MANILA – The Court of Appeals (CA) has junked the administrative charges against Roxas City, Capiz mayor Angel Alan Celino and two others for alleged violation of Republic Act 9485, or the Anti-Red Tape Law.
In a 13-page decision released on Aug. 12, the CA’s Special 12th Division through Associate Justice Marilyn Lagura-Yap cleared the charges against Celino, accountant Carmen Andrade and Sherlita Tumlos for “lack of merit.”
“There is no merit in the contention that the Ombudsman’s ruling was tainted with grave abuse of discretion for being constitutionally infirm. Indeed, the Ombudsman’s ruling was brief,” the CA said.
“A perusal of the assailed Joint Resolution reveals that the Ombudsman adequately justified its ruling with the facts and the law,” it added.
The junked petition was filed by the Kapis Development Corporation (KDC), which questioned the earlier ruling of the Office of the Ombudsman clearing Celino, Andrade and Tumlos from charges.
KDC – runs a hotel and a restaurant in Roxas City – charged Celino after he absolved Tumlos and Andrade in a complaint involving the city’s Licensing Office, which the firm said refused to issue its business license for 2016 due to a tax deficiency.
KDC claimed that instead of using the sales report and quarterly tax returns as prescribed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the city’s Licensing Office had added 30-percent on its tax base.
Celino, however, defended Tumlos and Andrade in a resolution dated June 2016, saying that the two were not administratively liable and in effect upheld the assessment made by the two, prompting the firm to file a complaint against them before the Ombudsman.
The former mayor explained that prior to the computerization of the computation of the licensing fees, the tax rate used for hotels was 50 percent of 1 percent over the excess of P2 million. However, effective Jan. 1, 2016, the Licensing Division has adopted the computer-generation of taxes, wherein the tax base data is fed to the computer in order to generate the business tax due.
The computer program is based on the Local Government Code, which provides that the municipality may impose taxes on any business such as excise, value-added, or percentage tax.
Under the National Internal Revenue Code, as amended, the rate of tax shall not exceed 2 percent of gross sales or receipts of the preceding year. Thus, KDC’s tax was computed based on 2 percent of its sales instead of 50 percent of 1 percent over the excess of P2 million. Celino further argued that he could not be held liable for misconduct since he already resolved the complaint against Tumlos and Andrade. However, he could not issue the 2016 Mayor’s permit to KDC since it did not pay the business tax yet.(With a report from PNA/PN)
