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Bacolod City, PhilippinesSaturday, December 15, 2012
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Probe over tax perks for
Thai company set

The House committees on agriculture and food security will summon officials of the Department of Trade and Industry and Bureau of Investment to a joint congressional inquiry, a government press release said.

The initiative is aimed to shed light on the alleged grant of a seven-year tax holiday, tax incentives for importation and other perks to Charoen Pokphand, a company from Thailand, the press release said.

Rep. Agapito Guanlao (Butil Party-list) said the BOI should also explain its move allowing the operation by the Charoen Pokphand of a P2 billion Thai Agricultural project, which provides for the establishment of hog and poultry farms in the country.

Guanlao said the plan could be what the local hog industry leaders and Swine Development Council called "the last nail on the coffin of the local hog trade."

Guanlao claimed that the BOI granted the perks to Charoen Pokphand despite protests from local hog growers.

He said the BOI has granted the firm a 30-percent tax incentive to allow it to import corn and raw feed materials.

Aside from the seven-year tax holiday, Guanlao said the Thai company would also enjoy tariff free importation of parent hogs, machines, corn and other feed ingredients, thus gravely affecting the corn and sugar cane farmers.

Guanlao said it is lamentable that the BOI appears to have put aside the interest of the local industry, which is still suffering from the negative effect of the losses amounting to P28.5 billion because of technical smuggling in the past three years, the press release also said.*

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