Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada on Thursday urged former Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim to return the P684-million withholding tax which was not remitted to the Bureau of Internal Revenue during Lim’s term.
Estrada said withholding tax should be withheld and remitted to the BIR within the due dates provided under the Tax Code and withholding tax regulation.
“We really do not know where the money went. It was under my administration that we paid the P684-million withholding tax Lim did not remit,” Estrada said in a press briefing.
He said Lim has dragged Manila in a deep financial hole and claimed that when he took over the city it has no enough cash to pay off its debts due to a bloated workforce.
In its latest report uploaded on its website recently, the CoA said the Manila city government has unpaid debts of P3.553 billion or more than three times its cash holdings of P1.6 billion.
Estrada said under his administration, the city government will get rid of its debt by the end of 2015 incurred by the past administration.
Estrada said that the P3 billion that the local government owed should be paid before the year ends.