Aldeguer said they council is studying incentives offered to the firm by the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro, after Vice Mayor Ignacio Zubiri last week said a portion of it was unfair and must be taken out.
Zubiri lamented at the City Council session on March 17 that the business tax incentives provided business locators inside the mall are unfair to those who rent outside.
Aldeguer said Zubiri’s manifestation was a suggestion “but there would likely be no amendments to the incentives ordinance,” he said.
The weekly Central Mindanao Newswatch quoted Aldeguer last week as saying they are looking at possibly amending City Ordinance 637 Series of 2008, which embodied the city’s offered incentives to
Gaisano and Sons, Inc. and companies intending to rent in the mall.
The ordinance was approved in July 2008. The construction of the P500 million, four-storey mall in downtown Malaybalay is ongoing.
The ordinance, among other things, exempts the firm from paying for the next five years, amusement tax and basic real property tax, asking them to pay only for the Special Education Fund.
For locators, the ordinance exempts them from paying business tax on their first year of operation and subsequent 25 percent increase in imposition every year after until full
implementation on the sixth year.
But the incentives are offered only to locators with capitalization of at least P500,000, according to Section 3 of the ordinance.
Aldeguer said the same incentives cannot be offered to locators outside the proposed mall because their investments are not as big as that of the Gaisanos.
Mayor Florencio T. Flores Jr. was critical of the proposed review saying it would put a question mark on the integrity and credibility of the city to investors. He cited that the mall’s investment is biggest to date in the city, just enough to merit commensurate incentives. (Walter I. Balane/MindaNews)
