CEBU CITY, Philippines—Mayor Teresa Alegado of Consolacion, Cebu, denied Thursday that husband Nilo H. Alegado failed to pay the correct income tax in 2009.
The mayor said her husband was innocent of the tax evasion charges filed on Thursday by the Bureau of Internal Revenue at the Department of Justice.
“We are religiously paying our taxes to the government,” Mayor Alegado told the Inquirer in a phone interview.
According to the BIR, Nilo Alegado made importations for taxable year 2009 amounting to P183.01 million.
But Alegado’s income tax return and audited financial statements reflected purchases of just P3.41 million, a discrepancy of P179.60 million, the BIR pointed out.
The BIR has slapped Alegado with a deficiency income tax assessment for taxable year 2009 in the aggregate amount of P102.94 million, inclusive of surcharges and interests.
Mayor Alegado lamented that the case was followed by the media because the person involved was the husband of a municipal mayor.
She added that the media would not have taken up the matter if her husband was just an ordinary businessman.
“Please respect our privacy,” Mayor Alegado said.
She said that in the 30 years they have been doing business, this was the first time that they were accused of tax evasion.
Mayor Alegado maintained that their transactions were legal, adding that they had the records to show that they had declared all their importations.
In fact, she added, several banks trusted them because of their good business records.
She also decried the filing of charges against her husband. “They have left the smugglers alone while singling us out although we have done nothing wrong,” she said.
The mayor said that this could be a fishing expedition and that they would let their lawyers and accountant handle the case.
She called on the BIR to pin down the smugglers and not the legal rice traders who were religiously paying their taxes.
She admitted that they had imported around 100,000 bags of rice worth more than P100 million but claimed they paid the correct taxes.
Mayor Alegado was the National Executive President of the Confederation of Grains Retailers Association of the Philippines, Inc. (Grecon) before she was elected chief executive of Consolacion town in 2010.
She ran under the Liberal Party and has used the slogan “genuine change, honest, credible and sincere service to the people” in her campaign.