Puentevella’s suit

It’s good that former Congressman Monico Puentevella has filed the case to stop the implementation of the new Bacolod Revenue Code. He claimed  that the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce are with him indicating that he is not alone.

I would prefer, however, that the two chambers of businessmen show their common stand with Puentevella by becoming co-plaintiffs in his case. In this way, we are absolutely sure that, indeed, they are part of the case rather than their names being used to bolster this case. They should, in fact, come into Puentevella’s case by withdrawing their appeal before the Department of Justice and join Puentebella. They are complaining of the same revenue code after all.

I would also like to think of this case as a non-political move as Puentevella insists, although, considering his status as head of a political group in opposition to the present city administration the political character and intentions of this suit cannot be set aside. Had the two chambers filed the case together with him, the scenario would be different but he filed his own case without, and despite them. 

Be that as it may, the court should be able to decide on the case and I believe that all parties refrain from commenting on the case and avoid using this as a political issue. I even think that while the case has its merits, Puentevella lost a potential lethal weapon for the elections next year because he will be precluded from using it in his or anybody else’s campaign to topple the Leonardia-Sayson camp.

I doubt, however, if the court will be able to decide on this matter within the year and by then the election campaign shall have commenced. Even during the year, he will be accused of contempt of court under the sub judice rule if he comments on the provisions of the code, on the merits of his case. The Leonardia camp will then raise the matter before the court.

Once the issues are joint we in media will also be precluded from commenting on the salient and questioned provisions. In effect, the case will be kept away from the public eye.

Nobody loves taxes but that is a reality of life. In fact, with the rising prices of oil the protests are directed not just on the price that the oil companies sell but the value added tax that takes 12 percent of every centavo we pay for the fuel.

Although the price of oil can fall with the reduction of the VAT, the government refuses to listen. The reason is simple – it gets billions of pesos from VAT and removing it would be killing the proverbial goose that lays the golden egg.

One of the warnings that Puentevella issued is that if the new revenue code is not repealed, businessmen would leave the city and go to other places. This is fallacious because businessmen open their business where they make a lot of money and if they go to Silay or Talisay they would, in fact,  be paying more because some of their taxes are higher than Bacolod’s, including the new ones.

There is another fallacy that Puentevella is preaching. He said that Ayala is opening its business in Talisay because of high taxes in Bacolod. If this were true why did Ayala bid for the lot behind the Capitol and pay millions of pesos when it has a wide swath of land in Talisay several times larger than the Capitol lot of a little over 7 hectares? Has Ayala gone bonkers?

If indeed, business would be adversely affected enough to lose their pants, will Puentevella roll out his Rolling Hills funeral parlor somewhere? This I gotta see!

If we follow the logic in Puentevella’s rationale or justification, why are big businesses still in Makati where taxes are really, really high? Should they not have moved to Batangas or Mindoro?

As I wrote before, the time that the city did not raise taxes was good for business. That lease provided them with savings. Were our goods and services in Bacolod cheaper than that of Bago, Silay and Talisay or San Carlos because their taxes were then higher than ours?

That because of the new revenue code was implemented this year did we see a palpable movement of businesses out from Bacolod? Instead of speculating on this possibility it is easy enough to check by simply asking the data from the city’s license and permits division. Maybe not as yet, but let’s find out within the next two years whether indeed this new revenue code has adverse effect on business stay in this city.

Another way of looking at this claim is to find out whether there is an unusual drop in business registration next year.*

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