Prohibition of Field and Office Investigation During the Christmas Season

December 8, 1976 REVENUE MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 39-76 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 and other fieldmen are hereby enjoined not to perform field or office investigation work during the period from December 16, 1976 to January 7, 1977. During the said period, they should stay in their respective offices and perform the following: 1. Prepare the field and office audit reports of all investigations which had been terminated and submit the report accordingly for processing. Priority should be given to cases which are about to prescribe, refund and delinquent accounts. 2. Prepare the monthly reports required: a. Monthly reports required for the month of December, 1976 should be submitted not later than January 5, 1977 and no fieldmen should be allowed to resume field or office investigation unless the required reports have been submitted as of the said date. b. The monthly reports to be submitted shall include not only those reports for assessment work but also collection reports, time records, travelling expense vouchers and such other monthly reports required from fieldmen. 3. Division Chiefs, Branch Chiefs, and Revenue District Officers concerned with the processing of field and office audit reports are required to expedite the processing thereof so that the assessment notices and letters of demand can be immediately processed and released. 4. All monthly reports of activities required from the various Units, Districts, Branches, Divisions and Services should likewise be submitted not later than January 5, 1977. 5. Chiefs of Services, Regions, Divisions, Branches and District Offices are hereby instructed to require from the employees in their respective units, whether they are fieldmen or not, the submission of the list of pending dockets or cases in their possession as of December 31, 1976. 6. The prohibition on conducting field and office audit investigations is absolute with the exception of Revenue Inspectors and other fieldmen assigned in cigarette factories, distilleries, compounders, gasoline terminals, depots and bulk stations and other establishments where Inspectors are assigned during the hours that the factories or establishments are operating. 7. All employees are hereby reminded of the prohibition of 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 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 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 Heads, Regional Directors, Division Chiefs, Revenue District Officers and other Supervisors are hereby held responsible for the strict compliance of the provisions of this Revenue Memorandum Circular and any violation thereof will be administratively dealt with. EFREN I. PLANA Acting Commissioner of Internal Revenue TAN-1456-040-3