BIR’s name-and-shame ad claims it ‘cannot locate’ actress Charlene Gonzales, Makati execs with tax issues
The Bureau of Internal Revenue, in an escalating campaign against alleged tax dodgers, has put out a public notice, saying the agency “cannot locate” actress Charlene Gonzales, two top Ayala Avenue officials, and such established companies as Delbros and First Philippine Balfour Beatty.
Gonzales: Location unknown
“The public is hereby informed the taxpayers were given ‘Cannot Be Located’ status under various investigating offices after exhausting all possible means to locate their whereabouts,” the BIR said in a paid advertisement published in
The Philippine STAR Wednesday.
Gonzales, whose real name is Charlene Mae Bonnin Muhlach, is the most publicly-recognizable among the hundreds of individuals identified in the now typical name-and-shame ads resorted to by the revenue-pressed BIR Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares.
According to the BIR, the actress is being summoned in connection with a condominium unit at the Tempus Place on Matalino St. in Quezon City.
Estrada: Why us?
In the corporate world, the most familiar name on the list is that of Francis Estrada, the former president of the Asian Institute of Management who now sits in a number of boards of listed companies, as well as being the chairman of the Institute of Corporate Directors.
According to the BIR, Estrada is being summoned in connection with a condo unit in Makati’s Salcedo Village.
“(The) taxpayers are given 15 days upon publication the opportunity to come forward...and clarify their CBL status and settle their outstanding tax obligations,” the BIR ad said.
The tax agency said it had contacted the different barangays and business permit offices of the cities and towns, as well as the Department of Trade and Industry, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Manila Electric Co. and the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. in search of the missing taxpayers.
Delbros and First Balfour, both of which moved to new corporate headquarters, maintain respective websites listing their new office and email addresses as well as their telephone numbers. In addition, Google Maps also show their new head offices as well as their satellite and street-view images.
One Ayala Avenue executive, who asked not to be identified by name, was clearly upset by his inclusion in the BIR listing. He said the tax issue referred to by the BIR most likely referred to his rental condominium in Legaspi Village.
“In my case, I complied with the income and VAT registration for the years when I had condo rentals,” the executive said. “When there was no longer rentals, I naturally did not file any rentals tax returns.”
“Non-filing for the years without rentals is what I am being penalized for.”
The executive, who like Estrada sits on the boards of the country’s biggest companies, said he has had to pay the penalty to avoid any more complications, but was shocked that the BIR still publicly identified and lumped his as a tax delinquent.
“They even said I cannot be located, ignoring the fact that I am in their list of top regular income taxpayers,” the executive said. “This is an example of why most taxpayers do not declare their rental income because of the complicated, bureaucratic process to register, pay and be delisted.”
One of the companies the BIR said it could not locate, the Cable Car pub along Arnaiz Avenue, actually just moved further down the same road, from across the New World hotel to the Paseo Tesoro building near the famous Hai Shin Lou restaurant.
Another establishment, The King at Alphaland Inc. referred to – no, no, not the imperial Roberto Ongpin but – the now shuttered fine dining restaurant of chef Billy King.
As well, another former executive of an Ongpin company, ex-Philweb senior vice president Gil Antonio Edeza, is also being summoned by the tax authorities in connection with a residential condo at the Fort.
Another movie star in the BIR list, Mark Anthony Fernandez, is listed with a business address at 38 Valencia St. in New Manila, Quezon City, which is actually the popular events place owned by Regal films matriarch Lily Monteverde.
And to the legions of cellphone subscribers harassed by collection lawyers, this additional information may come as a surprise. One law firm being used by a telecom company to write the abrasive demand letters, Domingo and Molaer, now finds itself at the receiving end, with the tax agency claiming it also could not locate the hardballing partnership.
Under a December 2010 order issued by BIR chief, the delinquent accounts of the unlocated taxpayers face revocation of their registration and their authority to issue invoices.
“These accounts shall likewise be posted in the BIR website in order for others who may know these taxpayers can pinpoint their properties to be seized by the BIR,” the Henares order said.
Heard through the grapevine
P-Noy cousin Fernando Cojuangco is proving to be sharper than many of his more publicly-known relatives.
Cojuangco has just gotten himself a P65-million bonus, having sold his sugarcane land leasing company to the Central Azucarera de Tarlac, the listed sugar milling company where he is also president/chief operating officer and the controlling shareholder along with former Pancake House owner Martin Lorenzo.
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