BIR files P23-M tax case vs 2 ex-GSIS execs

MANILA, Philippines—The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) filed on Thursday tax evasion suits totaling P23 million against two former trustees of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) who allegedly failed to report income earned between 2004 and 2010.

BIR Commissioner Kim Henares filed cases of violation of the Tax Code against Esperanza Ocampo and Mario Ramirez in the Department of Justice.

They were alleged to have violated Sections 254 and 255 of the code for their alleged attempt to evade or defeat the payment of taxes and for failure to file income tax returns, respectively, for taxable years 2004 to 2010 in the case of Ocampo, and from 2008 to 2020 in Ramirez’s case.

Ocampo represented the government employees’ sector on the GSIS board of trustees during the Arroyo administration, while Ramirez represented public school teachers.

The two were among the subjects of a recent Senate inquiry into the excessive bonuses of government corporation executives.

The Senate inquiry, according to Henares, led the BIR to look into Ocampo’s and Ramirez’s financial records using documents obtained from the GSIS, specifically on their income as directors.

BIR investigators discovered that Ocampo received a taxable income from the GSIS of P27.7 million and Ramirez P18.3 million.

Both, however, “deliberately and repeatedly concealed and failed to declare their income,” Henares said.

Estela Sales, BIR deputy commissioner for the legal and inspection group, said a check of the BIR system “exposed their (Ocampo and Ramirez’s) failure—in a willful and repetitive vicious manner—to file income tax returns and pay the taxes due.”

Sales said Ocampo’s tax liability was P13,783,483.54, inclusive of surcharges and interest, while Ramirez’s was P9,366,580.93.

“We are looking at everyone that needs to be looked at,” Henares replied when asked if the BIR would also look at officials of other government corporations.

“Those we have not investigated, they should now file. They know how much income they earned and how much they reported, if there’s anything they reported. I hope everyone will declare the right income. Sooner or later, we will be able to detect it,” Henares said.

The BIR has also charged a businessman in Pangasinan with failure to pay P162.7 million in taxes in 2007 and 2008.

Henares said Danilo Robles of Urdaneta City “substantially under-declared his income in the first quarter of 2007, and deliberately failed to report altogether the rest of his income for 2007 and his entire income for 2008.”

Robles was a dealer in mobile phones, SIM cards, e-load and prepaid cards. The BIR found purchases he made totaling P496 million from two telecom firms in 2007 and 2008.

Yet he allegedly declared an income of only P680,000 in the first quarter of 2007 and nothing else for the rest of the year and 2008. He also failed to register his business for value-added tax coverage, Henares said.