By Jun Ramirez
Local government units (LGUs) may impose regulatory fees from telecommunication companies installing cellphone sites in their respective territories.
This was the ruling of the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) en banc as it upheld the earlier resolution of one of its divisions that dismissed the petition of Smart Telecommunications, Inc. to nullify a municipal ordinance of Jones, Isabela,thatrequired the payment of regulatory fee for installing cellphone tower in the area.
The town's Sangguniang Bayan had passed Ordinance No. 2009-003 regulating the conduct and operation of cell site towers and imposing annual fees of P200,000.
In a 16-page resolution, the full CTA court said it has no authority to determine the legality of the ordinance.It stressed that the issue is not a tax case but the validity and constitutionality of the ordinance.
It said the ordinance partakes the nature of a regulatory fee and not a local tax which maybe questioned under the Local Government Code and decided by the Department of Justice