BIR files P7.1-B tax evasion raps against Discayas
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has filed tax evasion complaints at the Department of Justice against contractor couple Pacifico “Curlee” and Cezarah “Sarah” Discaya for more than P7.1 billion in tax liabilities from 2018 to 2021.
BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. said three separate cases were filed on Wednesday against the couple for unpaid individual income taxes, excise on their nine luxury vehicles, and documentary stamp taxes linked to their supposed divestment from four construction firms.
Lumagui said the P7.1 billion in deficiency “was just the tip of the iceberg,” noting that the cases mainly covered the spouses’ individual tax liabilities for 2018 to 2021, while audits for other years are still going on.
“We conducted essentially something like lifestyle checks here. We looked at their properties and compared them with the taxes they paid and we were able to build the tax evasion case against them individually,” he explained.
Transferred shares, luxury cars
The second case, which also implicated a corporate officer of one of their construction firms, stemmed from their failure to file and pay the required documentary stamp tax returns.
Citing the general information sheets of St. Gerrard Construction General Contractor and Development Corp., St. Timothy Construction Corp., St. Matthew General Contractor & Development Corp., and Alpha & Omega General Contractor and Development Corp., the BIR said the companies had several transfers or disposals of shares of stock.
Alpha & Omega and St. Timothy were among the top 15 contractors that cornered the most number of flood control projects, according to a list released by Malacañang.
President Marcos earlier revealed that P100 billion, or about 20 percent of the P545-billion budget for flood mitigation projects since 2022, went to only 15 contractors, including the two Discaya-owned firms.
During legislative hearings, the Discayas claimed they had divested themselves of interests in these firms, but the BIR’s probe showed they failed to pay the documentary stamp tax and file the proper returns to validate the share transfers.
“When you divest from a corporation, when you sell shares of stock in a corporation, there should also be corresponding tax payments. The transfer of shares should also be reported. We saw that they also failed to pay the taxes related to the transfer of these shares of stock,” Lumagui noted.
The BIR also found that the couple and St. Gerrard failed to file excise returns and pay the corresponding imposts on nine luxury vehicles registered under their names, based on Land Transportation Office records.
‘Just getting started’
Lumagui said the bureau is continuing its audit and investigation of the Discayas and other contractors linked to the flood control controversy.
“We’re just getting started, the audits of the other construction companies owned by the Discaya spouses are still ongoing. So far, we’ve only filed cases based on their individual liabilities and those related to St. Gerrard. The audits of the other corporations mentioned in the flood control projects are still ongoing,” he said in Filipino.
“It’s not just the contractors. We’ve also started conducting lifestyle checks on various personalities involved … (The politicians) are among those we’re looking into,” Lumagui said.
