Subic authority mulls extension of perks to Olongapo

The state agency in charge of the Subic Freeport will be granting tax perks to qualified investments in the adjacent city outside the economic zone, it said in a statement on Friday.

Such a move will spread economic benefits to nearby communities and also help the agency fulfill its job creation mandate, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) said.

Ventures locating to Olangapo City may be granted sales tax breaks and the lower 5% gross income tax enjoyed by locators inside the freeport, SBMA said.

"We are now in the process of formulating the implementing rules [in line with Executive Order 675 signed in 2007]" SBMA Administrator Armand C. Arreza said in the statement.

The order had stated that tax perks for the Subic Freeport "shall apply...to other areas that may be identified, fenced, secured, or declared as additional secured area by SBMA."

But SBMA is mulling withholding duty-free privileges for imported materials for Olangapo locators because the "planned expansion area...is not yet fenced in."

It was not immediately clear if the "additional secured area" would encompass the entire city or just a section of it.

In relation to this, the agency is drafting the master plan that will increase road networks between the freeport and outlying areas, it said. — JADH