Dionisia Pacquiao testifies against BIR, maintains she paid tax in 2010

Dionisia Pacquiao, mother of boxing champ and Saranggani Representative Manny Pacquiao, on Wednesday took the witness stand for the first time to testify in her own complaint against the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) before the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA).

In a hearing before the CTA Second Division, Mrs. Pacquiao maintained that despite having no source of income, she still filed her income tax return (ITR) in 2010 through a book keeper.

It was in May 2015 when Mrs. Pacquiao filed a petition before the CTA questioning the BIR Region 18’s assessment of her possible tax liabilities for 2010 amounting P1.6 million. In her petition, Mrs. Pacquiao said the BIR has no right nor reason to investigate her as she has no income of her own and was just receiving allowance from her son, Manny.

Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares earlier clarified that the BIR will not file any tax evasion case against the Pacquiao matriarch though she admitted that BIR Region 18 has indeed discovered some tax payment deficiencies on Mrs. Pacquiao’s part.

The BIR’s investigation on Mrs. Pacquiao’s possible tax liabilities started in 2013 at the height of the issue on her son’s P2.2-billion tax evasion case.

During her testimony, Mrs. Pacquiao said she employed the help of a book keeper as she was not adept with computing taxes and in filling up the ITR form. Mrs. Pacquiao also said she was not also fluent in English.

Prosecution lawyer Atty. Katrina Muli in turn presented to court a certification from BIR Region 18 showing that no ITR was filed by Mrs. Pacquiao or her representative in 2010.

Mrs. Pacquiao immediately left the CTA premises after the hearing, refusing to grant an interview with the media. —ALG, GMA News