BIR Ruling [DA-113-00]

February 21, 2000 BIR RULING [DA-113-00] Ms . Estelita V . Datu Chief, Personnel Division This Bureau M a d a m : This refers to your 1st Indorsement letter dated January 3, 2000 relative to the letter of Ms. Lina S. Videna dated December 24, 1999 requesting for the payment of all her back salaries, allowances, incentives and fringe benefits from February 7, 1994 to December 22, 1999. Documents submitted show that Ms. Lina S. Videna was a Group Supervisor assigned at the Revenue District Office No. 38, North Quezon City; that she was administratively charged for Grave Misconduct and Violation of Reasonable Office Regulation on January 25, 1994 and was preventively suspended for 90-days commencing on February 7, 1994, but such 90-day preventive suspension was not lifted by then BIR Commissioner Chato; that her suspension lasted until December 22, 1999 when the administrative charge against her was finally disclosed exonerating her from the charge as per the BIR's Decision on BIR Administrative Case No. 2094-99; that pertinent portions of the antecedent facts are hereby quoted as follows: "That as a Revenue Group Supervisor in Revenue District No. 38, North Quezon City, you, together with Naneth Kasala, a Revenue Officer thereat, made an assessment on Jagas Construction Inc., of No. 99 Baco St., Quezon City, for its 1990 tax liability, in the amount of P275,547.42, broken as follow: Income Tax Deficiency P 268,423.50 Expanded Withholding Tax 7,123.93 P275,547.42 "That sometime on the 1st week of January, 1994, the two (2) of you informed Mr. Josefino Gascon, a Director of the said construction firm, in the presence of Adela Pacleb, the company's bookkeeper, about the assessment of P275,547.42 and that it could be reduced to not more than P10,000.00 for the payment of Expanded Withholding Tax (EWT), Income Tax Deficiency (ITD) and Value Added Tax (VAT), if Mr. Gascon could produce the amount of P25,000.00 as "under the table" consideration; that Mr. Gascon told you that he would think it over; that on January 11, 1994, RO Kasala phoned Mr. Gascon to inform him that you instructed her to call and inquire from him whether he was amenable to the P25,000.00 deal and to pay less than P10,000.00 representing the firm's tax payment for EWT, ITD and VAT; that Mr. Gascon agreed and RO Kasala told him that you, together with RO Kasala, would meet him at the Alps Restaurant. Mr. Gascon with Ms. Pacleb and NBI Special Investigator Ana Labao, posing as Mr. Gascon's wife, proceeded to your office at the Mezzanine floor of the BIR BLDG., Quezon City, where after showing to Mr. Gascon the reduced assessment and your signature on the Authority To Accept Payments (ATAPs), you, together with RO Kasala and Maribeth Canlapan, your private Secretary, were caught by NBI agents in "flagrante delicto" after RO Kasala received from Mr. Gascon the white envelope containing the marked money; and that you also hired the services of Maribeth Canlapan, as your private secretary, in violation of existing revenue regulation, to the damage and prejudice of the revenue service. . . ." that the dispositive portion of the BIR Decision reads as follows: "Based on the testimonies of Mr. Gascon and Adela Pacleb, the bookkeeper, there was no participation of the Respondent in the arrangement between the former and Revenue Officer Naneth Kasala. Respondent's only participation was the affixing of her signatures on the three (3) ATAPs which reduced the assessment on the EWT, ITD and VAT of the taxpayer to a total amount of less than P10,000.00 and which were to prescribe very soon, and bringing of the ATAPs and pertinent documents to the Revenue District Officer for his signature and approval after affixing hers thereon. She was unaware of the white envelope containing the tax money was among the documents she was to carry to the RDO. She denied the statement of Mr. Gascon that she will give the RDO his share of the money. It is incredible indeed that Respondent would tell Mr. Gascon about the partition of the "loot". Even the court in the corresponding criminal case against herein Respondent stated/opined that "transaction of this nature is done covertly and not openly and flauntingly. There was no reason for Videna to make such a detailed explanation." "Likewise, nothing in the record or from the testimonies of the witnesses for the prosecution would show that herein Respondent conspired with Naneth Kasala in the "under-the-table" arrangement of reducing the tax liabilities of the taxpayer for a consideration of P25,000.00 which is evidently the exclusive handwork of the latter. Respondent was dragged into the case because of her needed signature on the three (3) ATAPs prepared by Kasala without knowing the latter's indecent motive except the fact that the tax case was about to prescribe and her customary duty of carrying/bringing of tax documents prepared by her group to the Revenue District Officer for his information, approval of signature." xxx xxx xxx "Taking quasi-judicial notice on the Decision rendered by the court in herein Respondent's Criminal Case No. Q-95-02581, the dispositive portion states that "the prosecution failed to show convincingly, that Videna actively participated in the commission of bribery. She did not perform any overt act in pursuance thereof; and after all when the evidence for the accused are weighed, the scales must be tipped in favor of the accused. (People vs. Picardel, 145 SCRA 647). Consequently, Lina S. Videna was acquitted based on reasonable doubt." "Anent the charge of Violation of Reasonable Office Rules and Regulations, Respondent explained that she did not hire the service of Maribeth Canlapan as her private secretary. She was a free lance and part time typist whose service were availed of occasionally because of the voluminous tax dockets and reports that they have to submit before the end of that week. Her compensation is divided by the Respondent and examiners at P100.00 a day. There is no evidence to show that the revenue service was prejudiced thereby. "WHEREFORE, premises considered, Respondent Lina S. Videna is hereby exonerated from the Formal Charge." Based on the foregoing decision of the BIR on Ms. Videna's administrative case, exonerating her from the formal charge of Gross Misconduct and Violation of Reasonable Office Rules and Regulations, this Office is of the opinion as it hereby holds that Ms. Lina Videna is entitled to the payment of her back salaries, allowances, incentives and other monetary benefits which the other revenue employees of the same rank have received, from February 7, 1994 until December 22, 1999. Furthermore, she shall likewise be entitled to accumulate her leave credits from the time she was preventively suspended until her resumption of duty. (BIR Ruling No. 119-99 dated August 11, 1999) Very truly yours, Commissioner of Internal Revenue By: (SGD.) SIXTO S. ESQUIVIAS IV Deputy Commissioner (Legal and Enforcement Group)