PEZA says 61% of uncollected fees already remitted

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) said on Tuesday that 61% of P23.75 million in uncollected funds mentioned in a Commission on Audit (COA) report had been collected as of June 2019.

According to a statement from PEZA’s Finance Group (FG), P14.12 million worth of permit, inspection, and administrative fees have been remitted to the agency, while collecting the remaining balance is ongoing.

“Regarding the P11.179 million Inspection Assessments for Annual Permits for the year 2018, the Finance Group has exerted efforts to collect the unpaid amount from locators,” said J. Porfirio Ll. Yusingco, PEZA deputy director-general for finance and administration.

“As of June 30, 2019, the FG has collected 78% of the total balance in the amount of P8,647,045.00 and we are collecting the remaining balance,” he added.

With regards to the P12.55 million in uncollected administrative fees from economic zone developers, FG says P5.468 million has already been collected.

Last July 10, INQUIRER.net published a story about COA’s audit report of PEZA, which the commission released last June 29. In the report, state auditors found out that the fees were not collected because PEZA failed to strictly follow its policies and flowchart in obtaining permits from the Support Services Department (SuSD).

PEZA personnel told COA that some locators — or enterprises who work with PEZA in creating sites for foreign tourists — were given the Statement of Assessments (SOAs), which is a billing sheet, but then they could pay at their own discretion.

Moreover, employees said that some of the prepared SOAs were not released, making it impossible for PEZA to bill the locators.

READ: PEZA has P23M in uncollected fees – COA

PEZA’s FG admitted that it supervised the collection of administrative fees for the 41 economic zones and developers, most of which are found in Central Luzon and Calabarzon.

“As of now, 40 out of 41 statement of accounts are compliant in payments of Administrative Fees. Only one account has yet to comply,” Yusingco said.

Yusingco also assured that PEZA would adhere to COA suggestions that it should improve it collection and monitoring system, so as not to be disadvantaged by noncomplying developers and locators.

“PEZA is improving its Engineering Permits and Monitoring System (EPAMS) to connect it to the Report of Collections System (ROC). This will close the gap between the assessments issued by SusD and collection by the Finance Group,” he explained.

“The management has activated a Billing and Collection Unit which will be responsible for collecting outstanding amounts which are due to PEZA,” he added.

/atm