THE city government has collected more than P1 billion of real property taxes (RPT) from Energy Development Corp. (EDC) since Mayor Eric C. Codilla assumed his position more than seven years ago. The mayor cited the EDC collection in his State of the City Address to highlight his success of increasing Ormoc’s income by more than ten-fold.
When he assumed office in 2004, Ormoc’s total income was only P83 million with the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) comprising 80% because local income wasn’t aggressively pursued. Mayor Codilla turned this around by reviewing and modifying collection-related systems so that collectibles are promptly paid and correctly reported.
Today, Ormoc has 4,900 registered business establishments generating P50-60 million annual revenues from permits and licensing alone. Improved collection also from other economic enterprises of the city namely the Superdome, public market, bus terminal, slaughterhouse and waterworks reduced Ormoc’s dependence on IRA to 60% of its total income.
With regards to EDC, the two previous administrations failed to collect RPT from EDC that one former official said he will congratulate Mayor Codilla if he succeeds. The mayor admitted it wasn’t easy, saying it took more than one year of negotiations to convince EDC to pay P723 million representing RPT payment for 2004-09, and another two years of bargaining to collect P305 million for years 2010-11.
(West Leyte Weekly Express issue of Feb. 13-19, 2012)
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