Albay gains P69M as quarry income

By Sally A. Atento LEGAZPI CITY --- The provincial government of Albay reported generating P69.2M in taxes on sand and gravel in less than a semester of 2017. The January to May proceeds from quarrying sand and gravel amounted to P69,250,066, which was considerably higher than the P38,633,810 collected in the entire 2016, records at Albay’s Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) showed. Albay Governor Al Francis Bichara attributed the substantial increase to some basic reforms that he introduced, mainly adjusting the tax rates, and reorganizing Albay’s Provincial Taskforce Quarry, which curbed illegal quarry operations. Higher demand for sand also jacked up the collections. “The increase is attributed to the new prescribed rates on quarry resources per cubic meter, to the increase number of concessionaires who secured the governor’s permit and to a decisive campaign by the newly reactivated Provincial Task Force Quarry to apprehend illegal quarry operators,” Bichara said. According to the country’s local government code, provinces may levy and collect not more than 10 percent of fair market value in the locality per cubic meter of ordinary stones, sand, gravel, earth, and other quarry resources. As decreed by an Albay’s ordinance, the permit to extract sand, gravel and other quarry resources must be issued exclusively by the governor. Proceeds of the tax on sand and gravel are to be distributed among the province, the component city or municipality and the barangay where the quarry resources were extracted. PIA5-Albay