BAGUIO CITY – The Department of Justice (DOJ) dismissed the tax evasion charges filed against several former and current officials of the Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) in relation to the under-declaration of the purchase value of its real property along South Drive and the under-remittance of the supposed taxes due for lack of probable cause.
In an 18-page resolution approved by Prosecutor-General Claro Arellano, the tax evasion charges filed against Beneco general manager Gerardo P. Verzosa and former members of the Board of Directors Victorio Palangdan, now Itogon Municipal Mayor, Benny Bomogao, now a City Councilor, and George Montes and a certain Kenneth Lopez, have no ground to stand in court.
Sometime in 2009, Beneco bought two parcels of land from Banco de Oro for the agreed price in the amount of P183.4 million and at that time, there was still a pending dispute on the ownership of the properties among BDO, Forward Properties, Inc., and the estate of Fernando and Bernardina Jacinto, both represented by Ramon Jacinto, pending before the courts.
After negotiations, the disputing parties entered into a compromise agreement to settle their respective claims and agreed to, among others, sell the property to Beneco with the electric cooperative as a buyer; BDO, Forward Properties Inc., and the estate of Fernando and Bernardina Jacinto agreed to enter into an escrow agreement defining the obligations, responsibilities and duties of the parties relative to the intended purchase of the properties.
Beneco, through its Board of Directors, passed Resolution No. 24-2009 authorizing the purchase of the two parcels of land covering an area of 12,229.8 square meters for a total consideration of more than P183.4 million.
On November 24, 2009, Beneco passed Resolution No. 94-2009 approving the proposal of BDO for the latter to transfer the titles of the land in the name of the cooperative instead of Ramon Jacinto, and authorizing Bomogao, Director and Vice President, to sign for and on behalf of the cooperative, the escrow agreement and the deed of absolute sale covering the properties.
On December 12, 2009, Bomogao signed the escrow agreement, on behalf of Beneco, while BDO was represented by Melanie S. Belen and Gertrudes G. Lumain, senior vice president and vice president of BDO, respectively, Ramon Jacinto and the estate of Fernando and Bernardino Jacinto was represented by its court-appointed administrator Ramon Jacinto and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP as escrow agent was represented by its vice president and trust officer Rhoda T. Celis).
The resolution stated that it is safe to say that when Bomogao signed the deed of absolute sale for a consideration of more than P85 million, he had no authority to do so. Moreover, Bomogao admitted that he acted on his own when he signed the said agreement and therefore, Beneco and the other officers, Palangdan, Montes and Verzosa, could not be said to have wilfully and deliberately participated in understating the consideration reflected in the questioned deed of absolute sale in order to reduce taxes to be imposed by the government on such sale.
While it may be true that it is surprising why it appears that the Beneco Board has not imposed any sanction against Bomogao for his unauthorized act, which was the main cause of the problems besetting the said cooperative with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the resolution stated the same is not sufficient to conclude that the element of wilfulness is present on the part of Beneco.
Moreover, despite the fact Beneco had no participation in the reduction of the creditable withholding tax and documentary stamp tax imposable in the questioned transaction, the DOJ ruled that Beneco, upon resolution of the Board, decided to pay the tax deficiencies noted by the BIR, albeit under protest.
On the other hand, the resolution pointed out Bomogao could not also be held liable for the charges filed against him for insufficiency of evidence. While it is clear that the act of Bomogao in signing the deed of absolute sale providing for the consideration of P85 million instead of P183.4 million, which grossly understated the selling price and resulting to the under-declaration of the purchase price to the tune of P98.4 million, the resolution claimed that he could not be made liable for such offenses charged.
The resolution stated that Bomogao was not the person responsible for filing the questioned tax returns.
As regards the charges filed against a certain Kenneth Lopez, the resolution likewise finds no probable cause to warrant the filing of information against him for insufficiency against him.
By HENT
