2 assessors guilty of admin case

CEBU, Philippines — The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas has suspended two employees of the Office of the Provincial Assessor of Cebu Province for nine months after they were found guilty of an administrative case over irregular approval of a tax declaration.

Graft investigation and prosecution officer Rogie Dela Cuesta-Fernandez held assistant provincial assessor Mariflor Vero and local assessment operations officer Exuverancia Oliverio administratively liable for conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.

“…it is clear that respondents’ unauthorized approval and issuance of the subject TD (tax declaration) despite the non-submission of a CAR (Certificate Authorizing Registration) in violation of established laws, and reliance on the extrajudicial adjudication with sale bearing no signatures of witnesses, show that they failed to live up to the standards required of their office,” the decision read.

The case stemmed from the complaint filed by Agripina Dangculos Vasaya.

Vasaya, daughter and authorized representative of Valeriano Dangculos claimed Lot No. 1444, the subject property, was part of the 4,000 square meters her mother bought from an heir of Ambrosio Dangculos. Lot No. 1444 was erroneously declared in the name of the later Francisco Dangculos in Tax Declaration No. 41-10979.

Later, the Santander Municipal Assessor cancelled Franciscos’s tax declaration.

Vasaya proceeded to the Office of the Provincial Assessor to obtain a tax declaration number for the subject property, but it was denied because of an existing TD No. 13820-A issued in the name of Mendoza.

Vasaya alleged TD No. 13820-A was irregularly issued to cause the transfer of the subject property to the name of Mendoza. Despite Mendoza’s failure to submit a CAR, respondents still issued a tax declaration in favor of the former and approved it.

Vero and Oliverio denied the allegations that they irregularly issued the tax declaration in favor of Mendoza. They claimed the absence of a CAR was allowed under the September 11, 2003 memorandum of former Provincial Assessor Anthony Sususco.

As to the approval made by Vero, they claimed it was supported by the Citizen’s Charter.

Fernandez ruled in favor of Vasaya. She said the issuance of a tax declaration despite the failure to submit a CAR is in violation of Administrative Order No. 186.

“It may be inferred from the foregoing required annotations that the submission of a CAR is a precondition to the issuance of a new tax declaration in favor of a new owner to ensure that transfer tax payments are made,” read the decision.

Fernandez added Vero has no authority to approve the issuance of a tax declaration as it was the duty of the provincial assessor. There was no showing that such authority was delegated to Vero.

Governor Hilario Davide was directed to implement the order of suspension against Vero and Oliverio. (FREEMAN)