Prohibition of Field and Office Investigation During the Christmas Season

November 29, 1978 REVENUE MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 096-78 SUBJECT : Prohibition of Field and Office Investigation During the Christmas Season TO : All Internal Revenue Officers and Others Concerned In accordance with the standing policy of this office to suspend all investigations during the Christmas season and to clear the backlog of pending cases, all fieldmen such as Revenue Examiners, Revenue Inspectors, Tobacco Inspectors, Revenue Seizure Agents, Special Investigators, and other fieldmen are hereby enjoined not to perform field or office investigation work during the period from December 11, 1978 to January 5, 1979. To guide the officials and employees, the following procedures are hereby promulgated for compliance by all those concerned: 1. Inasmuch as a seminar on new tax laws will be conducted from December 11, 1978 to January 5, 1979 for the National Office, Region 4-A and Region 4-B and December 12 to 21, 1978 for all other regions, examiners attending the seminar are strictly enjoined to be in their respective classes during the said period. The examiners after the end of the seminar in the case of regions other than RR 4-A and 4-B, those from the National Office, RR 4-A and RR 4-B during the period of the day that they are not attending the seminar (morning or afternoon) are hereby instructed to stay in their respective offices and perform the following: a. Prepare field and office audit reports of investigation which have been terminated and submit the corresponding reports for processing. Priority should be given to those cases which are about to prescribe, refund, and delinquent accounts. b. Prepare the monthly reports required: 1. Monthly reports required for the month of December, 1978 and for previous months if not yet submitted, should be submitted not later than January 5, 1979 and no fieldmen should be allowed to resume field or office investigation unless the required reports have been submitted as of the said date. 2. The monthly reports to be submitted should include not only those reports for assessment work but also collection reports, time records, travelling expense vouchers and such other monthly reports required of fieldmen. 2. Division Chiefs, Branch Chiefs, and Revenue District Officers concerned with the processing of the above-mentioned reports are required to expedite the processing thereof. 3. All monthly reports of activities required from the various units, districts, branches, divisions and services should be submitted not later than January 5, 1979. 4. Chiefs of Services, Regions, Divisions, Branches and District Offices are hereby instructed to require the employees under their jurisdiction whether they are fieldmen or not, to submit the required list of pending dockets or cases in their possession as of December 31, 1978. 5. The prohibition of conducting field or office audit investigation is absolute with the exception of Revenue Inspectors, Tobacco Inspectors and other fieldmen assigned to cigarette factories, distilleries, compounding establishments, gasoline terminals, depots, bulk stations and other establishments manufacturing articles subject to specific taxes, where Revenue Inspectors, Tobacco Inspectors and other fieldmen are assigned during the hours that the factories or establishments are operating. Revenue Inspectors and Tobacco Inspectors not assigned to any particular factory or establishment are to stay in their respective offices in the same manner as the other fieldmen. 6. All employees are hereby reminded of the prohibition contained in Presidential Decree No. 46 which is quoted hereunder: "NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the power vested in me by the Constitution and as Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and pursuant to Proclamation No. 1081 dated September 21, 1972, and General Order No. 1 dated September 22, 1972, do hereby make it punishable for any public official or employee, whether of the national or local governments, to receive, directly or indirectly, and for private persons to give, or offer to give, any gift, present or other valuable thing on any occasion, including Christmas, when such gift, present or other valuable thing is given by reason of his official position, regardless of whether or not the same is for past favor or favors or the giver hopes or expects to receive a favor or better treatment in the future from the public official or employee concerned in the discharge of his official functions. Included within the prohibition is the throwing of parties or entertainments in honor of the official or employee or of his immediate relatives. "For violation of this Decree, the penalty of imprisonment for not less than one (1) year nor more than five (5) years and perpetual disqualification from public office shall be imposed. The official or employee concerned shall likewise be subject to administrative disciplinary action and, if found guilty, shall be meted out the penalty of suspension or removal, depending on the seriousness of the offense." Revenue Service Chiefs, Regional Directors, Division Chiefs, Branch Chiefs, Revenue District Officers and other supervisors are hereby enjoined to give a wide publicity to the provisions of the circular and are hereby held responsible for the strict compliance of its provisions. Any violation thereof will be administratively dealt with. cdt EFREN I. PLANA Acting Commissioner