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Three
officials of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) were ordered
dismissed by the Ombudsman for trying to extort from a resort
owner in Panglao.
The
Office of the Ombudsman issued the dismissal order last Wednesday
against Special Investigation Division chief Bonifacio Ybanez,
Revenue Officer 1 Edgar Palgan and Intelligence Officer III
Francis Mercado.
The
three officials are assigned at the Special Investigation
Division of BIR Region No. 13 in Cebu City.
The
complaint was filed by Alona Tropical Tourist Inn and Beach
Resort owner Leonila Montero, a former municipal councilor,
back in 2005.
Montero
claimed the three BIR officials promised to absolve her alleged
under-declared income in 2005 in exchange for P60,000.
The
three revenue officials purportedly found out about Montero's
understated income after staying for several occasions at
her resort allegedly to conduct surveillance.
According
to Montero, Palgan summoned her to the BIR Regional Office
in Cebu City to discuss surveillance findings which the three
officials conducted.
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Montero
was allegedly found under-declaring her income from
January to March 2005 which amounts to P200,970.61.
The BIR official, however, did not show Montero a copy
of the supposed surveillance findings.
It
was only during their second meeting at a coffee shop
in Cebu City that both Palgan and Mercado showed Montero
the written finding, the latter claimed in her complaint.
During
the first meeting, however, Mercado and Ybañez
allegedly discussed with Montero matters pertaining
to BIR rules and policies on collection of taxes.
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In
one of their meetings, Montero alleged that Mercado gave her
his calling card with his ATM bank account number on it, and
that the latter wanted her to deposit the agreed amount of
P60,000 to clear her of supposed violation for under-declaring
her income.
However,
Montero sought the assistance of Panglao police who collaborated
with the Cebu City Police Office to carry out an entrapment
operation on August 2, 2005 when Palgan and Ybañez
were caught in the act of receiving money from Montero.
In
his counter-affidavit, Ybañez denied demanding money
from Montero nor having authorized any of his staff to solicit
money from her.
On
the other hand, Palgan claimed that Alona Tropical Tourist
Inn and Beach Resort was among those enumerated in a denunciation
letter by a concerned taxpayer identified as Benjamin Udtohan
for non-declaration of true income and non-payment of correct
taxes.
Based
on the Ombudsman's finding, Palgan had several official meetings
with Montero in order to convince the latter to comply with
her obligations.
But
Palgan insisted that he had no knowledge about the alleged
proposal of Mercado that she should just pay them instead
of paying the government.
But
in a 42-page decision, Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez ruled
that the denunciation letter did not mention Alona Tropical
and that the officials "were not clothed with any authority
to conduct the investigation and surveillance operation."
The
Ombudsman added that "the acts committed by respondents
Ybañez, Mercado and Palgan appear to have been motivated
by bad faith and corruption and thus, constitute Grave Misconduct."
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