Honoring the contract of the Malampaya gas project in Northwest Palawan will bode well for the upstream oil and gas industry as it signals predictability and consistency in government policies, officials said yesterday.

In the EU-Philippines Business Summit yesterday, Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Alfonso Cusi said the agency has strongly affirmed its position that the income tax of the Malampaya contractor shall form part of the 60 percent of government share.

This is pursuit of the “DOE’s commitment to maintain and strengthen the predictability, certainty and consistency of investment rules of the country,” he said.

Last month, the DOE filed a motion for reconsideration with the Commission on Audit (COA), reiterating the previous DOE administration’s stand that Malampaya’s income tax was deductible from the government’s 60 percent share of earnings.

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