BIR Aklan’s Target Collection for 2012: 914 million

The Bureau of Internal Revenue- Aklan targets to collect 914 million pesos worth of taxes from the Province, which includes the island of Boracay, this 2012.

According to Aklan Revenue District Officer Ricardo Osorio they are expecting to collect this 914 million even before the month of November of the current year, because the Bureau had already reached 804.6 million just for the months of January through August.

The BIR has only over than 108.6 million to collect to complete the target for 2012.

With the numbers given, Osorio believes that this goal will be achieved before November.

In the previous year, 2011, the BIR accumulated a total of 615 million.

Meanwhile because of the bureau’s excellent performance, Osorio is extending his gratitude for the cooperation of tax payers in Aklan.

Taxes Collected from Boracay is 30 to 35 Percent of the Total Collection of the BIR from Aklan

Tax collected from Boracay reaches 30 to 35 percent of the taxes collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in the whole province of Aklan.

This was according to the Revenue District Officer (RDO) of Aklan Ricardo Osorio who added that this percentage depends on the state of business in the island.

He further added that the 35 percent is the highest that could be collected from the island.

However, Osorio made clear that although the tax collected from the island is only from 30 to 35 percent, this he said is a huge input in reaching the target goal of the BIR yearly.

Residuals at the MRFs of Boracay - Still Cannot Be Moved

A contractor would have been found by the Boracay Solid Waste Management Board according to town Council Member Dante Pagsugiron.

The contractor would collect the residual garbage dumped at the Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) at the three villages of the island.

The problem at the moment, however, is that there is no place for the garbage at the Land Fill of Malay at the Village of Cabulihan.

It was learned from the Councilman that there are 2 thousand cubic meter of residual at Yapak Village, 7thousand cubic meter at Balabag, and 3 thousand cubic meter at Manoc-Manoc which have not been collected and some of these were since last year.

Because of this, the Councilman is worried that if these residuals were not collected, the image of Boracay may get tarnished.

Pagsugiron asked for a recommendation on other methods to solve the problem from Engineer Arnold Solano, the Special Project Officer who is supervising the Land Fill project. This was after the P38 Million project reportedly failed.

On the other hand, because of the existing problem it was thought by the Town Council to pass a law that increases the Environmental Fee since the solution for garbage is said to be expensive. Aside from this, it is planned by the Council to hasten the passing of an ordinance regulating the use of plastic bag and styropor in the island and the Mainland Malay to lessen problems on residuals.

Also included in the recommendation by the Council is the purchase of a machinery to eliminate residuals and at the same time make the product be profitable since million would be spent for the years of service by the Land Fill.

 Nevertheless, Solano clarified that things were not yet too late, and the situation of the Land Fill project could still be fixed since the services of the contractor had not yet been paid since loan for the payment had not been released.

He added that the contractor could still be forced to make amends and follow the original plan and design of the project.

Town Council of Malay Disappointed on the State of the P38 Million Land Fill Project of Malay

The Town Council of Malay is disappointed on its discovery of the state of the P38 Million Land Fill project of Malay at the village of Cabulihan.

The project is supposed to be the solution for the garbage collected in Boracay Island.

This was the Town Council’s reaction after Engineer Arnold Solano, the Special Project Officer of Malay, exposed the state of the project in the hands of the contractor of the Landfill.

The planned design of the project was the result of the study made by the group Japan International Company (JICA), however, it was found out that the contractor allegedly made the size of the Land Fill area for residuals smaller than the planned design.

This was only a portion of the problems seen and exposed by Solano during the Question Hour on Tuesday morning, September 25, at the Town Council.

Although the fee for the making of the Land Fill project had not been given to the contractor since the loan for the fee had not been released, Eng. Solano said the project was almost 90 percent complete.

It also seemed that the Town Council could not accept that the contractor changed the design of the project without even asking permission from the Local Government of Malay.

Because of this, the Councilmen are bothered that they might be put in bad light on the state of the project especially that millions of pesos will be spent on the project.

The Council added that the money is a debt of the Town of Malay and the debt’s interest is being paid, and since the Council approved the project, therefore almost all of the Councilmen are answerable to the public.

Legislation of first aid trainings for employees in Boracay, requested

All employees of establishments in Boracay will have the capacity to respond in times of emergency.

This shall be the case if the first aid training for employees will be legislated.

The Philippine National Red Cross Malay-Boracay Chapter has formally requested the SB to pass a regulation to include first-aid training as a requirement of all employees in Boracay, for their own safety and those of the tourists.

Although the Red Cross had already presented the matter to the Council two weeks ago, which included their operations and plans for this year; they still made a follow up for the said request.

The PRC is also asking for assistance for their other services to be carried out, such as blood donation and the insurance that they are offering to the public.

This request has been included in the SB’s agenda in yesterday’s session, while its hearing which is due to be conducted will be headed by the Committee on Public Safety for it to be completely implemented as a law.

“Wangwang” voted as 2012 Word of the Year

This article lifted from local.ph, reported that “Wangwang”, a word used by President Benigno Aquino III in his campaign for social reform, was voted Word of the Year.

