Zulueta hits Pesina for 'laziness' in acting on tax exemption requests
Pesina and Zulueta
City Councilors Perla Zulueta and Antonio Pesina again entangled in a heated argument during last Wednesday's regular session of the Sangguniang Panlungsod.
The root cause? The "ridiculous pattern of very late denials of requests for amusement tax exemption" being asked by Pesina.
It all started when Zulueta, who time and again has been complaining about Pesina's habit of denying requests for amusement tax exemption weeks after the event has taken place since assuming the chairmanship of the ways and means committee early July of last year, took the floor to tell his lawyer-colleague that if he plans to deny said requests, he should do so prior to the event so that its organizers would be properly notified of the city council's decision.
"What I am saying is that it would be best that he comes up with his committee report denying the said requests prior to the event so that the organizers as well as the City Treasurer's Office would be properly guided on the matter. What if the organizers are based in Manila? If he denies the request and the event happened weeks ago, sin-o lagson ta [who will we charge]? It would be quite hard for the city government to get the taxes due us," said the lady councilor from Molo.
Pesina, however, appeared to have been offended by the remark and immediately referred to his records before pointing out two instances in the past--one involving the Apo Hiking Society and the other the Freestyle Band--wherein he said Zulueta also acted on requests for tax exemption after the event.
"Yes, I admit there have been instances in the past when we passed tax exemption ordinances after the event had taken place. But Sanggunian records would bear me out that we are not to be blamed for it. The requests for tax exemption for the said events were transmitted to my office after its staging so that is clearly not our fault," Zulueta averred.
She also pointed out that had Pesina been a little more resourceful, he would have discovered that in the transcripts of the sessions wherein the said tax exemption ordinances were passed, "I have sufficiently explained to the honorable members of the Sanggunian why the tax exemption ordinance is being passed after the event had taken place."
"Either he is too lazy to look at the transcripts of those sessions or he purposely doesn't want you to know that the matter of my committee passing the said exemption ordinances after the events has been amply explained to everyone," the four-term city councilor also said.
"Besides, there is an ocean of difference between denying the request and granting the exemption. Since I granted the exemption, the city government doesn't need to seek out the organizers to charge them with amusement taxes. But the situation is entirely different if you decide to deny the request for tax exemption weeks after the event as what Councilor Pesina is wont of doing," she further quipped.
"I ask you: how much would the city earn from these amusement taxes as against the goodwill that we would lose among events organizers and other potential investors? That is something that he obviously never considered when he went into this crazed spree of denying requests for amusement tax exemptions," the councilor from Molo also averred.
Zulueta said that during her time as chairman of the ways and means committee, it is her policy to take action on requests for tax exemption as soon as it is referred to her committee.
"I don't wait for a couple more days to act on said requests. If there are similar requests that need immediate attention as the event would take place on the next few days, I would immediately act on it. If there are those that were acted upon after the event, those are due to late transmittals of the said requests to my office," she averred.
"Pesina is different. I can't remember an instance when he acted on said requests for tax exemption before the event is to take place. It has become a pattern for him and that is something that I just wanted him to change. Unfortunately, he didn't take it too kindly," Zulueta also said.
"Tinamad inang ubra na nga hulaton na pa matapos ang event antes s'ya magpaguwa sang iya [It's the habit of lazy people to wait for the event to take place before coming up with his] report denying the particular request," she added.
"Look at what happened to the Revised Revenue Code of Iloilo City? It was referred to his committee August of last year yet pero wala n'ya dayon gin-asikaso. Those to be affected by the new revenue code alleged there were no sufficient consultations with them. So when it was passed, many sectors complained. There is now the possibility that the tax ordinance would have to be amended. Do you know how much it would cost the city to publish such amendments? No less than P300,000! That's the price that the city government has to pay for the indolence of one man," Zulueta said in conclusion.