Execution of judgment on landmark tax evasion case postponed

MANILA, Philippines - The execution of judgment yesterday on a woman convicted of tax evasion was postponed after her lawyer reported her to be sick and could not attend proceedings.

Gloria Kintanar, a distributor of Forever Living products, was found guilty of evading the payment P6.3 million in taxes.

The Court of Tax Appeals Third Division reset the execution of judgment on Kintanar on Monday.

Her lawyer Salvador Quebral went to court yesterday and presented a medical certificate from a clinic in Novaliches.

Kintanar was suffering from “hypertension with severe dizziness,” Quebral said.

Associate Justice Juanito Castañeda Jr. said they were canceling yesterday’s execution of judgment “in the interest of humanitarian justice.”

An arrest warrant would be issued against Kintanar if she fails to attend the proceedings on Monday, he added.

Before Kintanar’s conviction, another tax evader had been sentenced, Lourdes de Guzman, the “Pajero lady.”

Kintanar’s case underwent a full-blown trial while De Guzman had pleaded guilty.

The Supreme Court affirmed the CTA’s conviction of Kintanar and the judgment became final and executory.

Kintanar was sentenced to a minimum of one year and a maximum of two years in prison for each violation.

 Kintanar’s case is a landmark as the SC upheld the CTA’s doctrine on ‘”willful blindness,” the Bureau of Internal Revenue said.

Castañeda and Associate Justices Olga Palanca-Enriquez and Erlinda P. Uy   penned the CTA doctrine on “willful blindness.”

Under the doctrine, an individual or corporation can no longer say that the errors on their tax returns are not their responsibility or that it is the fault of the accountant they had hired.

The BIR filed the case against Kintanar in 2005 for failing to file her income tax return for 2000 and 2001. Kintanar earned substantial income as independent contractor of Forever Living Products Philippines Inc.