“Serious dishonesty”: Revenue officer dismissed

CEBU, Philippines - Finding probable cause, the anti-graft office found a revenue officer of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) District 82, Cebu City guilty of administrative case for serious dishonesty.

Graft investigation and prosecution officer Maria Regina Fernandez has dismissed Mae Cheryl Enguio from the service after she failed to turn over to the bureau P202,500 payment for taxes for the sale of a condominium unit.

However, it was learned that the respondent already resigned.

“The guilt of the respondent is unmistakable. As a public servant, nothing less than the highest sense of honesty and integrity is expected of her at all times. Regrettably, she fell extremely short of standards which should have governed her life as a public servant,” the decision reads.

The complaint was filed by the BIR.

Francis Fabian Borromeo said he sold his condominium unit at City Lights Garden Tower II in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City to RAF realty Enterprises for P4.5 million. The buyer was Rosalia Foulds.

He said since the buyer wanted to “expedite the transfer of the title” he went to the BIR and looked for the person who could hasten the transfer of title, including the payment of taxes on transfer, registration and clearances.

In there, Borromeo said a certain Matthew Aparte offered to help him in facilitating tax payments with the BIR. He said he asked Aparte to contact the respondent to assist him to have a BIR tax clearance and certificate “authorizing the registration for the transfer of the condominium unit.”

He added he gave P202,500 to Enguio for the payment of the required taxes and others.

However, Borromeo said she was surprised when she received a letter in March 2010 from the BIR that he failed to pay the capital gains tax of P520,312.05 pertaining to the sale of his condominium unit.

When Aparte called the respondent about the letter sent by the BIR to Borromeo, the latter told him to ignore it.

However, Borromeo said in Sept. 2010, he received a text message from his buyer informing him that the BIR Special Investigation Division requested for a document in relation to the sale of the condominium.

He said they tried to contact the respondent but failed.

The BIR Special Investigation Division summoned respondent for investigation to clear issues but the latter failed to attend.

Based on the foregoing evidence, Fernandez ruled to dismiss respondent from the service. She said the respondent failed to file his counter-affidavit despite notice.

Fernandez said they found out that respondent was not authorized to receive tax payments from taxpayers. —/JPM (FREEMAN)