BIR’s top lawyer faces graft raps over lots, cars

The Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) top lawyer himself has allegedly acquired real estate and motor vehicles way beyond his means to do so, the Department of Finance’s antigraft unit has charged in a complaint it filed in the Office of the Ombudsman.

In the nine-page complaint filed Thursday, the DOF-Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS) urged that BIR chief legal counsel Jose Ric A. Cabrera be placed under preventive suspension and be held administratively and criminally liable for failing to disclose assets acquired while in the internal revenue service.

RIPS said the value of the assets that Cabrera failed to declare in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) were “disproportionate” to his income

Based on a RIPS investigation, Cabrera was found to have not included in his SALN from 2000 to 2009 two parcels of land in Quezon City—one of which was estimated to cost P291,600 while the other was improved at P1.9 million.

Aside from these, RIPS said the lawyer did not declare his acquisition of a 2004 Mitsubishi Space Gear and a 2008 Honda sedan—respectively valued at P660,000 and P370,000.

“Respondent has consistently misrepresented in his SALNs from 2000-2003 that he had acquired only two motor vehicles, and only one motor vehicle from 2003 to 2009,” the complaint said.

RIPS said the acquisition of the two vehicles that were paid for in cash was “clearly outside [Cabrera’s] legitimate means and finances” considering that his gross monthly salary was P26,203 as of June 30, 2009.