Duterte donors must pay taxes—Kim Henares

REVENUE Commissioner Kim Henares yesterday said persons who gave properties and vehicles to Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte could face investigation as to whether they paid donors’ taxes and whether their donations were properly executed.

“The liability here is if there is donor’s tax [paid by the] one who donated. Under the scenario of taxation, that’s not the liability of Mayor Duterte but of the giver,” Henares told reporters at the Department of Justice after leading officials of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in the filing of tax cases against several companies and individuals.

“If it were true that those [properties and vehicles] were given to them (Duterte and his family), he has no liability. The one who gave should pay donor’s tax. It’s not Mayor Duterte who will declare the donation but the donor,” the commissioner said.

She also explained that under the Civil Code, the donor should execute a deed of donation, which should contain a notation that the donee or recipient accepted the donation. The deed should also be notarized, she said.

Henares said she thinks Duterte has another liability, not with the BIR but with another agency in charge of or enforcing another law. She declined to elaborate, saying the matter was beyond her jurisdiction.

As a general rule, government officials are not allowed to accept gifts. All properties and vehicles should also be declared in one’s statement of assets and liabilities, which is filed annually at the Office of the Ombudsman.

Early this week, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, a vice presidential candidate, claimed Duterte and members of his family owned some 40 properties in Davao region and Metro Manila to counter the mayor’s claims that he is poor and not corrupt.

Duterte had admitted receiving properties and cars from Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, founder and head of the local Kingdom of Jesus Christ church.

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