May 6, 2015
Visayan Daily Star by Carla P. Gomez | http://goo.gl/rcvBuP
President Benigno Aquino III presided over a Cabinet executive session at Malacañan Palace yesterday to address the call of the sugar industry for the lifting of Value Added Tax on raw sugar.
It was agreed that the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Sugar Regulatory Administration will sit down to come up with a definition of the raw sugar that will be granted exemption from VAT, SRA Administrator Ma. Regina Martin said.
During the meeting, the president pointed out that he had signed the Sugarcane Industry Development Act into law especially to help small farmers, and he did not want the VAT to make matters difficult for them, she added.
BIR Commissioner Kim Henares agreed to the lifting of the VAT on raw sugar but said a definition of what can be considered as raw sugar should be drawn up.
Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr., Martin and sugar leaders thanked Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas for bringing the matter to the attention of the president .
Roxas had submitted a report to the president on the concerns of the industry and Martin briefed the president on the call for the scrapping of VAT on raw sugar during his visit to Negros Occidental on April 30.
Aside from the president, Martin and Henares, present at the executive session that lasted for more than two hours were secretaries Roxas, Cesar Purisima – Finance, Gregory Domingo – Trade and Industry, Virgilio De Los Reyes – Agrarian Reform, Arsenio Balisacan – Economic Planning, and Proceso Alcala – Agriculture.
Henares said she will issue a new Revenue Memorandum Circular to clarify the previous RR on the VAT on raw sugar before she leaves for abroad, Rafael Coscolluela of the Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations said.
She will let a technical working group take care of the details covering the new raw sugar category. But she wants draft guidelines sent to her, he added.
At least now we are getting sympathy from the President and the Cabinet, and even Henares is willing to work out a middle ground, he said.
. But there is still some work left to b done by a joint BIR-SRA technical working group, he said.
“We should thank Secretaries Roxas, Domingo, and de los Reyes, and Administrator Martin for their support. And the President, of course,” he said.
Enrique Rojas, president of the National Federation of Sugarcane planters, and Manuel Lamata, president of the United Sugar Producers Federation of the Philippines, yesterday also thanked Roxas for bringing the plight of the sugar industry to the attention of the President.
“The sugar industry is very grateful to President Noynoy Aquino for lifting the imposition of 12 percent VAT on raw sugar. For this, we particularly thank DILG secretary Mar Roxas for explaining to the president during his visit to Bacolod last week regarding the issue about the imposition of 12 percent VAT on raw sugar,” Rojas said.
“We in the sugar alliance and Administrator Martin met with Sec. Roxas before the president's visit and we explained to him that only refined sugar should be subject to 12 percent VAT,” the NFSP president said.*CPG