Tax cheat no-show at sentencing

Convicted multilevel marketer Gloria Kintanar failed to show up at her sentencing for tax evasion at the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) on Tuesday, citing hypertension and dizziness, which prompted the court to reset the promulgation of judgment against her.

The CTA’s former Second Division which heard the case moved the sentencing to Monday. This time, Kintanar will be arrested if she fails to show up again, division chairman Justice Juanito Castañeda Jr. said.

The court also issued a hold departure order to ensure Kintanar does not leave the country. It directed her lawyer, Salvador Quebral, to ascertain her whereabouts and see to it that she appears at the next hearing.

The CTA is expected to enforce its 2009 ruling sentencing Kintanar from two to four years in prison and ordering her to pay P6.3 million in tax deficiencies. The Supreme Court earlier upheld this ruling.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue filed the charges against Kintanar for her failure to file income tax returns for 2000 and 2001.

The BIR said she had made a substantial amount of money as a contractor of Forever Living Products.

In her defense, Kintanar said she had entrusted the filing of her income tax returns to her husband who hired an accountant.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Quebral told the court Kintanar’s husband had informed him that she was ill and would not be able to come.

Quebral presented a medical certificate from Buenamar Medical and Health Clinic stating that Kintanar was suffering from hypertension and severe dizziness. He told the court that as far as he knew, Kintanar was at home.

He said he was filing a motion to postpone the proceedings after Kintanar earlier filed a motion in the Supreme Court for reconsideration of its ruling dismissing her petition against her conviction.

He noted that Kintanar’s petition—which argues that her motion was only dismissed on a technicality and should have been tackled on its merits—was still pending.