Two BIR officials fall in entrapment

Two high ranking officers of the Bureau of Internal Revenue were arrested for allegedly extorting money from a councilor of Panglao, Bohol.

Lawyer Bonifacio Ybañez, who heads the BIR's regional Special Investigation Section, and Edgar Palgan, the bureau's revenue officer, were arrested in an entrapment operation by a joint team from the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Branch and Vice Control Section past 4:00 yesterday afternoon.

Lawyer Nestor Archival, the counsel of the accused, initially denied the accusations, but promised to issue a statement on the case today.

The entrapment operation took place at a restaurant inside a shopping mall after Panglao councilor Nila Montero, a resort owner, sought the help of the police last week.

Montero claimed the two BIR officers, along with a certain Atty. Mercado, demanded money from her to settle her tax obligations, pegged at P200,970.61, for the first quarter this year. The amount was supposedly the tax for the sale of Montero's Alona Tropical in barangay Tawala in Panglao.

Montero said she and her husband befriended the suspects sometime last year and that her husband gave P12,000 to Mercado in those times that they visited Bohol this year.

Last June, an assessment of the daily income of the resort containing the equivalent payable tax was faxed to Montero's office, but she found it informal because it was only a sheet of bond paper.

It was at that time that she sensed something was fishy, so she began conferring with other resort owners who told her that the BIR officials have been demanding money from them.

Montero said the BIR officials told her that she had to pay a certain amount to avoid facing a case.

According to her, the BIR officials told her that she had to pay half of her tax obligations, but she refused, claiming it was too big. Eventually, they settled for P60,000 and she was given Mercado's account number to which she was supposed to deposit the money.

"Ako ra man gyud to silang gisuwayan pero dili gyud ko mohatag because I am a councilor and I am fighting corruption," Montero told reporters during a press conference at the office of acting-city police director Melvin Gayotin.

Montero said she was supposed to deposit P30,000 to the account of Mercado last Friday, but her husband was against it so she asked a friend who referred her to the office of VCS chief George Ylanan.

During the entrapment, only Ybañez and Palgan were around, while Mercado, identified later as Francis Mercado, who is not a lawyer but is connected with the BIR Intelligence Section, was not around.

Ylanan said it was Ybañez who accepted the envelope that contained the supposed P30,000 cash, which was passed on to Palgan, from where the police recovered.

The suspects tested positive of ultraviolet powder upon examination at the police crime laboratory. - Ryan P. Borinaga