The Philippine Board of Investments (BoI) has revoked the certificate of registration of Taiheiyo Cement Philippines Corp (formerly Grand Cement Manufacturing Corp) and slapped the firm with over P1.1 million in penalties for its late disclosure in 2005 that Japanese nationals own 88 per cent of the company since April 2001.
Through Board Resolution No. 28-25 S-2005, the BoI said it resolved to cancel the cement firm’s BoI registration due to its alleged failure to maintain the mandatory 60 per cent Filipino ownership to qualify for tax incentives; late/non-submission of reports on the firm’s transfer of ownership; and late filing of its 1997 income tax holiday (ITH) application.
Per its General Information Sheet with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Grand Cement was 73 per cent owned by Filipinos and 27 per cent Japanese as of April 30, 2000. But a year later, in April 2001, Taiheiyo acquired 88 per cent of the company, leaving locals with only 12 per cent. While majority ownership of the firm was acquired by Japanese cement giant Taiheiyo in 2001, BoI records showed that the transfer was not disclosed by the company until this year.
Aside from its BoI troubles, Taiheiyo is plagued with a similar non-disclosure problem before the Bureau of Customs (BoC). Taiheiyo’s sister firm, Southern Cross Cement Corp (SCCC), is currently facing multiple criminal complaints before the BoC due to alleged misdeclarations in their cement importation documents. Based on case records, SCCC imported cement from its parent firm - Taiheiyo Cement Corp. (Japan) - but stated in its Supplemental Declaration on Valuation (SDV) that the buyer and seller are not related parties. Customs officials said SCCC’s non-disclosure of real facts in the SDV constitutes gross violation of law and are grounds for the slapping of criminal charges against the company’s top officials.
