Panay Electric Company (PECO) on Monday, Dec. 9, settled its financial obligations to the Iloilo City Government.
PECO Administrative Manager Marcelo U. Cacho personally handed over to City Treasurer Jinny Hermano a check worth P134, 927, 522.63.
The power distributor, according to the City Treasurer’s Office, failed to pay its real property taxes from 2016 to 2019.
The payment was made three days before the scheduled auction of PECO’s assets to compensate for the firm’s unpaid taxes.
Cacho said interests and penalties are not included in the amount they paid due to pending cases they filed at the Local Board of Assessment Appeals.
The cases questioned the real property tax assessment issued by the city government in 2016.
Mayor Jerry P. Treñas said PECO’s move was a “welcome development.”
“With this, we can properly fund programs intended for much improved social services and other initiatives that would benefit the Ilonggo community in our quest to bring Iloilo City to the next level,” he said.
Last week, PECO officials headed by Cacho had a closed-door meeting with Treñas.
After the meeting, PECO legal counsel Atty. Eloisa Sy said the power firm and the city government agreed to an amicable settlement on the tax issue.
She, however, did not divulge the details of the agreement.
“We cannot just divulge any detail as to what transpired in that room yet until the technicalities, legalities are ironed out,” said Sy.IMT
