BIR files tax evasion complaint vs. Wawao Builders

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Thursday filed a tax evasion complaint with the Department of Justice against the sole proprietor of Wawao Builders over a tax deficiency amounting to P48.39 million from a ghost flood control project in Malolos City, Bulacan. 

According to the BIR, the complaint was filed against Mark Allan Villamor Arevalo for violation of Sections 254 and 255 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997. 

“He received the money but no flood control project was actually built,” BIR Commissioner Charlito Martin Mendoza said in an ambush interview.

“It’s a ghost project and when he filed his returns, he declared costs for the alleged construction of the project. But since wala pong proyektong ginawa, so ‘yung mga dineclare niya doon na deductions, operating costs are fictitious and inexistent,” he added.

(It’s a ghost project and when he filed his returns, he declared costs for the alleged construction of the project. But since no project was actually done, the deductions and operating costs he declared there are fictitious and inexistent.)

The BIR said a P77.20 million contract was awarded to Wawao Builders in January 2024 for the construction of a riverbank protection structure in Barangay Caingin.

It said that Wawao collected P72.37 million net of withholding taxes, in three tranches from March to April 2025.

Mendoza said the BIR is investigating the involvement of other personalities involved in the complaint.

“Lahat ng personalities na involved, ongoing ang investigation namin. We just have to make sure na maliwanag ang batayan natin kapag nag-file tayo ng kaso,” he said.

(All the personalities involved are under ongoing investigation. We just have to make sure that our basis is solid when we file a case.)

According to Mendoza, this is the 13th complaint filed by the BIR over anomalous flood control projects.

Among these were multiple tax complaints against contractors Curlee and Sara Discaya for over P7.1 billion in tax liabilities from 2018 to 2021 as well as tax evasion complaints against former Public Works and Highways engineers Henry Alcantara, Brice Hernandez, and Jaypee Mendoza.—AOL, GMA Integrated News