Documentary stamps allegedly overpriced

CEBU, Philippines - The documentary stamp for official government documents only costs P15, but some unscrupulous personnel of the Cebu City PNP Traffic Group are allegedly selling them at P25.

The FREEMAN received a complaint from a concerned taxpayer about the questionable activities of some government employees assigned to the Traffic Section’s office.

Rafael Christopher Yap, the head of the newly-created Cebu City Transportation Office, said this should be immediately stopped.

Yap said the documentary stamps were purchased by some of the traffic personnel from a “source” in Davao City because the Bureau of Internal Revenue officials in Cebu City have already stopped selling documentary stamps in bulk.

A BIR employee confirmed yesterday afternoon that their office had already stopped selling documentary stamps in bulk upon orders from their central office in Manila. Yap said there is no problem for them if they will stop the selling of documentary stamps at the Traffic Section, but those who want to secure police reports involving traffic accidents might be affected.

“Sila na la’y mangita kon asa sila mopalit og documentary stamps. Ma-inconvenience g’yud og gamay ang mga mokuha og police report,” said Yap.

But the BIR personnel explained that there is no more need to buy documentary stamps if the concerned government offices will just issue official receipts to the taxpayer and just state the OR number in the document.

“Naa man g’yud na sila’y mga resibo kana na la’y ilang gamiton pag-isyu ngadto sa mokuha og police report. Mahimo na nga dili nila pakuhaon og documentary stamps ang mokuha’g police report,” the BIR personnel said.  (FREEMAN)