De Lima expects Ligots to come out after long weekend

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima is expecting former military comptroller Jacinto Ligot and his wife Erlinda, both facing tax evasion charges, to emerge after the four-day-long weekend at the earliest. De Lima said it would be possible that the first thing the couple would do after the All Souls' Day is to avoid being arrested by posting a P20,000 bail bond each, as set by the Court of Tax Appeal, which earlier found probable cause to detain them for violating Articles 254 and 255 of the National Internal Revenue Code for attempting to evade payment of tax from 2002 to 2004. "We anticipate that they will surface on Wednesday or thereabouts after the long weekend and post bail," De Lima told reporters in a text message on Monday. "In any case, my instruction to the NBI [National Bureau of Investigation] is once found, the Ligots should be brought to the NBI for processing and detention," she added. De Lima said she gave instructions to the NBI, which is under the DOJ, to arrest the wanted couple "as soon as possible." She refused to elaborate. The Ligots were charged with tax evasion for failing to report in their income tax return for 2003 other income amounting to: P87,918,732.36 (for Mr. Ligot) and P77,449,052.03 (for Mrs. Ligot), or a total of P165,367,784.39. The court said "a total deficiency tax for the taxable year 2003 in the amount of P153,198,911.32, exclusive of interest and penalty charges, to the damage and prejudice of the Government." However, after the arrest order came out, the Ligot couple reportedly went missing, prompting De Lima to tap the NBI to hunt down the two. De Lima warned whoever could be coddling the Ligots will be slapped with "charges of obstruction of justice." The DOJ has already tried coordinating with Ligots' relatives to determine their possible whereabouts. US properties Earlier, the Ligots were in hot water after a Senate hearing discovered that the couple owned multi-million-peso properties, including some in the US. Based on the Senate inquiry, the couple also has properties in Makati City and in the US, as attested by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) records. "She [Mrs. Ligot] also purchased several properties, including the 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," according to the BIR. Mrs. Ligot allegedly bought the properties using her maiden name, Yambao. But Mr. Ligot insisted he was not aware his wife owned properties in the US. The BIR earlier filed a tax evasion case against the Ligots for tax deficiencies amounting to P428 million for their supposed failure to pay taxes from 2001 to 2004. — RSJ, GMA News