Search for the holy jail
Maybe you were busy hiding in a drawer, but you must have also heard that Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima already admitted the Aquino (Part II) administration was a big failure.
This section quoted him the other day. Purisima said, “We estimated that every year, the Philippines loses P200 billion from smuggling and P400 billion from tax evasion.”
Purisima actually revealed those damning figures in a speech last week in the United States, where he also supposedly discussed “reforms” made by this administration.
But why would anybody even call it “reform,” if during the six-year term of our leader Benigno Simeon, aka BS, the government lost to smugglers and tax evaders. Based on Purisima’s figures, this amount has reached a mind-boggling P3.6 trillion—a trillion with a “T.”
How could anybody even call it a “revenue reform program?”
One World Bank-commissioned study showed building one kilometer of highway could cost about $1 million (roughly P45 million) these days. With that P600 billion in lost revenues every year, we could already build some 13,000 km of highway.
Citing Purisima, the report in this section also noted that authorities have already filed more than 600 cases against alleged tax evaders and smugglers. Of the 450 filed under the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s Run After Tax Evaders (RATE) program, however, only six have been decided on—one dismissed by the Supreme Court with finality, two dismissed by the Department of Justice with finality and three dismissed by the Court of Tax Appeals and other regular courts.
Rotting cases
Of the 450 RATE cases against personalities and firms with total tax liabilities estimated at P76.9 billion, only seven cases were resolved by the DOJ in favor of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the same report showed. Bulk of the cases were still stuck in courts (67) and the DOJ (378).
Some time in July 2010, or just a few days into the Aquino (Part II) administration, our hero Purisima also delivered a speech before a large gathering of businessmen.
Here is part of what he said: “We have a secretary of justice who is very aggressive … She has committed to us that, within 45 days of filing the [complaints], she will be submitting them for filing in the courts.”
He added: “Within the first three years of the Aquino administration, we will see someone put in jail because of these crimes.”
The Justice Secretary at that time was Leila de Lima, who is now senatorial candidate for the Liberal Party. Thanks to Purisima, we now know that under her term as Justice chief, de Lima’s DOJ has left some 378 tax evasion cases rotting.
With the six-year term of our leader BS almost over, we are still searching for the holy jail term for some big time smugglers and tax evaders.
We also read with keen interest reports on the resurgence of cigarette smuggling in the Philippines. According to these reports, the police have raided a warehouse in Sta. Cruz, Manila, where they were able to seize a sizeable cache of smuggled cigarettes.
From our contacts in the industry, we gathered that the smuggling syndicates actually bring into the country some “local” brands but are actually made in Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia and of course, China. In other words, the smuggled cigarettes were “fake” versions of local brands such as Malboro, Winston, Mighty, Marvels, Far Star, Fort, American Legend, Union, and Navy.
But how could you tell the smuggled “fake” cigarettes from the real ones? For one, they should be cheap, perhaps selling at P18 to P20 per pack. The lowest priced authentic tax-paid cigarettes should be at P25 per pack.
Our sources also disclosed authorities have already started a crackdown on the sale of smuggled “fakes” at the retail level, such as wet markets and sari-sari stores. The crackdown is led by the BIR, the Bureau of Customs and the Philippine National Police.
In short, this problem is serious.
It seemed authorities had concrete evidence that smuggled “fake” cigarettes were openly displayed and sold in thousands of stores in Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Bukidnon, Iligan, Misamis Occidental, Zamboanga Peninsula and the Cotabato region. Recently, the police also raided a retail store in Bulacan.
From what I gathered, authorities were already readying charges against these retailers for violating the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines (for selling “fake” cigarettes) and the National Internal Revenue Code (for the unpaid taxes and duties).
Last year, the authorities filed cases against several retailers in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Nueva Ecija and Cebu.
What about those funding the big-time smuggling operations—would any of them go to jail?
