MANILA – While attracting investments into the country and creating jobs for Filipinos, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) has also remitted over PHP5.5 billion in dividends to the national government during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
In a statement Friday, the investment promotion agency (IPA) said it remitted a total of PHP5.6 billion in dividends to the national government from 2017 to 2021.
PEZA Director General Charito Plaza said the remittance made by the Duterte administration in the past five years is higher than the combined dividends remitted by the past four administrations from 1996 to 2016.
In a span of 20 years, the past administrations contributed PHP5.19 billion in dividends to the national coffers.
For 2021 alone, PEZA remitted PHP898.47 million in dividends to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).
“PEZA continues to remit high dividends brought by our existing and new investments, projects, and expansions from 2017 to 2021. Amidst the pandemic, operations in our ecozones are unhampered and we continue to remit 50 percent of our net income as dividends to the national government,” Plaza said.
Meanwhile, corporate income tax (CIT) from PEZA from 2017 to 2021 stood at PHP2.89 billion, more than half of the CIT contributed between 1996 and 2016 amounting to PHP4.96 billion.
In total, the IPA has remitted PHP18.66 billion from 1996 to 2021 to the national coffers that were used for the programs and projects of the government.
“As PEZA does not receive any subsidy from the government, we really have to be more aggressive and innovative in attracting new investments, creating employment, and generating exports. This is one of our ways of contributing to the goals and legacy of the Duterte administration especially in reopening the economy and (the) rise from the effects of the pandemic,” Plaza added.
She said that while PEZA remits dividends to the national government, it has not received any budgetary support as it is “self-sufficient through the fees and other charges” it collects from locators.
PEZA also cited sources of its revenues, including permit and inspection fees, processing fees, sewerage/garbage, fines, and transshipment, service concession revenue, rent and lease income, and utility system fees, among others. (PNA)
