Ombud to probe gov, 7 others in tax row

THE Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas reversed its earlier ruling and decided to conduct a formal investigation against Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and seven other  officials over the imposition of  real estate tax on a property in barangay Uling, Naga City, in southern Cebu.

Graft investigation and prosecution officer Luz Awayan recommended that a preliminary investigation be conducted on the case filed by Leopoldo Cecilio and lawyer Rodolfo Morrelos.

Named defendants in the case are Garcia, Provincial Treasurer Roy Salubre, Provincial Assessor Anthony Sususco, Bureau of Internal Revenue in Central Visayas director Jose Tan, revenue district officer Rogelio Balaga, Provincial Registry of Deeds officer Manolo Rubi, City of Naga Treasurer Anna Gabilan, and City of Naga Assessor Alfredo Yong.

Garcia, however, said that the Capitol would wait for the Visayas Ombudsman to ask them to explain their side in  real estate tax imposed on the 64-hectare property of Cecilio.

“This will be docketed before we are made to explain. We will wait for that,” she said.

“You might notice that this does not involve me, but  it involves me on a ministerial level because I am the governor at the time that gi-question ang lot assessment of this couple. In fact, this was already dismissed,” she said.

Salubre, for his part, said  that Cecilio failed to pay their tax due in 2008 in the total amount of P9 million.

Salubre said that Cecilio only paid at least P100,000 for the tax due.

He said  this was the reason of their foreclosure of the lot in 2008.

The Province of Cebu also had the land  auctioned but nobody bought the lot in the same year, said Salubre.

“Since nobody bought it,  automatically it went to the province,” he told CDN./Reporter Ador Vincent S. Mayol and Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus