7 BIR employees dismissed; 4 officers charged with graft

MANILA, Philippines – The Ombudsman has ordered the dismissal of seven revenue employees for various offenses including failure to justify their ostentatious lifestyles.

Four other revenue officers were charged with various graft cases before the Sandiganbayan.

One of those ordered dismissed, Beltran Dy, is a stockholder of Petron Corp. and Asiavest Credit Corp. who had gone abroad 18 times since 1995 despite his meager income of P300,000 a year as chief revenue officer of the Bureau of Internal Revenue district in Balanga City in Bataan. Dy was also found to own several real estate properties and vehicles.

Ombudsman Ma. Merceditas Gutierrez said Dy’s actual assets stand at P36 million as against the P2.9 million he declared in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth or SALN.

Dy joined BIR as revenue inspector on May 5, 1968. From 1971 to 2004, he declared total earnings of about P2.985 million solely from his salary.

In his SALN from 1993 to 2003, Dy did not declare any liability.

Gutierrez said many of Dy’s properties are under the names of his children who “do not have the capacity to acquire the same.”

The other six BIR employees ordered dismissed by the Ombudsman were Quezon City district revenue examiner Andres Gabagat Jr.; Iloilo City district revenue collection officers Ma. Antonietta Tabobo, Sari Umadhay and Heddan Baltazar; former Aurora district revenue collection agent Rosalinda Francia; and Cebu City district employee Leonila Janiola.

Gabagat failed to justify his acquisition of a house and lot worth P1 million in La Loma, Quezon City in 2001. He earned only more than P136,000 that year.

Records showed that Gabagat started his career in the BIR in 1990 as Revenue Examiner I with an annual salary of only P39,708. His net worth of P125,000 in 1988 suspiciously ballooned to P1.12 million after two years.

Tabobo, on the other hand, was dismissed after she failed to remit an unaccounted amount of P564,832.091 despite being asked to do so in a demand letter.

Umadhay was ordered dismissed from the service for receiving P258,000 for the payment of estate and capital gains taxes of a certain Mary Lynn Franco and for her services in the processing of the documents.

Gutierrez said Revenue Memorandum Order No. 15-03 authorizes only the Revenue Collection Officer or Deputized Municipal Treasurer to receive payment of taxes in the absence of an Authorized Agent Bank.

She also said the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees prohibits public officials and employees from soliciting and accepting cash or any gift or from any person in the course of their official duties.

Baltazar was dismissed from the service for malversation of public funds amounting to over P155,000.

It was found that Baltazar also had “98 sets of accountable unused Revenue Official receipts with serial numbers 02538603 to 02538700 which he failed to remit.”

Francia was ordered dismissed from the service for failure to account for a total of P863,819.45 in government funds.

Janiola was also dismissed for failure to process the title of a parcel of land despite having received a total of P52,000 as payment for capital gains tax and other fees.

Sandiganbayan case

Facing graft charges with the Sandiganbayan were Butuan City district regional director Tamanatao Amerol, Kidapawan City district revenue officer Kamil Bajunaid, and Cebu City district revenue officers Cosme Monteclaros Jr. and Nieto Racho.

In separate resolutions, the Ombudsman ordered the filing of criminal charges against Amerol and his wife Nora for their unexplained wealth amounting to P9,276,148 acquired between 1993 and 2003.

The Ombudsman also ordered the filing of perjury charges against the BIR official for his failure to disclose certain properties and businesses in his SALN during the period.

The undeclared assets include four lots, six commercial buildings, a bachelor’s pad, two dormitories, and a two-storey residential building.

The anti-graft office also ordered the filing of two counts of malversation of public funds against Monteclaros for the disappearance of P19,500 in his accounts as Revenue Collection officer of Tuburan, Cebu from April to November 2003, and of Tabuclan, Cebu, from July 1996 to November 2003.

Racho, on the other hand, was charged with falsification of a public document for presenting a fraudulent Special Power of Attorney (SPA) as part of his defense in a separate case filed against him.