Ombud to probe land tax scam in Balamban town

The Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas will continue its investigation on the Balamban land tax scam.

The Ombudsman’s move came after six months since  Cebu Daily News broke the story about the scam. It was published on June 30, 2011.

“After a careful reading of the entire letter complaint, the graft investigator found reasonable basis to have this complaint subjected to a fact-finding investigation by this office,” said Graft Investigation and prosecution officer Antonio Yap in his evaluation report.

The issue stemmed from the complaint filed by Lando Marceliones who filed a capital gains tax return and documentary stamp tax in Balamban for a transfer transaction of a Deed of Absolute Sale.

Upon learning that three municipal employees were suspended for having malversed funds, Marceliones made verification with the (BIR) Revenue District Officer of Mandaue City as to the payments she made to a certain Sharee Melgar, a staff of the Municipal Assessor’s Office.

She was told by the BIR that the P10,800 she paid as Capital Gains Tax and P2,700 as documentary stamp tax “were found to be of doubtful validity.”

Melgar along with Municipal Asessor Tita Yray and staff Lucelle Agua were subjected to an investigation with regard to the controversy.

A partial review by the Balamban Human Resource officer, who was tasked by Mayor Ace Binghay to look into the complaints, showed that 100 out of 300 real estate tax transactions since 2009 were irregular.

If the graft investigator will find sufficient basis, a formal investigation will be conducted.

The respondents will be given a chance to submit their counter-affidavits to refute the allegations.

Otherwise, the complaint will be dismissed.

Alleged victims of the land scam claimed that payments for capital gains tax and documentary stamps never reached the Bureau of Internal Revenue. /Reporter Ador Vincent S. Mayol