Consunji-led Semirara Mining and Power Corporation (SMPC) has remitted Php5.9 billion in government royalty to the Department of Energy (DOE) for the first quarter this year, the highest so far in its corporate history.
SMPC said that its remittance recorded an 807% jump from the Php656 million it remitted in the same period last year as its coal shipments and average selling prices came to an all-time high.
“We had an exceptionally strong start, so much so that in three months, we surpassed our previous full-year royalty payments,” SMPC president and COO Maria Cristina Gotianum said in a statement.
Of the Php5.9 billion remittance, around Php3.5 billion will be retained with the national government while the balance will go to the host local government units (LGUs) of the SMPC mining sites.
The province of Antique, where SMPC’s 50-megawatt coal-fired power plant and mining operations are located, will receive Php 476 million. Meanwhile, the municipal government of Caluya and the barangay government of Semirara will receive Php1.1 billion and Php833 million, respectively.
Under the Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991, host LGUs are entitled to a 40% share of royalty proceeds from petroleum, coal, geothermal, hydrothermal, and wind resources.
In 2021, SMPC recorded a net income of Php 16.2 billion, its highest in 41 years.