‘Demand to Pay’ Issued to PECO Re Franchise Taxes: The Iloilo City Legal Office recently issued a letter addressed to Panay Electric Company demanding them to remit franchise taxes to the Iloilo City Government, as part of the former distribution utility’s monthly electricity charges from January 01, 2019 to December 31, 2021.
In the letter, the total amount to pay is Php 51M (Php 51,425,406.37), excluding legal interest and other charges. The letter was signed by Atty. Edgardo J. Gil, Chief of the City Legal Office. Read more: PECO Served Supplemental Writ of Possession
Here are excerpts from the letter:
“I strongly recommend that Panay Electric Company remit the aforementioned amount, within five (5) days from the receipt of this letter, otherwise the City has no choice other than to file immediately the necessary case for the criminal case of syndicated estafa.
Note that failure to pay said franchise taxes upon demand is tantamount to appropriating the same for one’s personal use and constitutes the crime of syndicated estafa.
The taxes that you and your company willfully withheld from the City would have been used to augment the COVID efforts as well as additional personnel hired because of this pandemic, the salaries of casual employees of the City, and the people of Iloilo will no doubt experience, grave and irreparable damage if this are not paid.”
