Wednesday, August 03, 2005
2 tax officers arrested in entrapment
By Jovy S. Taghoy
CEBU CITY -- A division chief of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) 7 and a revenue officer were arrested in an entrapment Tuesday afternoon by a unified team from the Cebu City Police Office.
Lawyer Bonifacio Densing Ybañez, BIR Special Investigation Division chief, and Edgar Dequit Palgan, BIR revenue officer, were arrested after allegedly receiving P30,000 handed by Municipal Councilor Leonila Montero of Panglao, Bohol.
But the BIR officers' lawyer said it was the councilor who offered them the cash, which they refused.
Montero, the complainant, owns the Alona Tropical Beach Resort in Barangay Tawala, Panglao, Bohol.
The suspects allegedly tried to extort money from her, in exchange for the write-off of P200,000 in sales taxes.
The operation took place inside a fastfood outlet at the Ayala Center-Cebu at 4 p.m. Operatives from the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau, Drug Enforcement Unit and Vice Control Section posed as customers.
Inspector George Ylanan, the team leader, said they found P1,500 in bills placed on top of a wad inside Palgan's left pocket.
That wad was supposed to total P30,000, but neither Palgan nor Ybañez were aware that some of the "bills" were just plain scraps of paper.
50 percent
Ylanan said it was Ybañez who received the money in an envelope and passed it on to Palgan.
Ybañez and Palgan tested positive of ultraviolet powder, when examined by the PNP Crime Laboratory 7. This suggested they both touched the cash.
Lawyer Noel Archival, the suspects' legal counsel, said the allegations were unfounded.
Montero, in a press conference at the office of acting Cebu City Police Director Melvin Gayotin, said that Ybañez, Palgan and another BIR employee (named withheld, pending his comment) approached her and her husband last month.
They told her that the resort owed more than P200,000 in sales taxes for January to March, Montero said.
"They told me that if I'm going to pay 50 percent, there will be no hassle. Wala na ko'y problema," Montero said.
Settlement
They first met in Bohol, where Palgan and the unnamed BIR employee told her that the payables would be written off, if she settled it for P100,000 cash.
But Montero said the suspects told her there will be no receipt and that she would have to deposit the money in a bank account of the unnamed employee.
Montero said the last meeting they had prior to the entrapment Tuesday was last Friday, in a coffee shop in Cebu City. She pretended to negotiate for a smaller settlement.
The three allegedly settled P30,000.
"But I firmly decided not to give in to their demand," said Montero. "I am a public servant. I am fighting corruption, unya mohatag na hinuon ko? (Why should I give in?)"
Montero said she is willing to pay her BIR taxes and will make sure that payments are deposited in government coffers.
'Good faith'
She decided to seek the assistance of Bohol police, who coordinated with the Cebu City Police Office to arrange for an entrapment.
Gayotin said an extortion charge will be filed today against the arrested suspects. The two are temporarily detained at the Guadalupe Police Station in Cebu City.
Archival, interviewed over DySS radio last night, brushed aside the allegations.
He said it was Montero who forced the money on the BIR personnel, who turned down the cash.
They had advised Montero to pay her liabilities at the BIR office, but the latter insisted on meeting at the mall where the alleged "inducement" was offered, the lawyer said.
(August 3, 2005 issue)
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