PURISIMA TO PUBLIC: PAY TAXES EARLY / GMA DOES NOT EXPECT FAIRNESS FROM NOY
MANILA, APRIL 9, 2011 (STAR) By Iris C. Gonzales - The Aquino administration is asking taxpayers to settle their obligations with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) ahead of the April 15 deadline to avoid the long queues.
Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said that the P73.8- million tax evasion case filed against Rep. Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo of Ang Galing Pinoy party-list by the BIR should serve as a lesson to the public.
Aside from Arroyo and his wife Angela, the BIR also announced a number of alleged tax evasion cases it discovered involving several personalities, including Brazilian model/actress Daiana Menezes and businessman Macario Gaw Jr.
"It's no longer business as usual at the BIR and the Bureau of Customs (BOC). The Aquino government is determined to send to jail all tax evaders and smugglers that rob the Filipino people of their much needed government revenues," Purisima said.
On Thursday, the BIR filed tax evasion charges against Arroyo for failing to file income tax returns from 2004 to 2009.
The BIR expects to meet its collection goal this month, April being tax-filing season.
The agency, which accounts for 70 percent of state tax revenues, is tasked to collect a total of P105.12 billion this month, 15.26 percent higher than its actual take of P91.5 billion in April 2010.
From January to March, the BIR, through its 19 regional offices, conducted tax information drives nationwide to encourage taxpayers to pay the right amount of income taxes on or before the April 15 deadline to avoid congestion in BIR offices.
However, BIR Commissioner Kim Henares said the usual practice among Filipinos is to file their returns just before the deadline.
She also said the agency is stepping up efforts to meet the targets.
Collections by the BIR and the BOC form the bulk of government revenues. Together, they make up roughly 90 percent of revenues.
As such, the two agencies are under heavy pressure to meet targets as the government hopes to contain the budget deficit at roughly P300 billion this year or 3.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
Last year, the budget gap hit P314.4 billion or 3.7 percent of GDP.
Escudero: File the cases
Meanwhile, Sen. Francis Escudero urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to file the appropriate cases against the alleged tax evaders so that the campaign against these violators would not be seen as only for show.
Escudero noted that there have been no indictment so far on the 36 tax evasion complaints brought to the DOJ.
"The only way that tax evaders will see that government is serious about this issue is when it sees that cases are actually being filed in court," he said.
Escudero said that these cases appeared to be languishing at the DOJ because he has not heard of actual cases being filed in court.
"Why is it taking so long? I hope that the DOJ will give these cases priority in order to send a clear message to tax evaders that P-Noy and his administration are dead serious about running after tax cheats," said Escudero, chairman of the Senate committee on justice and human rights.
Henares has announced a number of gains achieved by the bureau in its Run After Tax Evaders (RATE) program since assuming the top post.
She vowed to spare no one in the campaign and assured the public that the work of the BIR has no political color and is purely based on documentary evidence and the country's tax laws. – Marvin Sy
GMA expects no fair treatment from Noy government By Paolo Romero (The Philippine Star) Updated April 09, 2011 12:00 AM Comments (141) View comments
MANILA, Philippines - Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo expressed doubts that she and her family would get fair treatment from the Aquino administration.
"Based on what is happening, I don't think so," Arroyo told ABS-CBN in Filipino when asked yesterday whether she expected fair treatment from President Aquino.
She, however, said she felt that she and her family would be exonerated if haled before the courts.
"We have the Constitution. We have laws that we must follow and the courts that would implement them," she said.
On Thursday, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) filed tax evasion charges against her son, Ang Galing Pinoy party-list Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo, and his wife Angela for alleged tax evasion amounting to nearly P74 million.
The younger Arroyo called the charges "pure political harassment" and vowed to prove that he has been paying the correct taxes faithfully.
During the electoral campaign last year, Aquino vowed to go after the former leader and others in her administration for alleged misdeeds and human rights violations during her nine-year presidency.
Upon his assumption to the presidency, Aquino ordered the creation of the Truth Commission to investigate wrongdoings of the previous administration.
The order, however, was questioned before the Supreme Court.
The President then ordered existing agencies, like the Department of Justice (DOJ), to investigate the allegations against Arroyo and some of her former officials.
Arroyo declined to comment on the allegations against her and said she was happy with her new life as a congresswoman.
"Like I said, I know that the presidency is not a permanent thing. I knew that this day would come," she said in Filipino.
Opposition edgy on 'witch hunting'
In a separate interview, Senior Deputy Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez hit what he described as the "systematic" campaign of the administration to remove those identified with or appointed by the previous government, including no less than sitting justices of the Supreme Court.
Suarez asked who would be the next target of the government in the ongoing "purge" on sitting officials appointed or identified with the former president.
"During the campaign last year, President Aquino promised to go after the neck of President Arroyo, so in order to do that, he has to purge those around her first to get to her," Suarez told The STAR.
"All those in their crosshairs are being pressured to submission and they're pretty effective in harassment," he said.
Suarez cited the case of former civil aviation chief Alfonso Cusi, an appointee of Arroyo who resigned from his post, and Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, whose impeachment was sought by President Aquino in a meeting of the Liberal Party.
He also expressed alarm over persistent threats to impeach magistrates of the Supreme Court who were appointed by the former leader.
Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) chairman Prospero Pichay, who was charged with graft by the Department of Finance, said he believes one of the next in the crosshairs of the President would be Civil Service Commission chairman Francisco Duque III, who has a fixed term of seven years.
"This is dangerous, They are not sparing, not respecting even our Supreme Court justices," Pichay said, even as he maintained that the alleged bank deal entered into by LWUA was legal and aboveboard.
Pichay recalled that Duque issued a contrary opinion to the executive orders issued by Malacañang firing appointees of the previous administration.
Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay said she has been hearing persistent reports of directors of various government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) being harassed by new appointees and heads of the affected GOCCs.
Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, however, scoffed at the complaints of the opposition lawmakers, saying those being charged should have nothing to fear if they have done nothing wrong.
"P-Noy is just being consistent with his campaign platform of good governance, that social ills are premised on corruption. The eradication of which would mean more government funds and resources," Castelo said.
"The filing of charges against officials of the past administration is incidental. They have nothing to fear if they are innocent. They could explain before the bar of public opinion and the courts," he added.
Magsaysay said if harassment of the directors and other officials does not work, public humiliation and filing of flimsy charges or even verbal abuse is resorted to in pressuring them to resign.
"Some of them told me they are being embarrassed during board meetings. Many of them have already resigned in disgust," she said.
She said she is fully supportive of the Aquino administration's campaign against corruption and that no one should be spared whether they are with the administration or the opposition.
Magsaysay cited the case of Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who appeared to be treated with kid gloves by Malacañang despite admitting violations of the law.
"If they will file cases against those from the previous administration, there should be no distortion of facts, exaggerations and black propaganda to pillory the accused since everyone has the right to due process," she said.
"President Aquino should not think those not with his administration are evil or guilty by association. He should be the President of both who voted and who did not vote for him, who are ambivalent about him, and his challenge is to rise above politicking," she said.
Suarez sees the attacks against officials of the previous administration as a "smokescreen" to cover up for the "miserable situation of this administration."
"If you spend so much time witch hunting, this is what you get, unemployment and high prices," he said.
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