An Editorial of the Bohol ChronicleThere is something about the Mayor of Tagbilaran City that should scare businessmen who are in the city or are about to apply for business permits.
The policies of the City Mayor are policies built on political vendetta on those who dare oppose his Hitlerian dictatorial rule - that has tried to place all the peace-loving citizens of the city into a state of submission to his imperial rule.
Many of you businessmen out there know how this City Mayor (of curious thinking) had used all means within his big powers at City Hall (whenever you cross his path, personally or professionally) to bludgeon you into submission. You may consider banding yourselves into the Association of Business Oppressed by the City Mayor (ABOC).
One of his weapons is the excessive use of oppression and harassment in the use of so-called tax laws, manipulated by his puppies in City Hall to suit his insatiable thirst for vengeance and revenge.
The case peddled by his City Treasurer Visitacion B. Acero against the Bohol Chronicle Radio Corporation (BCRC) is a case in point.
She wrote a highly derogatory letter (picked by some Bohol media) that apparently presumed the BCRC to be "guilty until proven innocent" and that is contrary to law.
The defamatory letter alleged that the BCRC did pay business taxes from the year 2003 and previous years (before 2003) and that the gross receipts filed by the BCRC for the years 2004 to 2008 are "unrealistic," giving accusatory hints at tax evasion.
In the process, she demanded the submission of gross receipts for years 2004 to 2008 and to investigate the "accounting system" and "non financial information" of the BCRC.
Such an act is contrary to the local government code (Section 195) which states that any finding of taxes incorrectly paid requires a Notice of Assessment addressed to the taxpayer (BCRC) outlining the nature of tax, fee, amount of deficiency, surcharges and penalties.
The City Treasurer committed acts of oppression against a taxpayer by singling out the BCRC to submit another set of affidavits and documents on the accounting system and non-financial information - subjects that are mandated by law for submission.
Moreover, the BCRC was given a renewal of the business permits (we have this on file) to operate the Chronicle for the years 2005 to 2008 - which means the gross receipts so submitted these years were acceptable to and approved by the city mayor himself. Why all of a sudden - after six years - the gross receipts submitted by BCRC from 2004 to 2008 - now become in their "transformed judgments" deemed "unrealistic"?
The malicious interest of City Hall into the years 2003 and previous years - speaks of gross ignorance of the City Treasurer and her masterminds - in that the prescription period for tax assessment is five years.
Granting without conceding the arena of discussion goes to the year 2003, BCRC has in its possession a business permit issued to the BCRC by the then mayor Jose Torralba dated January 29, 2004 - undeniably showing we had paid the appropriate business taxes in the previous year (2003).
And irony of all ironies, we have the original receipt of the payment of business taxes for the year 2003, and personally collected by - guess who? - city treasurer Acero herself!
Who can be this sick, perverted mind who would even allude malicious tax evasion acts of the late venerable founder of this paper (Jun Dejaresco) - by referring to "previous years" - covering his incumbency as editor publisher that time? The Father of Bohol Journalism must be rolling in his grave now - his memory of community service besmirched by these legal idiots in City Hall.
The City Mayor has been sitting on his oversized throne since 2004 and his City Hall had granted the Chronicle renewal to operate permits - without the latter paying the appropriate taxes? Isn't it amazing to all that 6 years (after increasing his weight disproportionately while in office) his Treasurer suddenly discovers these gross receipt taxes paid by the Chronicle are unrealistic?
What could be the reason(s) behind all these?
People of Tagbilaran City, you are all thinking men and women of sound mind (unlike others out there) - and it should be clear to you that this is a clear case of harassment by the City Mayor in order to silence the Chronicle (and its sister radio stations) which have been critical of some of his senseless policies starting with the Drainage Issue.
What other reason could there be? It is an act of desperation of a City Mayor who has seems to have lost his bearings because every week he is faced with one investigation and legal case after another - still a deluge of which is yet to come - which will depict him not only as incompetent, ineffective but even corrupt as the COA Report of 2007 seems to imply.
Thus he wants to silence the vehicle (the Chronicle) so that the reality of his mis-governance will remain a secret to all. Are you - City of Tagbilaran - going to allow the City Mayor to close the mouth of the remaining entity who will dare expose the venalities of City Hall and the City Mayor's bad performance in governance?
These "tax issues" therefore are purely there to make the Chronicle go slow on the exposes on the City Hall mis-governance. Shall you allow that - residents of the City of Tagbilaran?
The diabolical scheme is also meant to perhaps discredit the many calamity fund drives, medical help and fundraising for the poor that the Chronicle and its sister stations had done for Boholanos these almost half a century (54 years) by depicting the enterprise as not paying taxes and therefore a bad community corporate citizen.
Desperate situation (on their part) really gave birth to their desperate acts.
That is the reason the BCRC has filed for a preventive suspension of the City Treasurer (from the Office of the Secretary of Finance Margarito Teves) to deflect her undue influence on the so-called "investigation" of the BCRC business taxes which she had apparently prejudged with her derogatory letter.
Also the petition sought to annul her acts which we deem are patently illegal and thus be administratively charged for actions prejudicial to public service interest - and leading to the ground for her permanent dismissal as City Treasurer.
As you know, this City claimed to the Solidarity for Asia, that it will attract P1-billion investments to the city. But you - the business applicants - know what you went through just getting those business permits at City Hall. A progressive city without a large subdivision development - is a good starting point to ask. Is this the kind of government we deserve?
What about the oppressive 100% realty tax - without consultation - which was brought to court, isn’t this another clear case that we indeed have a dictator sitting in City Hall? What kind of mayor do we have in this city? And the City Square where the proponents are now complaining about "unexpected expenses" in the course of the negotiation and construction? Who is benefiting from this deal? The most vocal critic of the City Square deal (since months back) Kagawad Batchoy Alba, a Station DYRD block-timer - suddenly found his house nearly a victim of arson. Who was behind that cowardly act?
Again today we see yet another tentacle of the octopus coming out of the City Mayor stretching out to strangle the right of free expression in our democracy by using tax laws as harassment against media. A topnotch resort in this city has allegedly been harassed by the same City Mayor using the tax route.
It is clear we have a mayor that does not brook opposition - relative, friend or foe. He wants to play god. Unfortunately, we have another God we serve who is in Heaven.
The Tax issue to us in the Chronicle is like the City Mayor pointing a dirty finger into our head and telling us to shut up or else. Well, we have news for him.
We will not quit writing and speaking about the truth about the City Mayor and City Hall - until the dirty finger atrophies into arthritic stiffness.
The City Mayor can wait for hell to freeze over - before we stop writing editorials like this or stop free men from enjoying freedom of speech in our democracy over our radio stations.
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