Palace tells Caparas he was not singled out for harassment

CAPARAS

MANILA, Philippines—Malacañang on Friday assured comic book artist and film director Carlo J. Caparas that he wasn’t the target of any political harassment.

Caparas, who along with three others had been stripped of the National Artist Award by the Supreme Court, had insinuated harassment by the administration. He’s also facing arrest over a tax evasion case.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said that the high court ruling stripping him of the title was reached through a process in which the Executive Department had no hand.

Lacierda pointed out also that the Bureau of Internal Revenue has filed cases against many other individuals for avoiding or evading the payment of taxes.

“From our end, we’re not putting the squeeze on him,’’ Lacierda told reporters at a news briefing.

The high court voided then President Macagapagal-Arroyo’s conferment of the award on Caparas, fashion designer Jose “Pitoy” Moreno, theater artist Cecile Guidote-Alvarez and architect Francisco Mañosa in 2009, ruling that this was attended by grave abuse of discretion as they had not been properly nominated.

A group of National Artist laureates—writers Virgilio Almario and Bienvenido Lumbera, sculptor Napoleon Abueva and painter Arturo Luz— petitioned the high tribunal to nullify the conferment.

Early this month, the Court of Tax Appeals ordered Caparas’ arrest in connection with a P101,819,722.19 tax evasion case.

Caparas is facing a case for violation of the National Internal Revenue Code for failing to file Value-Added Tax Returns for the years 2006 to 2009.

The BIR investigated Caparas in connection with two TV shows funded by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and produced by Caparas.

The two shows, titled “Ang Pangarap Kong Jackpot” and “Kroko,” were apparently part of the P1.3-billion contracts entered into by PCSO and Caparas, for which he received a total of P850.95 million from 2006 to 2009.

Caparas explained that the amount he received from PCSO was “net of taxes” and PCSO should have already withheld the taxes due and remitted them to the BIR.

Lacierda said Malacañang had nothing to do with the screening of nominations for the National Artist Award by the National Commission on Culture and the Arts unless this was elevated to the Office of the President.

Should he be nominated for the award in the future, Caparas expressed reservations about going through the NCCA screening if Almario remained on the NCCA board.

“You know artists, they discuss art on a different level. So we do not really interfere with that. The only time that the President comes into the picture is when it is elevated to the Palace. Other than that, the discussion happens down there; the NCCA takes that up,’’ Lacierda said.