PAGC vows to finish probe of BIR officials

The Presidential Anti-Graft Commission vowed yesterday it would finish within 45 days its investigation on the administrative cases filed against three officials of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for their unexplained wealth.

PAGC Chairman Dario Rama said his agency has already begun its probe on resigned BIR regional director Lucien Sayuno, assistant commissioners Edwin Abella and Percival Salazar in conjunction with the criminal investigation being conducted by the Ombudsman.

"We are in the process of investigating the administrative side of the cases against the three BIR officials because the criminal side is being investigated by the Ombudsman. We intend to finish our investigation within 45 days," Rama said.

He said the PAGC has already requested government agencies like the Department of Finance (DOF), Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Registrar of Deeds to furnish the agency documents it will need for its investigation.

Rama said the PAGC would likely finish its probe ahead of the Ombudsman because of its smaller number of pending cases, allowing it to submit its recommendation to President Arroyo at the soonest time.

BIR Commissioner Guillermo Parayno on Monday relieved Abella and Salazar of their duties and reassigned them to his office after the DOF filed charges against them before the Ombudsman.

The two BIR assistant commissioners were slapped with corruption charges, along with resigned BIR regional director Lucien Sayuno and Manuel Valencia, warehousing chief at the Bureau of Customs.

Parayno said Sayuno effectively dodged the administrative charges by resigning from the BIR but the government lawyers will still be filing criminal charges against him.

State prosecutors said Abella, Salazar, Sayuno and Valencia were charged with various offenses, ranging from unexplained wealth to falsification of public documents, which carries a minimum prison term of six years.

They could be suspended, dismissed or permanently disqualified from holding public office and their unexplained wealth confiscated, the lawyers said.

A DOF investigation showed that Abella, whose monthly salary was only around P24,800, declared P10.2 million worth of assets with liabilities of P1.7 million or a net worth of P8.5 million.

Salazar, on the other hand, declared his net worth to be about P3.8 million. He was found to have undeclared assets, including an unregistered printing company that also owned a number of properties.

Sayuno’s assets supposedly include a house and lot in the posh Ayala Alabang Village, 12 luxury vehicles and memberships in expensive golf clubs.

His net worth was P3.3 million, when he was only receiving P22,700 every month, records showed.

Valencia, who receives only P21,200 monthly, had a declared net worth of P1.5 million, but DOF investigators discovered undeclared assets, including about $3.8 million in cash, five lots in Parañaque and a rice farmland in General Trias, Cavite.

In Malacañang, President Arroyo exhorted the public to report corrupt government officials to the authorities.

"The people must be the eyes and ears of the government to deter corruption from the street level to the corridors of the bureaucracy," the President said.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said during his daily press briefing that officials of other government agencies are already under investigation and would likely be charged soon but he refused to give details.

"The President really wants an honest-to-goodness investigation as well as prosecution of those involved no matter how high. So it depends on the extent of evidence that will be gathered by the investigating teams," Bunye said.

Although he refused to identify the government agencies supposedly involved, Bunye cited previous opinion surveys that tagged the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Transportation and Communication’s Land Transportation Office (LTO).

"If you go by past surveys, there are some agencies that ranked very high in terms of ‘perceived’ corruption. Let us just refer to the surveys, " he said.

In a press statement released yesterday, the President reiterated her resolve to address corruption in government.

"Our democracy has the means and tools to check and contain corruption and we will use these tools to the fullest extent. We will combine both prosecution and procedural reforms," the President said.

"The crackdown will be on live suspects as well as on red tape," she added.