Ex-PCSO PR manager faces P18-M tax evasion raps at DOJ

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Thursday filed with the Department of Justice (DOJ) a tax evasion complaint against Manuel Garcia, former advertising and promotions manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO). The BIR filed five counts of willful attempt to evade the payment of taxes, and four counts of willful failure to properly declare his income from 2006 to 2010. The bureau is now requiring Garcia to pay about P18 million in aggregate tax liabilities, including penalties and surcharges. Garcia cannot be reached for comment as of posting time because he is among those summoned by the Senate blue ribbon committee for its hearing on the alleged anomalies in the PCSO. The BIR's tax evasion complaint stemmed from the graft complaints that businessmen Alexander Quisumbing and Ludovico Yuseco filed with the Office of the Ombudsman in May this year. "We have documentary evidence, testimonies, and even the return checks to show that he received P16.1 million from Quiambao and P12.61 million from Yuseco and he (Garcia) did nt report this as part of his income. We are running after him for the payment of about P18 million in taxes," BIR commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares said at a news briefing at the DOJ. She, however, clarified that the P18 million tax liability could just be the tip of the iceberg. "This is the initial assessment we have. But as we go along, it [the amount] can go up. These are the things that are documented. There's a figure being floated around and people are wondering why we are going only after P18 million. But as we investigate further and as the Senate investigates further, and when we get more documents, then we can go up," Henares said. The BIR's initial scrutiny showed that that Garcia understated his gross taxable income by P10.8 million in 2006, P5.21 million in 2007, P2.4 million in 2008, P8.16 million in 2009, and P2.45 million in 2010. Asked whether the filing of the tax evasion complaint against Garcia has something to do with the series of exposés against the previous leadership of the PCSO, Henares said that the BIR did not time the filing with the Senate blue ribbon committee's hearings. She clarified that the BIR has been assessing Garcia's payment of taxes even before the PCSO controversies cropped up. "We did not even know that there will be a Senate hearing today. Preparing a case is not so simple; it requires time. We first get certified true copies [of documentary evidence]," she added. The Senate panel has summoned Garcia for his alleged receipt of a 40-percent commission from the PCSO's media projects. Garcia supposedly received P1.5 billion in kickbacks from advertising placements for a PCSO television show. — RSJ, GMA News