MANILA, Philipines - The Department of Finance has filed graft charges versus two employees from the country's chief revenue agencies for non-disclosure and false declarations in their sworn statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth.
The Finance department’s anti-corruption arm, Revenue Integrity Protection Service, filed criminal and administrative complaints before the Ombudsman on May 24 against Joselito Lopena, a utility worker I of the Bureau of Customs.
Investigators discovered that Lopena's net worth of P592,000 in 2001 shot upward to P992,000 the following year without financial liabilities. This further leapt in 2003 to P1.062 million. "During this 12-month period, it is doubtful how respondent could have legitimately earned said increase in his net worth when he was only receiving an annual gross salary of P60,984," the department said in its complaint. The amount is equivalent to a monthly salary of P5,082.
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Moreover, Lopena disclosed two liabilities in his 2004 SALN, which are agricultural supplies debt of P50,000 and P290,000 housing loan, but the house, for which the loan was incurred, was not reported in his SALN in 2004 and 2005. The respondent, also declared several purchases of cars and motorcycles, but were "conspicuously missing" from his SALNs during the years the vehicles were registered. RIPS also filed charges against revenue officer II Mercedes Espina of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in Quezon City.
The BIR officer allegedly reported in her 2008 SALN a 'liability' of P250,000 from loans owned to various creditors. However, citing records from the Summary of Loan Accounts with the Government Service Insurance System as of August 2011, it was discovered that Espina secured a salary loan on October 2004 for only P52,675. And based on the same certification, this loan further shrunk to only P4,467. "This presupposes a deliberate intent on the part of respondent to manipulate the entries in her SALNs to conceal her true net worth," investigators said.
source & image credit: Manila Standard Today & http://everythinginbudget.blogspot.com
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