THE Sandiganbayan has acquitted former officials of the Department of Finance (DOF) One Stop Shop Inter-Agency Tax Credit and Duty Drawback Center (Center) and private defendants of three charges of violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and two counts of estafa through falsification of public document on insufficiency of evidence.
The anti-graft court’s Seventh Division held that the evidence offered by prosecutors failed to support the allegations that DOF-Center officials issued tax credit certificates in favor of textile firm Express Colour Industries Inc. through fraudulent means.
Acquitted were Center deputy executive director Uldarico Andutan Jr., reviewer Asuncion Magdaet, and private defendants Ma. Carmencita Camara, Sonia Carmona, and Sonia Dacasin, representatives of Express Colour.
Based on separate information filed in 2009, the DOF Center officers were accused of conspiring with representatives of Colour Express to defraud the government through the issuance of TCCs in favor of the textile company on different dates in 1996 and 1998.
The TCCs were for the sums of P5.14 million, P5.09 million, P3.17 million all dated August 1996, and for P9.09 million and P6.08 million both dated March 1998.
TCCs are fiscal incentives extended by the government to specified industries to spur more investments, create more jobs, and contribute to economic development.
According to the Office of the Ombudsman, the firm was not entitled to the privilege because the supporting documents it submitted were spurious and contained false information.
In its 86-page decision dated October 21, 2024, the Sandiganbayan said the prosecution failed to prove allegations that the raw materials were non-existent, that the indirect exports did not happen, and that the transfer of TCCs for consideration to other companies was attended by fraud.
Prosecutors claimed Colour Express could not have produced dyed yarns during the relevant periods to qualify for the TCCs as it was issued a cease and desist order by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources on January 8, 1996.
However, the court noted that the document submitted into the record was a mere photocopy. While prosecutors made reservations to produce a certified true copy, this never materialized.
There was also no evidence on record to establish that the DENR order was enforced to stop the textile firm’s operations.
“From the foregoing, the prosecution’s failure to prove its averments …casts doubt on the basis of the criminal charge,” the court said.
Likewise, it pointed out that the DOF Center evaluators, reviewers, and approving authority were not in the position to be aware of any misrepresentation in the documents submitted by a TCC applicant since financial statements were not submitted for their inspection.
“Absent proven particular acts of manifest partiality, evident bad faith, or gross inexcusable negligence, good faith and regularity are presumed in the performance of official duties by the public officers,” the Sandiganbayan said.
