Govt to dismiss BIR official, suspend local exec over anomalies

Government has secured the dismissal of a ranking Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) official and the suspension of a local government treasurer who is under investigation for alleged corruption. The Revenue and Integrity Protection Service (RIPS), the Finance Department’s anti-corruption unit, has won with finality its case against BIR Assistant Commissioner Edwin Abella, who will be dismissed in connection with accumulating wealth disproportionate to his income as a public official. In a decision by the Ombudsman in January 2005, Abella was found guilty of dishonesty for acquiring questionable wealth. The Ombudsman said Abella did not declare in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth the six properties he owned, including real estate assets. One property was valued at P10 million, the Ombudsman noted. The anti-graft body also found that based on evidence filed by RIPS, it was impossible for Abella’s net worth to have increased to P8.4 million in 2002 from P3.8 million in 1999 with his earnings. In a pleading in February 2005, the respondent appealed the Ombudsman’s decision, saying it was “based on grave errors of facts and law, and unfounded conjectures and surmises." The Ombudsman denied his motion for reconsideration in an order in June 2011. “The respondent failed to present new evidence that would warrant a reversal of the questioned decision," the order said. Local exec suspended Meanwhile, the Ombudsman also suspended Manila City Treasurer Liberty Toledo for six months without pay for alleged grave misconduct and dishonesty. The Manila City government is expected to implement the suspension order five days from the receipt of the Ombudsman’s decision. The case filed by RIPS said that from 1999 to 2004, Toledo failed to declare millions of pesos in properties in her SALN. The assets were also found “grossly disproportionate" to her and her husband’s annual income, RIPS added. GMA News Online tried but was unable to reach Abella and Toledo through their respective offices as of this posting. — PE/VS, GMA News