A resolution requesting AVM Bernardo Engineering, operator of the Bacolod City Slaughterhouse in Brgy. Handumanan, Bacolod City, to cease-and-desist from collecting 12 percent VAT from meat vendors while issues over the operation of the slaughterhouse are being resolved was unanimously approved by the Sangguniang Panlungsod yesterday.
The resolution was sponsored Bacolod Councilor El Cid Familiaran in response the letter of Michael Yusingco, Bacolod Meat Vendors Association president, dated March 4, requesting for the deferment of the 12 percent VAT. Plant manager Glorydee Cometa informed the city that they will impose the 12 percent VAT after the Bureau of Internal Revenue released their official receipt early this year, during a public hearing on Feb. 24. Yusingco, however, said yesterday that the 12 percent VAT was imposed on them without the SP being informed about it. He said that, based on the memorandum of agreement between the city and AVM Bernardo, any increase should not be more than 10 percent and this should have the approval of the SP. What the operator is imposing is a price increase and not VAT since it is earning more than P2 million a year and is therefore required to pay VAT, he said. Yusingco said AVM Bernardo is allegedly earning about P29 to P30 million a year but they declared that they are only earning between P20 to P24 million. He also denied the claims of Cometa that the meat vendors have unsettled accounts of P3 million with AVM Bernardo. How can that happen when the operator will not slaughter their animals if they cannot pay VAT? Yusingco asked. Meanwhile, Councilor Sonya Verdeflor, chairman of the Committee on Markets and Salughterhouse, recommended that the city should review the MOA between the city and AVM Bernardo, particularly Article IV, Section 16, to determine whether or not the operator can shift the 12 percent VAT to its customers, increasing its slaughtering fees without the approval and concurrence of the SP. She also recommended that the SP should determine whether or not AVM Bernardo violated the conditions and their obligations in the MOA. During the Feb. 24 committee hearing, AVM Bernardo was given 60 days by the city to comply with the conditions of the MOA, and, together with the meat vendors represented by Yusingco, submit their position papers in support of their respective stand on the subject within 30 days from the date of the committee hearing.*CGS BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO Visayan Daily Star
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