President Arroyo has asked the Senate for the immediate passage of a bill seeking the direct payment of national wealth tax shares to local governments.

Mrs. Arroyo assured local government units, especially those hosting mining projects that will benefit most from the legislative measure, that her administration will continue to support the bill.

“The national wealth tax is an administration measure. We made that commitment during our previous State-of-the-Nation Address,” the President said in an interview with reporters in Baguio City.

The bill, authored by Baguio City Rep. Mauricio Domogan, seeks to amend Section 290 of the 1991 Local Government Code that defines how taxes are shared between the local and national governments.

Under the existing law, 60 percent of the excise tax paid by the mining firms goes to the national government while 40 percent will go to the host communities.

But the 40-percent share of the host communities is released only upon official request of the local government unit involved, and upon the submission of a list of projects to be funded by the tax share.

Domogan said the present system deprives the host communities of the chance to use immediately their fund shares and to determine how they would use the funds.

Domogan said the House of Representatives has already approved the measure and the Senate has yet to act on the bill for over a year now. Joyce Pangco Pañares