Wangwang was among the 50 words that were submitted for the Sawikaan 2012, an annual event organized by several cultural heritage organizations led by the Filipinas Institute of Translation (FIT), held as part of this month’s “Buwan ng Wika” celebrations.

It beat several other words that made it to the finals, such as ‘level-up,” “SALN,” “wagas,” “impeachment,” “pagpag,” “fish kill,” “pick-up line,” and “palusot.”

Other words that were included in the finals were popular technology-related words such as “android,” “wifi,” and “trending.”

David Michael San Juan, an instructor at the De La Salle University Filipino Department, presented the word wangwang to the panel on the second day of the three-day summit.

San Juan said wangwang is an adjective describing social ills, corruption in government, increasing foreign debt, disenfranchisement of the lower class, among others.

However, it is also used as a word of protest; a verb that calls to action the public and civil society to act and to push for social change.

“Mag-wangwang tayong lahat dahil ito lang ang solusyon sa pagkakaroon ng tunay na pagbabago (We must ‘wangwang’ and call for social change),” San Juan said.

Wangwang, which has no definition in the Filipino dictionary, is an onomatopoeia of the sound that a vehicle siren makes. It became popular after President Aquino used it during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) in 2011, to strike at the general abuses done by corrupt government officials as well as their coddlers.

Last year’s Word of the Year was “jejemon,” which referred to a sub-culture of people who write text messages using special characters. Other winning entries were “canvass” (2004), “huweteng” (2005), “lobat” (2006), and “miskol” (2007).

More Than 25 Boracay Police Relieved

More than 25 Boracay Police were confirmed to have been relieved from their service in the island.

This was confirmed by Yes FM 911 from the Boracay Tourist Assistance Center (BTAC) which was also mentioned by Mayor John Yap yesterday when he called for a Municipal Peace and Order meeting.

It was learned that the relieve orders arrived from the Regional and Provincial Command of the Philippine National Police from 16^th September until the 21^st of September of the present year.

Included in the relieved Police were an SPO1, two PO3s, and PO1s from the Regional Mobile Group (RMG).

It was also found out that the reported SPO1 and PO3 ranking police were moved within the province of Aklan, while almost all from the RMG were returned to the province they were previously assigned.

Allegedly, some of the Police had wanted for a long time to be relieved from the island, while the others were relieved allegedly due to attitude problem.

Surveillance of establishments that are not paying due taxes, completed

The surveillance of establishments in Boracay that are not paying appropriate taxes has been completed, the Bureau of Internal Revenue/BIR said.

However, according to Revenue District Officer Ricardo Osario, they are giving those who violated a chance to pay.

The agency added that they do understand how difficult it is for businessmen for their establishments to be locked down.

That is why they have recently sent a notice for these establishments to be reminded, and to apply due process, but if the violation still persists they will then carry out its closing.

Meanwhile the Revenue Officer revealed that there are about five to ten big companies or establishments in Boracay that are not paying taxes to BIR-Aklan, but instead pays in Manila.

Nonetheless, Osario said, this is not a drawback for the target collection of the district.

He however admitted that these companies remits huge amount of taxes in Manila.

A Huge Decision to Make: To Be Accident Prone but Following the Law or Accident Free but Not Following the Law

Free from accident but not following the law or accident prone but following the law.

The choice on this was the big question for drivers in Boracay when the public hearing started on the planned re-routing at the village of Manoc- Manoc by the Town Council of Malay.

The Town Council wishes to implement the correct direction for vehicles based on law that going to the right should be the route.

Hence, the direction of traffic is planned to be reversed from Sitio Bantud going around Cagban area. According to the plan, from the intersection of Sitio Bantud, vehicles will turn right going to Cagban. And also from Cagban, if at present the route is going left, the proposal recommends turning right as well.

However, the management of Boracay Land Transportation Multi Purpose Cooperative (BLTMPC) does not agree to this since this would be very dangerous for drivers and passengers. This is because the road is too steep, unlike in the existing route wherein the condition is not that difficult.

Aside from this, according to the BLTPMC Board of Director Enrique Gelito, also one of the propositions of the Town Council is to open the road and make it a two-way road although it is steep.

The Local Government of Malay is reportedly ready to put signage and On-Duty Malay Auxilliary Police at the area.

Nevertheless, the Cooperative insisted that such is dangerous, and that even the Village Captain of Manoc-Manoc does not agree with the proposal.

Promotion of Aklanon Products, all out

Aklan is now scaling the promotion of products made in the province.

From souvenir items, food, as well as frozen and processed, to clothing made from Piña fiber, and household décor and furniture.

This is to give small Aklanon entrepreneurs an opportunity to venture into business by creating products from native materials.

In line with this, 28 members of Small Medium Enterprise/SME joined the Aklan Expo 2012 which will be held in Iloilo City from October 22 to 28 where the products will be exhibited or showcased.

SME is also supported by the Aklan Provincial Government, and the Provincial Council of Aklan even has proposed to give priority to Aklan-made products by, for instance, having its stalls at the Kalibo International Airport.

These native products stalls have also been requested by the Airport’s management in order to promote and to make Aklan be known not only on the field of tourism but also of its tourist-oriented products.