Don’t let him be the last to know

Herbie Gomez

THERE is a question in the controversial tax settlement between city hall and Ajinomoto Philippines that is bugging my mind.

But before that, it is best to see it in its proper context. In March, former Taglimao barangay chairman William Guialani pressed charges against Moreno, and city treasurer Glenn Bañez for agreeing to lower the business taxes of Ajinomoto from P2.9 million to P300 thousand without the city council’s consent. Specifically, Guialani charged Moreno and Bañez with graft, violation of the code of conduct and ethical standards for government officials, violation of the Local Government Code, grave abuse of authority, gross misconduct, and manifest partiality. He sought for a preventive suspension order against Moreno and Bañez.

Guialani filed the complaint before the ombudsman’s office days after Councilor Adrian Barba brought the matter to the attention of the city council. In the complaint, Guialani said it was “crystal clear that the city treasurer has no power or authority to enter [into] any tax compromise [and] neither the city mayor…”

The city hall-Ajinomoto deal was an out-of-court settlement that resulted from  the case filed by the company against city hall in 2014. Ajinomoto had questioned and protested Bañez’s assessment of its unpaid local taxes, including penalties, from 2006 to 2012, and argued that the only reason why the amount ballooned was because the city treasurer reclassified the condiments it produces from “essential” to “non-essential” commodities. I suppose “essential” means lesser taxes, and “non-essential” means higher taxes.

And so Ajinomoto filed a petition for review, and sought relief from the 17th branch of the Regional Trial Court on April 16, 2014. The judge then told the parties to undergo mediation proceedings, and it resulted in the revision and lowering of the tax assessment to P300 thousand, inclusive of increments. In other words, a full settlement of the assessed local business taxes from 2006 to 2012, was reached.

What is bothersome here is Moreno’s claim that, like the city council, he was unaware of the out-of-court tax settlement, and that, supposedly, he only found out that Bañez and Ajinomoto struck a deal after Barba and Guialani started complaining.

Frankly, I find it really jaw-dropping for a mayor with the intelligence and experience like Moreno to be out of the loop. That is really incredible. But setting intelligence and experience aside, I am willing to take that assertion as gospel truth for a moment in order to point out that very serious questions that cry out for answers would continue to hound the Moreno administration even if it succeeds in convincing the courts and the public that mayor was really kept in the dark by his city treasurer. The first of these mind-boggling questions that’s been bugging me is this: who the hell did Bañez think he was, striking a deal to significantly reduce a firm’s taxes from P2.9 million to P300 thousand without consulting or clearing it with the mayor first?

While local government treasurers are, technically, under the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF), the settlement was certainly not an agreement between the BLGF and Ajinomoto. Rather, it was a settlement between the city government of Cagayan de Oro represented or misrepresented by Bañez, and Ajinomoto. That Bañez was appointed by the BLGF to be the treasurer of the city doesn’t give him the authority to strike a deal on money matters on behalf of the city without city hall’s green light. Or did Bañez think he was city hall?

Moreno’s assertion that he was kept in the dark by Bañez also leads us to a question on exactly how the mayor keeps his department heads in line–or whether or not they are still in line and feel accountable to the mayor, and to the people of Cagayan de Oro, ultimately.

Accountability is a necessity in good governance. Remove that from the equation, and you will have a formula that basically looks like this: monopoly of power + too much discretion – accountability = . That is a very dangerous formula. We learned that from the history of the tribes, kingdoms, empires, and modern-day governments.

We are told that the purchase of allegedly overpriced hand-held radios exposed by Councilor Ramon Tabor was the handiwork of the then city administrator Roy Raagas. Allegedly, Moreno did not know anything about it until the droppings hit the fan.

And so, setting intelligence and experience aside, I ask: what else do you know nothing about, Mayor Oca?

Pastilan.