there is no fully functioning OSAC. However, records show that they have attended the OSAC orientation twice, and the OSAC has actually granted permits to CJHDevCo. They have reasoned in the past that they haven't paid their arrears because of the absence of an operational OSAC. How can they explain the permits granted to them?” BCDA vice president for business development and operations Dean Santiago said.
The lessee also used the Supreme Court’s nullification of the tax incentives for locators inside John Hay Special Economic Zone (JHSEZ) as a reason for not fulfilling their financial obligations.
“This was already cured by Republic Acts 9399 and 9400, which BCDA actively lobbied in Congress during that time,” Santiago said.
RA 9399 effectively granted tax amnesty to CJHDevCo for all applicable tax and duties liabilities, including fines, penalties, interests and other additions. RA 9400, on the other hand, restored the tax incentives inside the Freeport Zones.
“This means CJHDevCo has not only been cleared of all their tax liabilities, they actually enjoyed continues tax incentives,” Santiago stressed. “So they cannot use this as an excuse for not paying their debt to government.”
The OSAC is responsible for issuing various kinds of permits–including construction, building, and occupancy permits – to locators within the JHSEZ. It also issues registration permits, accreditations, and certificates of environmental compliance. The only permits it cannot process are those for tree-cutting and earth-balling as these can only be processed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Locators are granted permits upon submission of complete documentary requirements and payment of all required fees.
The OSAC has been serving the needs of locators since 2005. It has not stopped operating since.
In April 2011, however, CJHDevCo claimed that the OSAC had ceased operating, prompting the company to stop remitting its lease payments for the John Hay Properties. Despite concrete proof that the OSAC never stopped operating, CJHDevCo continued to refuse to pay its rental fees.
CJHDevCo last November asked the BCDA to restructure all of its arrears, which had now ballooned to P3.024 billion. CJHDevCo’s proposed restructuring would have been the fourth such exercise since the signing of the lease contract in October 1996. The agreement was first revised in July 2000, then in July 2003, and again in July 2008.
The BCDA said it was not amenable to CJHDevCo's proposal to restructure its debts yet again. CJHDevCo had not been regularly remitting lease payments since 2009.
