Sandiganbayan affirms BIR officer’s conviction for malversation

The Sandiganbayan First Division affirmed the conviction for malversation of a revenue collection officer in Tulunan, Cotabato for embezzling P4.05 million in taxpayers’ money from 1993 to 1996.

In its decision promulgated April 7, the anti-graft court affirmed the conviction for malversation of public funds under the Revised Penal Code rendered by the Kidapawan City Regional Trial Court against Pilar Flores, who was then a Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collection officer.

The anti-graft court affirmed the sentence slapped against Flores of 14 years, eight months, and one day (reclusion temporal medium as minimum) up to 17 years, four months, and one day (reclusion temporal as maximum), as well as her perpetual disqualification from public office and a fine equivalent to the malversed amount of P4,050,579.06.

The accused was directed to pay the government the P4.05 million in actual damages with a yearly interest of 6 percent.

In her appeal filed before the Sandiganbayan in July 2016, Flores said the court erred in convicting her because the prosecution failed to present primary documentary evidence, such as tax receipts and dishonored checks.

Citing findings of the Commission on Audit (COA), prosecutors accused Flores of remitting P3,386,050.77 in dishonored checks to the national treasury, on top of another P664,528.29 in unremitted collections, with a total shortage at P4,050,579.06.

The trial court relied instead on certifications from bank officers, which should only pass as secondary evidence inadmissible under the Rules of Court, Flores said.

She also lamented that the court did not consider her cash receipts book, especially because state auditors had no findings that she malversed taxpayers’ money.

Flores also pinned the blame on a colleague, Juanita Elevado, who she alleged bloated the collection of taxes by including those outside Tulunan. Elevado also allegedly gave Flores the receipts for collections made outside Tulunan without Flores’s knowledge.

In its decision, the anti-graft court found no merit in Flores’s claim that the bank officers’ certifications were hearsay evidence, noting that the bank officers only testified on transactions handled by their respective banks over which they have personal knowledge of.

“The Court finds no cogent reason to disturb the findings of the trial court with respect to the testimonies of these witnesses, as said court is in the best position to determine their credibility,” the Sandiganbayan said.

The anti-graft court also affirmed the trial court’s findings that Flores’s cash receipts book could not exculpate her of the crime and that the BIR and COA auditors relied on the monthly audit of the book which contained Flores’s entries.

Finally, the anti-graft court found “incredulous” Flores’s claim that Elevado bloated the collection of taxes. The prosecution also said Elevado could no longer testify since she had alreay died.

The court said “it does not follow” Flores would receive and enter into her books the receipts taken without permission for taxes which were collected outside Tulunan, because this would result in a shortage, for which she may already be held criminally and administratively liable.

“This Court… doubts the accused’s assertion that she entered into her cash receipts book in her own handwriting the receipts from Elevado’s alleged collections, especially since they were purportedly collected outside Tulunan,” the court said.

“Moreover, the accused herself claimed that Elevado took the receipts without her knowledge, and made the alleged collection without her consent,” the court added. “If this were indeed the case, it does not follow that the accused would receive and enter into her books the receipts taken without permission for taxes which were collected outside Tulunan.”

The court said that, even assuming the taxes were bloated due to collections outside Tulunan, it still agreed with the trial court”s pronouncement that Flores was accountable over the malversed taxes.

Flores had also failed to comply with the demands to pay the government the embezzled fund, the court noted.

“For failure of the accused to produce the shortage upon demand for funds which she is accountable for, and her inability to satisfactorily explain why she is unable to produce such funds, the trial court did not err in finding her guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of malversation of public funds,” the court said.

The decision was penned by Associate Justice Efren Dela Cruz, who chairs the First Division, and concurred in by Associate Justices Geraldine Faith Econg and Bernelito Fernandez. /atm