Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Bank of the Philippine Islands

EN BANC [C.T.A. EB CASE NO. 1173. March 1, 2016.] (C.T.A. Case No. 8350) COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE , petitioner , vs. BANK OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS , respondent . RESOLUTION On October 07, 2015, petitioner Commissioner of Internal Revenue filed via registered mail a Motion for Reconsideration of the Decision promulgated on September 16, 2015 by the Court En Banc . On November 12, 2015, a Resolution was promulgated, requiring Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) to file its comment within ten (10) days from receipt of such. Record shows that BPI received the said Resolution on December 11, 2015, and thus, had until December 21, 2015 within which to file its Comment. However, records Verification Report dated January 14, 2015 shows that respondent failed to file its Comment. Thus, this Court issued a Resolution submitting the Motion for Reconsideration for resolution on January 29, 2016. On February 11, 2016, BPI filed a Motion to Admit Comment to the Motion for Reconsideration, reasoning out the heavy workload in other equally important legal works and court hearings, compounded on the long yuletide season and subsequent holidays, that the handling counsel who was on vacation leave only found out about this sheer inadvertence when she was recently browsing the records of the case. It must be noted that BPI should have filed its Comment December 21, last year, or almost two (2) months as of this date. In fact, this Court has already submitted the Motion for Reconsideration for resolution. WHEREFORE , considering that the reason pointed out by BPI for its failure to file comment does not appear to be "exceptionally meritorious", the Motion to Admit Comment to Petitioner's Motion for Reconsideration is hereby DENIED . SO ORDERED . Juanito C. Castaeda, Jr., Lovell R. Bautista, Caesar A. Casanova, Esperanza R. Fabon-Victorino, Cielito N. Mindaro-Grulla, Amelia R. Cotangco-Manalastas and Ma. Belen M. Ringpis-Liban, JJ., concur. Roman G. del Rosario, P.J., inhibited. Erlinda P. Uy, J., is on leave.