NGCP opens ₧10-B transmission line By Lenie Lectura @llectura
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HE National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has finally energized the Hermosa-San Jose 500-kiloVolt (kV) transmission line, an Energy Project of National Significance (EPNS) valued at P10.2 billion and is crucial to the Luzon grid. “The Hermosa-San Jose 500kV project is a major component in our planned Luzon 500kV transmission backbone. Despite many challenges, our teams worked 24/7 to complete this facility. With the energiza-
tion of the line comes the improved transmission from generation sources towards the load center Metro Manila and nearby provinces,” said NGCP in a statement on Sunday. The 500kV Hermosa-San Jose line, which spans the provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga, and Bataan, will strengthen transmission services and accommodate new bulk power generation from the Bataan area. It was energized at 7:22 a.m. of May 27. Besides the new transmission line from Bulacan to Bataan, the project includes the construction of a new Hermosa 500kV Substation, which will enable better volt-
age regulation and power transfer from existing 230kV facilities in the area. The project was provisionally approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) with a cost of P10.2 billion. However, the ERC has only allowed the partial recovery of P9 million or less than one percent of the actual project cost. Given the urgent need to widen the transmission highway along the Bataan corridor, NGCP implemented the HSJ, setting aside for later, the issue on recovery approvals from the ERC. “Our priority has and will always be doing what is best for the public.
Financial considerations can take a back seat and be threshed out later,” said Henry Sy Jr., major stockholder and the company’s former president and CEO. “We hope to correct the impression that the consumers are somehow shortchanged with how rates are computed. Our commitment has never wavered: we serve the public, and we work within the legal and regulatory framework of our concession and franchise,” Sy emphasized. NGCP is slated to complete other critical projects in Visayas and Mindanao in the coming months. See “NGCP,” A2
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NG EARNINGS FROM TAX
REFORMS HIT P200B IN ‘22 By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
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PIT collection grows 28.6% on reopening of economy
@jearcalas
HE national government’s earnings last year from the various tax reforms of the previous administration, like the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion [TRAIN] law, expanded by more than a quarter to over P200 billion on the back of the opening of the economy. Internal Revenue data released by the Department of Finance (DOF) showed that cumulative taxes collected from the various tax reform packages last year reached P202.8 billion, 26.35 percent over the P160.5 billion recorded in 2021. “The total collection was 26.3 percent or P42.3 billion higher than the 2021 full-year incremental revenue of P160.5 billion on the back of full economic recovery due to lifting of stringent quarantine measures,” the DOF said in a recent statement. Last year’s collection brought the total additional revenues generated by the government from the various tax reforms, which started with the TRAIN law in 2018, to P709.9 billion. The DOF data showed that revenues from almost all tax packages in effect posted increased collections last year. “ Total collections from the TRAIN Law amounted to P216.5 billion in 2022, 27 percent or P45.5 billion higher than the 2021 collection of P171.0 billion,” the finance department said. See “NG,” A2
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REFLECTING PRIDE Arnis students practice their craft in front of the iconic Aguinaldo Shrine in Kawit, Cavite—the very place where the Philippine Declaration of Independence from Spain was proclaimed on June 12, 1898. As the nation commemorates National Flag Day on May 28, their mirrored reflections remind us of the indomitable spirit that flows through generations. NONIE REYES
BACOLOD TOURISM BACK IN BUSINESS; ARRIVALS PICK UP By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo
@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror
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ACOLOD CITY—Tour guide Virna Ascalona Tan is pretty excited about the brisk business among tour operators and guides these days. “Our association [of tour operators in Negros Occidental] usually coordinates requests from
Manila-based travel agencies, and many of our tour guides are so busy, some cannot accommodate the growing demand. So it’s a good sign that everyone is not so free!” she told the BusinessMirror. Based on data provided by the city tourism office, it appears Bacolod is indeed back in business. Last year, visitor arrivals were recorded at 618,612, of which 587,695 were do-
mestic travelers, and foreign travelers accounted for almost 31,000. This was already 77 percent of the pre-pandemic arrivals of 803,911 in 2019. Last year’s arrivals also generated close to P11.7 million in visitor receipts, which is 75 percent of the P15.8 million earned by the economy from tourism in 2019. With this, Jessamine Marielle L. Madayag, Bacolod City’s senior tour-
ism operations officer, projects arrivals this year to reach “700,000, with some 70,000 to 100,000” accounted for by visitors during the Masskara Festival in October. The city brought back the festival for the first time last year, since the pandemic closures. She added, after the Bacolod Chicken Inasal Festival over the weekend, other major festivals seen bringing in tourists this year See “Bacolod,” A2
HE national government’s personal income tax (PIT) collections last year rose by 28.6 percent on an annual basis to P623.7 billion due to the reopening of the economy coupled by a more efficient collection system. Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) data submitted to the Department of Finance showed that the national government’s PIT collections last year grew P138.5 billion from the P485.2 billion recorded in 2021. “Collections further in 2022 as the economy fully reopened with the lifting of quarantine restrictions which further increased demand for labor,” the DOF said in a recent statement. The DOF noted that the employment rate in December last year improved to 95.7 percent while the unemployment rate was at its lowest in more than 22 years at 4.3 percent or since April 2005. The DOF added that better collections from self-employed and professionals (SEPs) boosted the overall earnings from PITs, offsetting the reduction in income taxes of the 99 percent of income taxpayers because of the TRAIN law. PIT collections from SEPs last year reached P285.8 billion, 39 percent more than the P205.5 billion the government earned in 2021, based on the DOF-BIR data. “The improved collection is attributed to the TRAIN Law provisions. In particular, the TRAIN law provides an option to SEPs to pay a simpler flat tax of eight percent See “PIT,” A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 55.9160 n JAPAN 0.3992 n UK 68.9277 n HK 7.1369 n CHINA 7.8983 n SINGAPORE 41.2999 n AUSTRALIA 36.3789 n EU 59.9923 n KOREA 0.0420 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.9113 Source: BSP (May 26, 2023)