BIR ready to release tax returns of Coronas—Henares

MANILA, Philippines—Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares on Thursday said her agency was ready to release the tax documents of Corona and his family, which are supposed to be confidential, should they get the go-signal from President Aquino.

Henares arrived at the Senate a few minutes before the impeachment trial, now on its fourth day, began at 2 p.m. “in compliance of the subpoena.” She told reporters that she believed there would not be any problem in the release of the income tax documents.

“There is a case. Transparency and accountability are the issues. I personally don’t think there will be a problem,” Henares said.

Henares said that there are laws pertaining to the release of confidential tax documents. The BIR is only allowed to disclose the tax documents when the BIR is filing charges against persons or if it needs to defend itself against charges, when the Ombudsman requests the documents to support charges that it would file, or when the President of the Philippines orders the release through the secretary of finance.
Henares said that she had not brought any documents yet because they were still collating them and the subpoena was received only on Wednesday afternoon.

All documents could be ready by Friday or Tuesday next week, Henares said. It was taking a long time because they were required to bring the original and the photocopies and because there were bureaucratic procedures that they need to comply with first, she said.

Henares said that she was ready to testify about other matters such as the “doctrine of lifestyle check,” should she be called on Thursday.