Gov’t workers fall victim to tax scam
Even employees of the Balamban municipal government including the newly designated acting chief of the Assessor’s office fell victim to the town’s land tax scam.
Acting Chief Assessor Rene Esdrelon said he lost P5,000 in Capitol gains tax payments for a property he bought this year after he agreed to have fellow employees process the transaction.
“I know there are several employees in the department that were victimized,” Esdrelon said.
A staffer of the municipal agriculturist’s office, Erlinda Cataylo, looked for her name in the list of victims of the land tax scam in last Tuesday’s municipal council hearing.
“I also paid P5,000 to them. I didn’t know that this would happen,” said Cataylo.
The suspected perpetrators were identified as former assessor Teresita Yray and former staffers Sheribeth Melgar and Lucelle Agua.
Yray resigned last July 8 while clerk Agua filed an indefinite leave last week.
Melgar’s job-order contract wasn’t renewed last month.
Yray’s counsel said she won’t appear in the council hearing because of a pending administrative investigation by the Ombudsman against her.
The victims, who sought refund for their payments, were told by the municipal council that their inquiry into the case was only limited “in aid of legislation.”
“If you were forced to pay, that’s a different story,” Councilor Dave Karamihan said.
The councilor said the case stemmed from employees who advertised their services to expedite the transactions.
“If there are people who advertise these services as a sideline , then it’s clear it’s not part of their job description,” Karamihan said.
With the assessor’s office failing to impose disciplinary actions on these errant employees, Karamihan said it’s up to the victims to file their own legal actions against Yray, Melgar and Agua in court and the Ombudsman.
About 14 of the victims already filed a case against the three before the Office of the Ombudsman.
Administrative charges are out of the question since the three are no longer in service, Karamihan admitted.
The councilor suggested to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) that the documents of the victims be pooled together for the council to endorse it to the agency. Karamihan said the BIR will determine whether there were any tax payments made.
The BIR sent a five-person team together with Provincial Assessor Anthony Sususco to attend the hearing held at the roofdeck of the municipal building following the council’s session.
The team said they will only discuss about the proper procedures in payment of capital gains tax and documentary stamps.
“There is a pending investigation from our office, so we cannot talk about it (land scam),” said Ramon Cabarron, assessment supervisor and team leader of the BIR group.
The team was sent to Balamban by Evangeline Abanilla, assistant revenue district officer who leads the investigation at the BIR in Mandaue City. /Reporter Dale G. Israel
