JFC urges Philippine government to maintain level playing field

The Joint Foreign Chamber (JFC) has urged the government to maintain consistency, predictability, fairness, and due process, stressing that the move to seize the importation of one of its members is bad for business. The JFC, which is composed of foreign business chambers including American, Australian-New Zealand, European, Canadian, Korean, Japanese and other multinationals operating in the Philippines, said this in a letter to Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, In light of plans by the government to seize shipments of catalytic cracked gasoline (CCG) by Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. in connection with tax issues. The JFC noted that the alleged double taxation impact on Shell, stressing that taxing both intermediates and the final product, undermined the JFC’s efforts to encourage manufacturing investments in the Philippines. (February 3, 2010)