DOF touts 111 criminal cases vs tax evaders, smugglers

The Aquino administration has filed 111 cases of tax evasion, smuggling and corruption against various individuals and firms, according to the Department of Finance (DOF). The latest “Case of the Week" is a set of charges against the Benguet Electric Cooperative Inc. (BENECO) involving an estimated tax liability of P14.59 million, stemming from underdeclaration of the selling price of two parcels of land valued. According to DOF Pera Ng Bayan website, the parcels of land were actually sold for P183.45 million but were declared to be worth only P85 million. The DOF said it got the information on the actual selling price from “third party information" contained in three documents, including a BENECO board resolution. The DOF also said the actual selling price was stated in an advertisement published in the Baguio Midland Courier on September 12, 2010. BENECO was charged with two counts of willful attempt to evade or defeat withholding and documentary stamp taxes and two counts of deliberate failure to supply correct and accurate information withholding tax and documentary stamp tax returns. The electric cooperative was also accused of failure to withhold the correct amount of creditable withholding taxes. Among the cases also posted on the website is that of tax evasion allegedly by several officers of the Bulwagang Filipino restaurant. Citizens' distrust Pera Ng Bayan claims it received 1,954 reports from concerned citizens as of Saturday, July 9. GMA News’ Bernadette Reyes, in a report for the Philippine Public Transparency Project (PPTRP), said “it is still not clear how many people are reporting claims in support — or against — government officials and how many are querying the tax returns of private individuals or companies." Pera Ng Bayan has a Facebook page, which has 7,427 “likes" so far. Reyes learned that some of these thousands joined within a week after the website was launched. “Yet of those who did, the numbers of those who went online to report a suspected tax evader or company as opposed to those who were reporting a corrupt official or saluting one instead for “exemplary service" were never broken down and given," Reyes said. Reyes also discovered that more than one-fourth of the reports filed had “insufficient information" and so those reports did not prosper. “Because of the distrust people are no longer willing to submit relevant and substantial report with the notion that nothing will happen if they report anything. In this case we have no choice but to simply keep the case in file instead of it being pursued," explained Jen Tan, Pera ng Bayan Citizen Engagement Officer. Transparency and Accountability Network executive director Vince Lazatin said it would help if concerned citizens get feedback, according to Reyes' report. “There is a general perception that very rarely does information provided to these kinds of mechanisms lead to charges being filed or a trial much less conviction," Lazatin said. Lazatin doubts that the DOF anti-corruption project has led to significant results. “It would seem to me that the Pera ng Bayan initiative does not have a direct impact on transparency and accountability at the local level much less on entrenched political clans," Lazatin concluded. — GMA News