Senator Franklin Drilon is pushing for a bill that will provide an equal revenue sharing between the government and the mining industry.
Senate Bill 225, or the Philippine Fiscal Regime and Revenue Sharing Arrangement for Large-scale Metallic Mining Act states the government should have a fair and equitable share of revenues and economic benefits derived from mining resources.
Under SB 225, the government will either get a 10% of gross revenue or 55% of adjusted net mining revenue (ANMR), depending on which has the higher value.
The total government share proposed in the bill consists of a division of shares between the national and local government units (LGUs). The sharing split is at 60-40 percent, respectively.
“Any economic rent arising from such exploration, extraction and utilization belong to the State,” the bill said.
“In the event that the ANMR Margin exceeds 50 percent due to [the] increase in metal prices or other factors, the government, as [the] owner of the mineral, shall get 55 percent of the threshold ANMR plus 60 percent on the excess ANMR.”
According to Drilon, the bill has a salient feature which provides for speedier remittances of the LGU shares of 10 days before the end of each quarter to help the local communities immediately access their shares from mining activities in their locales.
“If passed into law, the bill would introduce a new fiscal regime and revenue sharing arrangement between the government and mining contractors for large-scale metallic mineral mining operations,” the Senate President said.
Drilon also said that the government share should be in lieu of all national and local taxes imposed by the host LGU through the Local Government Code such as corporate tax, royalty for the indigenous cultural communities, business permits and other fees and charges.