For 4th year, STAR among Manila’s top taxpayers

MANILA, Philippines - For four consecutive years, The Philippine STAR has been honored as one of the top 10 business taxpayers in Manila.

PhilStar Daily Inc. president and chief executive officer (CEO) Miguel Belmonte accepted the plaque from Mayor Joseph Estrada during the awarding ceremony held at the Manila Hotel last Friday.

Belmonte said he was surprised that The STAR won again for the fourth time as one of the top taxpayers of the capital.

“I was pleasantly surprised that we still won. But we were chosen as the 8th top taxpayer for this year. In fact, we are landing from 6, 7 to 8 since Mayor Estrada launched the recognition for the outstanding taxpayers,” Belmonte said.

He said being among the top 10 business taxpayers of the city is an indication that the company is doing well.

“As long as we are chosen, it means that our company is doing well. We are very proud to be an awardee this year. This award is a testament that we are following the law and fulfilling our duty as a corporate taxpayer,” Belmonte said.

Leading the Top 10 Business Taxpayers for 2016 is the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) that paid P149.56 million in taxes last year.

Second is port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI), which paid P93.60 million in taxes, followed by SM Prime Holdings Inc. (P61.63 million); Mercury Drug Corp. (P50.31 million); Unilever Philippines Inc. (P49.49 million); Asian Terminals Inc. (P41.36 million); Maynilad Water Services Inc. (P35.48 million); PhilStar Daily Inc. (P27.46 million); Puregold Price Club Inc. (P25.42 million) and Golden Arches Development Corp. (McDonald’s, P19.23 million).

Belmonte said The STAR would continue paying the right taxes.

“We are doing this for the good of our city,” Belmonte said.

He said The STAR is proud to receive the recognition as one of the top taxpayers.

“We are very proud. The STAR is a multi-awarded publishing company, from the editorial content to its marketing. The taxpayer award is something that you cannot get overnight, that you cannot lobby. You can only win that if you are the biggest taxpayer,” Belmonte said.

He noted that while some companies are claiming that they want to help the government, “some are even charged with tax evasion.”

“Do it with action,” Belmonte said.

The city government also named this year’s top 10 real property taxpayers: Megaworld Corp.; Asian Terminals Inc.; Unilever Philippines Inc.; Manila North Harbour Port Inc.; SM Prime Holdings Inc.; Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas; Home Guaranty Corp.; Bataan Ship Yard and Engineering Co. Inc.; Manila Electric Co. and Robinsons Land Corp.

The recognition of the top ten business and real property taxpayers was part of the city government’s celebration of its weeklong 446th Araw ng Maynila.

The Manila city government expressed gratitude to the top ten corporate taxpayers, which greatly helped the city rebound from bankruptcy, Mayor Estrada said yesterday.

As an expression of his gratitude, Estrada said he revived the awarding of honors to the top ten corporate taxpayers and bestowed honors to the city’s exceptional residents who not only brought back the city’s lost pride but enabled it to recover from deep financial crisis.

“The city of Manila is grateful for the opportunity to express its gratitude to those who have been instrumental in helping us rise from the ashes of the past,” Estrada said.

The mayor said that from a bankrupt city government in 2013 when he assumed office with unpaid debts reaching P5.5 billion, Manila is now financially stable and actively implementing infrastructure projects that will be the backdrop of its future.

“To a great extent, we accomplished this because we had generous cooperative partners from the private sector whose taxes have laid the groundwork for many of our most important projects and programs,” Estrada said.