Mall stallholders owe Caloocan P20-M

The Caloocan City government has stepped up its revenue raising campaign as City Mayor Enrico Echiverri ordered the closure of some 400 "tiangge" stallholders at the Gotesco Grand Central for non-payment of taxes amounting to over P20-million.

Echiverri said that for years, since 1997, the stallholders have operated without securing the required business permits and paying the right taxes to the city.

"We mean business. Do not wait for the city hall to close your businesses. Pay the right taxes, get your permits and conduct your businesses minus the stress of operating illegally. Save yourself. Stress kills," Echiverri said.

He stressed the need to double the collection effort in order to pay the debt incurred by the city government.

Among the stalls closed since Friday were the cell phone booths, ukay-ukay, toys and accessories stalls at the lobbies of the four-story commercial complex in Monumento.

Lawyer Melanie Soriano-Malaya, Business Permits and Licensing Office (BPLO) chief, told The STAR in a phone interview that the city has lost over P20 million in back taxes since 1998, roughly P3 to P4 million yearly.

"We told them (stallholders) to just pay up, get the permits and they can return to business as usual," Malaya said.

She revealed that the stallholders managed to avoid paying taxes through suspected connivance of "high level" city hall officials with the beleaguered traders. She declined to elaborate.

Amid speculations that "untouchable and well-entrenched" inspectors from her office are involved in the anomaly, Malaya told stallholders to come up with the names and substantiate their allegations so her office could take the appropriate action, legal or otherwise. She said most of the inspectors in her office are new and are clueless about the modus operandi of the old ones she had sacked early on.

Complaining stallholders who requested anonymity yesterday told The STAR three exhibit or tiangge organizers have cornered the deal with the Gotesco firm.

Malaya said they are not running after the organizers since whatever is collected by them was a problem between them and the stallholders.

"My only concern is the taxes they did not and do not pay the city government. I cannot allow them to dump that problem in the lap of the city hall," Malaya said when asked if they will run after the organizers.

Complainant A said that aside from the P2,200 daily rental for the space, they shell out P500 to P1,500 daily to collectors of the three organizers allegedly "for protection." They rued that when the city BPLO pounced on them, the organizers abandoned them. Now they were left holding the empty bag even as they complained that many families depend on them for their food on the table.

Complainant B revealed that they earn daily from a low of P2,700 to P3,500 on good days on a 2 m. x 2 m. space. With an average of three salesperson at P150 daily and the rentals and collections, they are left with loose change. She said the turnover among stallholders is fast with some folding over in just two or three days because of low sales and the exorbitant rates imposed by the organizers. She said they started their business with only P10,000, most getting their capital from loan sharks at 5-6 rates. – Jerry Botial, Pete Laude