BIR sees favorable DOJ opinion on stamp tax

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is optimistic that it would get a favorable opinion from the Department of Justice (DOJ) on the fate of the negotiations with Swiss product security firm SICPA Product Security S.A. on the controversial unsolicited stamp-tax project.

In an interview with reporters, BIR Commissioner Joel Tan-Torres said the agency expects the DOJ to issue an opinion in a couple of weeks on whether the government should continue contract talks with SICPA.

“I’m optimistic that the DOJ will issue a decision favorable to us sooner than later,” Tan-Torres stressed.

It would be recalled that the BIR sought the legal opinion of the DOJ after a congressional oversight committee ordered a stop in the negotiations with SICPA for possible violation of the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) law.

It likewise recommended the filing of charges against members of the BIR negotiating panel headed by BIR Deputy Commissioner Lilia Guillermo for allegedly giving undue preference to SICPA.

The BIR team has stopped negotiations with the Swiss stamp-tax contractor in deference to a committee report approved by Congress members ordering the BIR to cease entertaining the unsolicited proposal of the Swiss firm.

Guillermo earlier said the agency would only resume negotiations with SICPA as soon as it gets a favorable opinion from the DOJ.

“We have stopped negotiations. We’re awaiting the opinion of the DOJ if what we’re doing is illegal or not,” Guillermo said in an earlier interview.

Guillermo, together with the rest of the negotiating team, were recently charged before the Office of the Ombudsman by a group of tobacco farmers for violating the BOT law and giving special treatment to SICPA.

The tobacco farmers from Northern Luzon also said the P20 billion SICPA contract, when implemented, will kill the local tobacco industry.

In its recent amended complaint, the farmers named more BIR officials including BIR Deputy Commissioners Nelson Aspe, Celie King, Lucila Rodriguez, and Danilo Duncano as respondents to the case.

Tan-Torres have insisted that negotiations for the SICPA contract have still a long process to go and the BIR has yet to sign any document wrapping up the deal with the Switzerland-based product security firm.

In coming out against the SICPA negotiations, the House ways and means committee chaired by Antique Rep. Exequiel Javier urged concerned government agencies to investigate officials involved in the multibillion-peso tax stamp deal and to file appropriate criminal charges.

The Swiss firm is offering to install its own stamp-tax technology in the processing of cigarette imports and exports to the tune of P20 billion in seven years in exchange for curbing smuggling.