The P3 billion must be paid in full, Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II said on Tuesday, referring to the compromise tax deal demanded by President Duterte from Mighty Corp. (MC), the oldest Filipino cigarette firm.
“The President is asking for only P3 billion in one full payment if the government wants to have its cases against MC dropped,” Aguirre said.
He also noted that the President said the tax-evasion complaint filed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) against MC before his office might drag on for years in court, thus, the compromise to enable the government to utilize the hefty sum on urgent needs.
BIR officials who are conducting the audit on Mighty’s warehouses reportedly cleared only 80 master cases a day at the San Simon, Pampanga, warehouse, where the government seized 73,244 master cases.
Each master case contains 50 reams or 500 packs that BIR officials are scanning one by one.
Earlier, Duterte said the P3 billion will be given to the Department of Health for the construction of much-needed hospitals in the war-torn southern provinces of Basilan and Sulu.
To conduct the preliminary investigation on the tax-evasion complaint filed by the BIR, the DOJ already formed a panel of prosecutors composed of Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Sebastian Caponong Jr. as chairman, and Assistant State Prosecutors Ma. Lourdes Uy and Mary Ann Parong, as members.
About a month ago, the BIR filed against the homegrown cigarette firm a complaint for unlawful possession of articles subject to excise tax without payment and for allegedly possessing false, counterfeit, restored or altered stamps in violation of Sections 263 and 265(c) of the National Revenue Code of 1997.
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I am sure that I read and viewed on TV , that even more Mighty were found in shipping containers and in a warehouse. What about the tax on them ? Should it not be added to the 3Bn that was suggested by the President ?