Senate probers, acting on concerns aired by restive traders, are poised to review local government units’ (LGUs) imposition of higher business renewal fees based on earnings before the onset of the Covid contagion.
Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, chairman of the Committee on Trade, confirmed that they are acting on reports the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) was besieged by complaints against the LGUs untimely increase of business renewal fees being imposed on restaurants and small businesses.
Pimentel aired concerns, saying he, too, found it alarming and they should not let it pass, raising the possibility that LGUs may be going beyond the law.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan shared Pimentel’s concern, stressing that small businesses should not be given a hard time and instead be assisted to “get back on their feet and stay standing where they are.”
Pimentel and Pangilinan affirmed their positions after Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez conveyed traders complaint that some LGUs are charging business renewal fees based on earnings of companies in 2019 or before the Covid pandemic.
The traders, they noted, bemoaned the “injustice” as the basis for business renewal fees should be their earnings the previous year, which means based on 2019.
Pimentel found it alarming and should not be allowed as LGUs may be stepping beyond the law.
His position was shared by Pangilinan, who stressed that LGUs should instead be assisting affected small businesses helping them “get back on their feet and stay standing where they are.”
The two senators affirmed their stance even as Pangilinan reminded DTI to “relax lending requirements” to micro-small at medium enterprises, noting there is a growing number of traders keen to invest but found it hard to comply with the requirements imposed on small business corporations.