Ligot denies evading duty to pay taxes

Former military comptroller Lt. Gen. Jacinto Ligot has denied before a Justice Department preliminary investigation that he evaded paying taxes in 2001. Appearing before the hearing presided by Assistant State Prosecutor Stewart Mariano on Friday, Ligot said he filed his income tax return (ITR) and paid the proper amount of taxes that year. But Ligot immediately noted that he has submitted the document's original copy to Commission on Appointments when he was up for promotion then when he was still in active military service. "When facing the CA, generals have to give their ITRs. So my ITR is with the Commission on Appointments," said Ligot, whose camp was given one week to submit the document. For her part, Ligot's wife, Erlinda Yambao Ligot, said the last time she filed her ITR was in 1977. "I was still single at that time, your honor," Erlinda told Mariano. She said that from 1977 onward, she no longer had any source of income and that her husband had filed a joint ITR on their behalf. "We filed (ITRs), your honor, and he included my name in the joint ITRs," said Mrs. Ligot. Ligot is the predecessor of the former Maj. Gen. Carlos F. Garcia, who is facing a plunder case for allegedly amassing P303 million in ill-gotten wealth. Plunder is a non-bailable offense. This month, the Sandiganbayan approved the plea bargaining agreement that Garcia entered into with Office of the Ombudsman prosecutors. Under the controversial deal, Garcia was allowed to plead guilty to two lesser offenses and to post a bail of P60,000.

Evading duties to pay taxes? In March this year, the Bureau of Internal Revenue filed with the DOJ a complaint accusing the Ligots of evading their duties to pay taxes from 2001 to 2004. The bureau said Ligot failed to declare his income and pay the proper amount of taxes in 2001. Mrs. Ligot, on the other hand, was alleged to have committed the same offense from 2001 to 2004. The bureau noted the Ligot couple's millions-worth of bank deposits and his purchase of properties in Rizal province, a condominium unit in Makati City, and a sports utility vehicle. While he was military comptroller, his wife Erlinda allegedly made "several bank deposits," including a $200,000 bank transaction, the BIR said. "She also purchased serveral proprties that included a Paseo Parkview Tower II condominium unit at Salcedo Village in Makati City, a $322,181 real property at No. 1240 Cabernet Circle, Anaheim, California, USA, and a $599,500 house and lot at 7102 Stanton Avenue, Buenas Park, California," said the BIR. The BIR is requiring them to pay P428 million in aggregate tax liabilities. In Friday's hearing, Mariano asked the Ligot couple to discuss the properties mentioned in the BIR's complaint. But the couple's lawyer, Rafael Zialcita, declined to answer the matter during the public hearing because the properties are subject of a pending forfeiture case at the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan. "The reason why we are vague is becase these issues are already pending with the Sandiganbayan, and for fear of violating the sub judice rule, we cannot comment on that," Zialcita said. In a separate interview with reporters, Zialcita said the couple have addressed the issue on the properties in their counter-affidavit. "In the pleadings, we addressed that. But we don't address that because of the public," Zialcita said. — RSJ, GMA News