Mikey Arroyo, wife face tax evasion raps

MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) today filed tax evasion charges against Ang Galing Pinoy party-list Rep. Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo and his wife, Angela Montenegro-Arroyo.

BIR Commissioner Kim Henares said that the congressman did not file income tax returns for the years 2005, 2008 and 2009 while his wife failed to file from 2003 to 2009.

Henares said that the couple’s combined unpaid taxes amounts to P73.85 million.

“Based on the documents and evidence, these are what we found out,” Henares said during a press conference held at the Department of Justice before noon today.

Arroyo’s lawyer, Ruy Rondain, said in an interview on ABS-CBN News that the congressman was “shocked” to learn about the filing of the tax evasion complaint.

Rondain said that on April 5, the congressman received a notice from the BIR, reminding him to check his income tax records.

He said that the BIR gave Arroyo a 10-day deadline to reply to the notice.

“It’s a violation of his right to due process… The timing is suspect, it doesn’t smell good,” the lawyer said.

He said that as far as he knows, the couple has been filing jointly their income tax returns in the years cited by the BIR.

“As far as I remember, they’ve always filed jointly. So if one is compliant, both are. I’m reasonably certain that they filed because I’ve seen their yearly ITR,” Rondain said.