Mayor suspends permit of CH’s security agency

Cebu City Government, though, still has to find a replacement

Osmeña wants GDS Security and Detective Agency to explain its alleged underdeclaration of its gross sales in 2015 GDS, for its part, says it won’t comment on the matter until its manager returns from vacation

CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña will suspend the business permit of a security agency for allegedly under-declaring its gross sales for 2015.

This came after the mayor, through the City Legal Office, filed a complaint against GDS Security and Detective Agency last Wednesday before the City Prosecutor’s Office for violations of the National Internal Revenue Code of the Philippines and the Revised Penal Code.

“It’s really an insult. I don’t mind a little deficit in the paying of taxes. I am not strict, but if they insist on exaggerating (the tax declaration), that’s ri- diculous. Are we going to tolerate that?” Osmeña told reporters in his news conference yesterday.

Contradiction

In its business permit application form, GDS allegedly declared P14.2 million in gross sales for 2015.

Osmeña, however, lamented that this contradicts the agency’s reported annual income tax return of P19.3 million for that year.

He pointed out that GDS may have falsified its application for the renewal of its business permit.

According to the City’s summary of all payments, the City issued 26 checks to the agency amounting to P32 million for providing security guards to the City Government.

GDS also provides security guards to the Cebu Port Authority (CPA), Cebu Normal University (CNU), Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA), Metropolitan Cebu Water District ( MCWD) and A.D. Gothong Manufacturing Corp.

CPA’s security services contract with the firm in 2015 was worth P36.6 million.

Clarification

The agency also had a P3.7-million contract with CNU and a P29.4-million contract with MCIAA.

For MCWD, the agency’s contract totaled P43.4 million, while its contract with A.D. Gothong amounted to P1.2 million.

The mayor announced that he will suspend the agency’s permit until it can explain its “violation.”

He, however, clarified that the suspension will not take effect immediately as the City will have to tap a new security service provider.

“We might give them time to adjust, particularly agencies like CPA and City Hall. We have to bid out another one,” Osmeña said.

GDS, for its part, told Sun.Star Cebu in a phone interview yesterday that it won’t comment on the matter until its manager returns from a vacation leave.