ABS-CBN Group chief financial officer (CFO) Ricardo Tan said that ABS-CBN Corporation and its subsidiaries contributed P71.5 billion in taxes to the national economy within a period of 17 years.
“From 2003 to 2019, ABS-CBN as a group paid P71.5 billion in taxes,” Tan said in the tenth hearing for ABS-CBN’s franchise application at the House of Representatives today (July 1).
During the hearing, Rep. Carlos Zarate pointed out the significant impact to the economy if ABS-CBN entirely shuts down.
“Sa panahon ngayon na grabe po ang krisis na dinadaanan natin, na pinalala pa ng pandemya ng COVID, ito yung bilyon na pwede mawala rin in the next 10 or 25 years, na supposedly na papasok sa ating pambansang ekonomya,” Zarate said.
He added that the looming layoffs in ABS-CBN this August does not only mean job losses but also lost income tax remitted to the government.
Meanwhile, BIR assistant commissioner Manuel Mapoy stood by the previous statement of BIR Large Tax Payers Audit Division 3 head Simplicio Cabantac Jr. that ABS-CBN has been regularly paying its corporate taxes for the past years. In fact, ABS-CBN paid P15,382,423,364.16 in taxes from 2016 to 2019.
In terms of violations or issues related to ABS-CBN’s payment of taxes, Mapoy said “there is no outstanding delinquent account as we speak.”
He added that among the country’s top taxpayers, ABS-CBN ranked 65th in 2016, 275th in 2017, and 339th in 2018.
