DOF investigating 104 cases against suspected erring employees in 2017

January 18, 2018

The Department of Finance (DOF) started investigating a total of 104 cases against suspected erring officials and employees under its jurisdiction in 2017, with several dismissed or suspended, while others are undergoing lifestyle checks.

The DOF's Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS) under Finance Undersecretary Bayani Agabin said it has also begun exploring possibly filing tax evasion cases against those suspected of amassing unexplained wealth on top of taking them to court forfeiture proceedings.

“We are coordinating with the BIR because we need the income tax returns of these personnel. There are some privacy issues with respect to that so we have to be very careful. But I think we can gather enough evidence to make a case for tax evasion, especially if their tax returns will not show that they declared certain income but they were able to acquire properties beyond what they declared as income,” Agabin said.

According to RIPS Executive Director Gilberto Espinosa, the DOF is now eyeing the filing in early 2018 of an initial two tax evasion cases against employees suspected of amassing unexplained assets.

In the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF), executive director Nino Alvina also initiated the probe of suspected erring municipal and city treasurers, in step   with the directive of Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III to swiftly take punitive action against local officers under its supervision in line with President Duterte’s commitment to public accountability and transparency in government under his administration.

From January to September 2017, twenty decisions were promulgated by the Office of the Ombudsman and the Civil Service Commission finding several employees and officials of the Bureaus of Customs (BOC) and of Internal Revenue (BIR) guilty of grave misconduct and serious dishonesty and finding anomalies regarding the accomplishment and filing of their Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) reports, Espinosa said.

These involved separate orders of the Ombudsman dismissing five government employees—two from the BIR and three from the BOC--and  directives suspending for periods ranging from one month to one year, nine BOC employees, two BIR employees, one City Treasurer; and one  Supervising Tax Specialist. One  Chief Revenue Officer of the BIR was meted the penalty of Reprimand. Finally an Administrative Aide of the BOC was sternly warned that a subsequent failure to declare material facts in the PDS shall be dealt with more severely.

During the same period up to November, the RIPS secured two more favorable CSC resolutions, which led to the suspension for six months of a revenue district officer in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro for his failure to: 1) file his 2001 SALN, 2) disclose real properties and other assets, and 3) secure travel authority for several trips overseas. Another employee, a security guard at the BOC assigned at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport was suspended for three months without pay for failing to file his 2014 SALN and not disclosing his business interests and financial ties.

Espinosa said the RIPS also won two convictions in the regular trial courts as a result of the separate guilty pleas of two Customs Operations Officers.

Dominguez also ordered the temporary suspension of three other officials and employees under DOF supervision based on separate orders by the Ombudsman and the CSC. DMS