Coloma denies overprinting of tax stamps for cigarettes, liquor

Former Presidential Communication Sonny Coloma. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/ JOAN BONFDOC

Former Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. has denied that there is overprinting of tax seals for liquor products and cigarettes after his successor Martin Andanar said that the Duterte administration will launch an audit to determine the veracity of the allegation.

In a statement, Coloma said that Andanar may have been fed with the wrong information.

“It is my humble opinion that Secretary Andanar may have prematurely affirmed the insinuations of alleged wrongdoing even absent the presentation of clear, concrete and convincing proof in a fair and impartial fact-finding inquiry,” Coloma said on Monday.

The former Palace official issued the statement after Andanar said that an official of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) told him about an oversupply of tax seals.

“I have ordered an audit … to show the public that it has been happening … It’s already happening before we came in,” Andanar said in a roundtable talk with Inquirer reporters and editors last Thursday.

READ: Overprinting of BIR tax stamps probed

The former television broadcaster said that the tax seals were being used “to sell cigarettes and alcoholic beverages that were smuggled into the country.”

But Coloma said that the fraud or tampering of tax stamps is highly unlikely as “stringent quality, process and security control measures have been put in place.”

The printing of tax stamps for liquor product is being conducted by the National Printing Office (NPO) in Quezon City while the printing of revenue stamps for cigarettes is being performed in the APO Production Unit at the Lima Technology Park in Malvar, Batangas, Coloma explained.

He also quoted former NPO acting Director Raul Nagrampa and APO General Manager Jaime Aldaba who told him that stringent measures are being observed in the printing of the revenue stamps.

Nagrampa told him that the printing of liquor stamps is closely supervised by the BIR as there are at least two (2) BIR representatives who directly supervise the entire process of printing, packing, loading, delivery and acceptance of revenue stamps.

On the other hand, Aldaba said that the APO and the BIR are in the process of finalizing a memorandum of agreement to cover the printing of revenue stamps for liquor products, adding that the APO security printing plant is better equipped to implement the Internal Revenue Stamp Integrated System (IRSIS) formulated by the BIR.

Coloma even gave an advice to his successor: “As Communications Secretary, it is his duty to first verify the accuracy of reports being fed to him before he discusses these publicly.”

NPO and APO are both under the Presidential Communications Office headed by Andanar. RAM/rga