Seafood Processing Plant’s business permit still hangs
FINALLY, after weeks of a firm demand that the city-owned Seafood Processing Plant should secure a business permit as a condition to continue to operate, the Dagupan City government relented and determined it will no longer require it.
The One-Stop-Shop of Dagupan City that handles the issuance of business permits finally certified that the processing plant is not subject to taxation and, therefore, does not need a business permit to operate.
Dr. Westley Rosario, chief of the National Integrated Fisheries Technology and Development Center (NIFTDC) and appointed interim manager of the plant, said that when he submitted all the required documents for a business permit application, he was told by the One-Stop-Shop that the plant doesn’t need to apply for a permit.
“The One-Stop-Shop recognized our position that the Seafood Processing Plant, built from a financial grant of the Korean government is just for service and not for profit,” Rosario told the Sangguniang Panlungsod during the council’s outside session in Bonuan Binloc last Nov. 8.
The sudden twist in the position of the city hall was unexpected since the city administrator was reportedly adamant in demanding the presentation of a business permit.
Earlier, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Bureau of Internal Revenue have also confirmed that the plant is exempt from their requirements.
NON-PROFIT
Rosario explained that the P100-million facility was intended by the donors – the Korean government, through the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) – for research, training and extension, and to help improve the quality of processed products sold locally and exported abroad.
This fact, he said, was stated in the joint proposal for the management of the project prepared by NIFTDC, which is under the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), and the city government under the previous administration of Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. and which was accepted by the donor.
In 2010, Fernandez entered into a memorandum of agreement with BFAR for the latter to manage the plant for the first five years of operations.
According to Rosario, the facility is expected to post a loss up to the third year and will be lucky if it could break even by the fourth year.
Rosario pointed out that while the plant is a state-of-the-art facility, its maximum capacity is only five tons a day, much smaller compared to existing commercial fish processing plants in the country whose maximum capacities are from 50 to 200 tons per day.
GOVERNMENT REVENUE
The plant opened last year and recently started test operations providing service to few processed seafood distributors and exporters.
However, the plant was closed last October 8 after Lim questioned its operations before Rosario’s superiors for the plant management’s failure to secure a business permit.
Consequently, Rosario said the three exporters, two for the U. S. and one for China, and two other local processors failed to deliver their quotas to their customers.
The service fees, according to Rosario, were received and went directly to the national government coffers through BFAR.
Up to 100 workers were employed at the plant when the order to stop operations was directed by BFAR on account of the mayor’s representation pointing to the plant’s failure to secure a business permit.
According to Rosario, the One-Stop-Shop merely required the plant to secure a blue card from government physicians certifying that its workers are in good health condition.
Rosario said the plant, certified as compliant to the requirements for an Environmental Compliance Certificate and of the Bureau of Fire Protection, is now awaiting clearance from the Food and Drugs Administration.
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