A new batch of graft cases have been filed at the Sandiganbayan against dementia-stricken former Finance Undersecretary Antonio Belicena and 30 others in connection with the 1990s tax credit scam.
This set of 45 graft cases pertained to the approval of 45 tax credit certificates (TCC) totaling P112.61 million in favor of Mannequin International Corp. from March 1995 to March 1998.
The TCCs were allegedly issued despite Mannequin’s lack of legal entitlement to the tax perk, according to the charge sheets signed by Assistant Special Prosecutor Sheri Zales.
Mannequin did not export any product, and the supporting public documents attached to its tax credit application are “fake, spurious and/or non-existent,” the prosecution alleged.
The grant of tax credits to Mannequin came at “the damage and prejudice of the government,” in violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
Belicena and One-Stop Shop Inter-Angecy Tax Credit and Duty Drawback Center Deputy Executive Director Uldarico Andutan Jr. each face 45 counts of violating Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. Textile Division Reviewer Asuncion Magdaet, meanwhile, was charged with 43 counts.
The following employees of the tax credit office were also charged: clerk Emelita Tizon and tax specialist Annabelle Diño (six counts each); tax specialist Merose Tordesilla (five counts); clerk Cherry Gomez and senior tax specialist Charmelle Recoter (four counts); planning officer Maria Cristina Moncada, senior tax specialist Sylvialina Daguimol, and administrative aide Gemma Ortiz-Abara (three counts); senior tax specialist Mark Binsol, and tax specialists Purita Napeñas and Gregoria Cuento-Evangelio (two counts); and planning officer III Rowena Malonzo-Maño, and tax specialists Manuel Rigor III, Paul Patricio Senador and Marife Cabadin (one count each).
Also slapped with 45 counts of graft were the following Mannequin officials: incorporators/directors Melchor Tan, Genoveva Tan, Julio Tan Jr., Blanquita Patawaran-Tan; general manager/director Edgardo Olandez; vice-president Bernard Farin; director Edmund Arandia; president Michael Ray Quimpo; corporate secretary Alicia Bautista; chief liaison officer Cristina Castillo; chief accountant Leonardo Raña; secretary and payroll officer Elena Buenaventura; and representative Dondon Pamatmat.
Tax credits are granted to Bureau of Investment-registered entities representing tariff duties and internal revenue taxes paid on raw materials and supplies used for export products.
In lieu of a cash refund, TCCs may be used to offset internal revenue liabilities. Entitled firms with no liabilities to apply the tax credit against were previously allowed to transfer their TCCs to another buyer until the BIR prohibited the practice in 2011.
The Department of Finance first discovered in July 1998 the anomalies in the issuance of TCCs. To facilitate the illicit issuance of TCCs, fraudulent or spurious documents were allegedly submitted to the One-Stop Shop Inter-Agency Tax Credit and Duty Drawback Center, established in 1992 to help expedite tax credit claims. This ended up defrauding the government of up to P2.5 billion in revenues.
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