BIR sues QC-based int’l school

A Quezon City school whose planned building project on Katipunan Avenue is being opposed by residents is also under fire from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

The BIR on Thursday filed a criminal complaint in the Department of Justice against officials of Multiple Intelligence International School (MIIS) for allegedly failing to pay taxes worth P18 million.

The case against MIIS, which is located on J. Escaler Street in Loyola Heights, stemmed from its alleged failure to declare land purchases worth P100 million in its 2013 comparative audited final statements, which were attached to the school’s income tax return for the same year.

“This concealment of asset is evidently a scheme to conceal undeclared revenues,” BIR Commissioner Kim Henares said in a statement.

In September 2013, the MIIS purchased from the Lagumbay family the 3,000-square-meter lot at the corner of Katipunan and Highland Drive in Barangay (village) Blue Ridge-A, Quezon City.

The MIIS plans to put up a 12-story “Green School” building on the lot and move there from its present location in Loyola Heights. But the plan drew strong opposition from Blue Ridge A residents, who said the project would violate the city zoning ordinance. They also warned that having another school on Katipunan would only worsen traffic conditions on the busy thoroughfare.

In April, the residents secured a temporary restraining order against the MIIS project from a Quezon City court, which later granted their petition for a writ of preliminary injunction, preventing City Hall from issuing building permits to the school.

Named respondents in the BIR complaint were MIIS president Eusebio Abaquin and treasurer Ramon Abaquin, who are accused of making a willful attempt to evade tax payment and of deliberately failing to supply correct and accurate information in violation of the National Internal Revenue Code.

BIR investigators said the school only declared P87.19 million in its assets in 2013, excluding the value of its acquired property.

The school and the respondent officers were sued for deficiencies in their income taxes for 2013 totaling P18.421 million, including surcharge and interest.

In a statement, the MIIS on Thursday said it had yet to receive any notice from the BIR regarding the tax evasion case and that its details remain unclear to the concerned schools officials.

But it maintained that “to the best of our knowledge, all taxes due to the government in relation to the sale of the property in question were paid for judiciously and conscientiously. We maintain that the government was neither deprived nor defrauded of any payment due.”

Also on Thursday, the BIR also filed tax evasion complaints against the Pasay City-based Ley Construction and Development Corp. (LCDC) and its president Janet Ley; and the Valenzuela City-based Technicolors International Inc. and its president Erlina Bert.

The bureau said LCDC had tax liabilities amounting to P14.29 million for 2007, while Technicolors owed the government P27.37 million for 2009.

A BIR complaint was also filed against Iligan Cargo Masters Inc. of Sta. Elena, Iligan City, for alleged nonpayment of P34.66 million in taxes for 2009 and 2010. The company’s vice president and chief executive officer Serafin Ferraren, chief operations officer Arvee de los Reyes and chief financial officer Pablo Buot were included as respondents in the complaint.