SBMA to release P178M income shares to LGUs

SUBIC FREEPORT — The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) is set to release P178million revenue shares to a city and seven municipalities adjacent to the Freeport.

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Eduardo Jose L. Aliño said the shares given to local government units (LGUs) are intended to augment local resources.

With the income shares, the communities will benefit from the operations of Freeport businesses. The shares will augment the LGUs’ funds for development projects in health, education, peace and order, and livelihood generation.

“These revenue shares that the agency received from the locators’gross income, are intended to create a parallel development between the Freeport and its nearby LGUs. SBMA is highly committed to support our neighboring localities by helping them improve the living conditions of their residents’,” Aliño said.

The LGUs include Olongapo City, which will receive a net share worth P41.62 million; while the Zambales towns of Subic will receive P26.7 million; Castillejos, P16.18 million; San Marcelino, P21.37 million; and San Antonio, P15.13 million.

In Bataan, Morong town will receive P15.73 million, Hermosa P19.06 million, and Dinalupihan P22.17 million. The SBMA Accounting department said the shares to be released accounted for two per cent of the five per cent tax on gross income paid for by freeport locators for the period July to December 2023.

The other three per cent of the taxes paid are remitted directly to the national government. The LGU share is determined according to population (50 per cent), land area (25 per cent), and equal sharing (25 per cent).

Aliño said the shares given by the SBMA to the neighboring communities would benefit almost 750,000 residents in the said areas.

Over the period of 10 years, LGU shares significantly increased by 118.94% from P81.3 million in 2014. SBMA said this is attributed to the growing number of locators who continue to trust in the services accorded to them by the agency.