The DOF in a bind

THE NORMALLY STAID AND DISCIPLINED Department of Finance (DOF) of Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez is now on hot water and before prying eyes when the brouhaha over the P11.2 billion anomaly in tax credits was exposed by media.

Saying its One Stop Shop Inter-Agency and Duty Drawback Center (OSS) has erroneously (!) granted P11.18 billion worth of tax credit certificates to 33 textile companies from 2008 to 2014.

What? Would the perpetrators be punished or would they be given only slap on the wrist because they may claim that the anomaly resulted from mere error? I’d be damned.

The government is harsh on other similarly-situated scammers but inexplicably soft on the DOF. Is not an in-depth investigation needed to find out who were the perpetrators of the anomaly and how was it carried out? What about its chief, Secretary Dominguez? Would he go scotfree in view of this big loss to the government? What has happened to command responsibility?

Give it to the Commission on Audit (COA) examiners for unearthing this TCC anomaly which said the OSS unduly granted 3,231 tax credits to ineliigible and non-existent (!) textile companies during the six-year period.

It should be noted that a tax credit certificate (TCC) is a proof of a company’s claim for tax credits which are granted to exporting firms entitled to duty-free privileges. Additionally, in order to claim TCCs companies should be able to provide proofs showing actual payments of duties and taxes for the importation of raw materials and exportation of finished products.

Apparently, the guidelines allowing the issuance of TCCs were not followed by the OSS. Is there big-time collusion? You bet there was. The government is losing huge amounts of money due to shenanigans. And yet, it is crying due to shortfalls in revenues. Shame, indeed!

At the last SONA of President Duterte, he prologued his speech with his fiery exhortation to government offices to do away with corruption or else...