ZAMBOANGA CITY, Zamboanga Sibugay—Mayor Ma. Isabelle Climaco-Salazar approved last week the order of dismissal from the service of two executives of the City Assessor’s Office and the suspension for six months of another for alleged irregularity in the tax assessment of a building owned by a couple at Barangay Guiwan here.
An administrative complaint received by Climaco-Salazar identified the two officials as engineer Vicente Pascua, local assessment operation officer II and chief of the appraisal division, and Arnold Santos, administrative aide II. Ordered suspended without pay was engineer Edward Estandian, local assessment officer I.
Records show the case stemmed from a transaction on Jan. 22, 2014 when accused Estandian and Santos enforced Appraisal Division chief Pascua’s directive “by presenting to spouses Isabelo and Carmelita Galvez a prepared Field Appraisal and Assessment Sheet with a tax assessment of P90,000 per year for their building at Guiwan. The accused, however, allegedly demanded and received from the couple P15,000 in return for lowering their tax liability to P10,000 per year.”
Mayor Climaco-Salazar said the complaint submitted by an investigation panel against the three City Assessor’s Office personnel was based on record and in accordance with the law.
“The act of demanding and receiving P15,000 as a condition of lowering the tax liability of a real property owner constitutes a willful intent to violate rules of assessment of taxes,’’ the probe panel noted, adding that alleged “Respondents disregarded established rules by receiving the amount knowingly that they have no authority to receive payment relative to real properties, a function of the City Treasurer’s Office.”
Mayor Climaco-Salazar ordered the City Assessor’s Office to stop all negotiations to lower the tax liability of local real property owners, saying that ”any employee found violating the policy will be criminally and administratively prosecuted.”