We must have justice and punish criminals

By: Neal H. Cruz
Philippine Daily Inquirer

 0share4 4

The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), the government agency that gives hundreds of millions of pesos to lotto and sweepstakes winners, and financial help every day to hundreds of poor people, has not paid P5 billion in taxes to the government? Believe it or not, it is true. No less than PCSO Chairperson Margarita Juico has confirmed that the state lottery firm is being dunned P3.6 billion in unpaid taxes from 2007 to 2009, plus interests, surcharges and penalties so that the total may go up to P5 billion.

What happened? The PCSO people forgot? Or they mistakenly thought that being a government agency giving out financial help, the PCSO is exempt from paying taxes? Or is the PCSO just spending more than it earns so that no money is left for taxes? Which is which?

The PCSO is not the first state agency to have problems with back taxes. Many state agencies, because they are government, think it is all right not to pay taxes to the government. From government to government, they say. It is taking money from one pocket and putting it into another, they say.

But the PCSO case is different. It is disheartening to know from an off-the-record revelation that the PCSO was not able to pay the right taxes because it had to remit funds for the use of the powers-that-be, in this case, members of the Arroyo administration.

Congress should investigate the claim that instead of using money to pay its taxes, the

PCSO diverted funds to the discretionary fund of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo shortly before the 2010 elections.

A congressional investigation is necessary because even Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares said that it was not likely that the tax agency would start legal action against former PCSO officials because the funds involve only unpaid documentary stamp taxes.

Henares said her agency can prosecute local officials only for not remitting taxes withheld from employees because that constitutes estafa. That is not the case with unpaid documentary stamp taxes.

The worst that the BIR can do, she said, is to seize and liquidate PCSO assets, but that is not practical because the state charity agency may not be able to deliver its services to the needy.

The situation is much like the case of former Chairman Efraim Genuino of the Philippine Gaming and Amusement Corp. (Pagcor), and two of his children. The difference is that the government apparently has enough evidence against the Genuinos in the corruption charges the Genuinos deny.

The cases stem from the use of Pagcor funds amounting to P26.7 million to finance the filming of the movie “Baler,” which was co-produced by a firm where Genuino’s son was executive producer. The other case is the alleged diversion of P24 million representing the stipends of Philippine swimming athletes.

Genuino is also accused of using P186 million in Pagcor funds to finance an anti-drug campaign of a foundation headed by his daughter Sheryl. Pagcor rice donations were also allegedly distributed during the campaign rallies of Genuino’s two sons. In fairness to the Genuino family, it denies the allegations.

The cases against the Genuinos appear to be strong enough to persuade the court to issue hold-departure orders against them, but that is not the case with the PCSO raps.

The irony is that even if congressional investigators manage to persuade the court that the

PCSO did divert funds to GMA’s discretionary fund, the PCSO will be liable only for its back taxes, and the truth will still be hidden by the accounting veil of a presidential discretionary fund.

But even then, that does not mean we should surrender and take the lazy path of “letting bygones be bygones.”

Pagcor and PCSO are among the government’s biggest cash cows, where one doesn’t even have to wait for a budget release order to get his hands on piles of cash. But that money should have gone to schools and hospitals, and the fact that it was used for personal benefit should be enough reason for national outrage.

One of the reasons the Philippine government has become so corrupt during and after the Marcos administration is that thieves are given the impression that Filipinos are a forgiving people and soon forget crimes.

That is one of the serious challenges to the Aquino administration. It is the government’s task to prove that crime does not pay and criminals are prosecuted.

That was perhaps the message the country wanted to deliver when it imprisoned former President Joseph Estrada (unfairly, he claims). For six years, we jailed a widely popular president in what was then the second strongest indication of our indignation against official corruption.

The people ousted him, jailed him and replaced him with someone who was supposed to be his antithesis. Now we know that we were wrong. We were shortchanged and had to endure for 10 years a president who was much worse.

Of course there are those who became filthy rich beyond their wildest dreams. One example is retired Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia (ironically the namesake of a former president known for his humility and honesty) who managed to amass ill-gotten wealth that made even the Old Rich dizzy. He might even escape prosecution because he cut a questionable deal that was approved by the previous administration.

Even his conviction in a court martial was left unsigned by GMA so he would not have to be imprisoned. When the authorities finally arrived to arrest him, he supposedly told them: “Bakit n’yo ginagawa ito sa akin (Why are you doing this to me)?”

Critics say that the Aquino administration is being vindictive for bringing out the truth that was hidden from the people for 10 years. But that is justice, criminals must be punished, and the people deserve no less.