Reports came out implicating Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay, his Chief Legal Counsel Gaudencio A. Mendoza, Jr., Large Taxpayers Service (LTS) Assistant Commissioner Teresita M. Angeles and fourteen (14) other revenuers for Plunder through conspiracy and connivance for the alleged anomalous reduction of the tax liability of Del Monte Philippines, Inc. (DMPI) from P30 Billion to about P65.4 Million covering taxable years 2011, 2012, and 2013. Commissioner Dulay ordered a review of the DMPI case upon order to take appropriate action by the Department of Finance acting on the indorsement of the Office of the President who was likewise acting on an indorsement of the Office of the Ombudsman. It appears that an investigation was already initiated by BIR Deputy Commissioner (Legal Group) Jesus Clint O. Aranas (DCIR Aranas) WAY BEFORE the Commissioner was told to take action on the letter of Danilo Lihaylihay. DCIR Aranas issued Show Cause Orders to some of the employees implicated in the said letter. DCIR Aranas confirmed this in a press interview he gave to the Inquirer News. In fact, his office through the National Investigation Division earlier received a copy of an anonymous letter complaint for which the Commissioner was never informed. Instead, DCIR Aranas took cognizance of the complaint and immediately issued show cause orders. The Commissioner was informed and came to know about this only from tri-media. The cases of DMPI covering the subject taxable years did not reach the Office of the Commissioner as they did not require any action on the part of the Commissioner. The assessments made against DMPI and payments thereof are within the DELEGATED review and approval authority of the Head of the LTS under existing revenue issuances issued way back in 2007. Commissioner Dulay had no personal knowledge of the questioned assessments and payments made by DMPI. A report submitted to the Commissioner showed that the concerned investigating officers went over voluminous documents and records to validate the reconciliation, explanation and documents submitted by DMPI. The preliminary assessments were too high as claimed by DMPI. However, this was not unusual considering that raw/initial findings are incorporated in the preliminary assessment. DMPI was in this instance able to explain the alleged discrepancies presumed to represent sources of tax deficiencies. The report to the Commissioner also disclosed several violations of Civil Service and BIR Rules of Procedure on administrative investigations in the handling of the complaint of Lihaylihay by the Office of DCIR Aranas. Commissioner Dulay has recommended that the complaint of Lihaylihay be investigated or acted upon by the Department of Finance instead since he himself is mentioned therein as involved in the alleged anomaly. Further, he asked that the handling of the complaint be separately probed by the Department and because of this he ordered DCIR Aranas to desist from further investigating or acting on the letter of Lihaylihay. Complainant Lihaylihay has a history of filing baseless plunder complaints. He filed plunder cases against former Presidents Arroyo and Aquino and almost all BIR Commissioners, including former Commissioner Kim Henares who declared him “persona non grata.” All cases were dismissed, having no factual or legal basis but intended merely to harass.
