THE House of Representatives’ committee on justice hearing the impeachment case against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Wednesday ordered the Bureau of Internal Revenue to initiate an investigation into her tax records when she represented the government in the case of the Philippine International Air Terminals Company Inc. or Piatco.
In that case, the Supreme Court ordered the government to pay Piatco, which built Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, after it expropriated the terminal.
During the impeachment hearing, Rep. Eugene Michael de Vera asked BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa for the records on how much taxes Sereno had paid as a lawyer for the government in the Piatco case.
The committee, led by Rep. Reynaldo Umali, said the BIR should come up with a report by Feb. 19.
Meanwhile, the camp of Sereno said the hiring of IT consultant Helen Perez-Macasaet was not irregular and her compensation was not excessive.
Jojo Lacanilao, one of Sereno’s spokesmen, said there was nothing irregular or anomalous in the hiring of Macasaet, who was allegedly overpaid.
Lacanilao said the P900,000 per month paid to the IT consultant was not excessive as it was not far from the usual private sector rate of P800,000 per month.
Earlier, the impeachment complainant, lawyer Larry Gadon, said Macasaet was paid an enormous sum of money, all owing to her closeness to Sereno.
Macasaet told the House justice panel she was actually receiving a “net pay of P80,000” when the Supreme Court tapped her from 2013 to 2017.
The impeachment complainant, lawyer Larry Gadon, alleged that Sereno deliberately excluded in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth her lawyer’s fees amounting to P37 million for representing the government in the Piatco case.
“We want to know the truth about it,” De Vera said.
“And we also want to know if she had paid VAT [value added tax] if she earned over P2 million.”
Guballa said the BIR had yet to provide the documents that would answer De Vera’s questions.