LINGAYEN–Pay up, please.

This appeared to be the tone of the resolution passed by the provincial board authorizing Governor Amado Espino Jr. to enter into an agreement with the National Power Corporation (Napocor) for the settlement of its P179.7 million in unpaid real property taxes (RPT).

The approved resolution, authored by 2nd District Board Member Von Mark Mendoza, empowers Espino to sign a contract “beneficial to the province for the settlement of Napocor’s real property dues for the machineries, equipment and other improvements, penalties and surcharges on the Sual coal-fired thermal power plant”.

The amount owed is for year 2006 to July 2007.

The municipal treasurer of Sual, as deputy of the provincial treasurer for the collection of real estate taxes, has repeatedly sent the Napocor demand letters the last of which was dated July 5 but these have been ignored.

On July 18, 2007, the Board of Assessment Appeals of Pangasinan issued an order denying the petition filed by Napocor before it, docketed as LBAA Case No. P-06-001, seeking exemption from payment of RPT on machineries and equipment.

On July 30, 2007, the Office of the Governor of Pangasinan received a written communication dated July 17, 2007 from Cyril Del Callar, Napocor president, signifying NPC’s intention to enter into a reasonable settlement with the province.

Mendoza said there is a need for the province to look into the proposal being offered by the Napocor since the offer, as manifested in the letter of Callar, is a standard offer of the said corporation regarding real property tax settlement proposals to other local government units.

Ramon Crisostomo, provincial treasurer, who was summoned to the session to comment on the proposal, said he favors the intent of the resolution as it could expedite the collection of the RPT from Napocor.

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