Corruptions at the Register of Deeds

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA Are heads of the Register of Deeds in Pangasinan patently corrupt? Lately, Commissioner Kim Henares of the Bureau of Internal Revenue exposed and charged in court Atty. Cecilia L. Munar head of the Register of Deeds of Dagupan for conspiring with land seller Humberto Cason Solis and land buyer Elma de la Cruz Versoza. Henares said Solis sold to Versoza an agricultural land in Binalonan, Pangasinan for x amount that were all listed on the Certificate Authorizing Registration (CAR) issued by Revenue District Office-6 of the BIR in Urdaneta City. This transaction was covered by Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT) 89201. But one among Solis and Versoza (or their adviser) was probably born a genius. Solis sold again to Versoza another 1,282-hectare commercial land in Dagupan City using the same TCT numbers by falsifying through replacement, alteration, addition and superimposition of details on the face of the document, among others, of the CAR issued by RDO-6 to look liked it was issued by RDO-4 based in Calasiao, Pangasinan. According to the BIR the “malefactors” paid tax payments only of Capital Gains Tax and Documentary Stamp Tax for P6,000 and P1,500 to P206,000 and P31,500, respectively. This deprived the government P51.49 million of revenues inclusive of surcharges and interests. This happens, according to Henares, with the connivance of Atty. Munar who should have seen the blatant falsifications on the CAR before she allowed the transfer of title to Versoza. Consequently Munar was charged for permitting the transfer of the said properties in direct violation of Section 58 (E), in relation to Section 269 (e) and (h) of the Tax Code. Holy Casserole and Guacamole! Who says government post is a bane? If there was indeed hanky-panky in this single transaction that transpired in RD-Dagupan City, did somebody there earn millions of pesos at the expense of the government? And I am not yet here talking with millions of pesos undiscovered illegal transactions that transpired there. *** This column last year helped the BIR exposed two anomalies involving people at the Register of Deeds in Lingayen. The first was when Maria Carla Cacapit, an administrative aide, allegedly interceded for a fake CAR with vendee Nelia F. Doria. The fake CAR, according to the BIR, was suspected to be manufactured by unscrupulous fixers at RD-Lingayen. The second one was when Atty. Melvin Castro, deputy head of RD-Lingayen was charged by Quirino Ramos and Atty Elmer Carolino, chief and assistant chief of RDO-5 based in Alaminos City of violation of Section 258 (E) of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended, for allowing the transfer of ownership of the subject parcels of land without a CAR from the BIR certifying that such transfer has been reported and that the Capital Gain Tax (CGT) thereon has been paid. According to both of them, with the alleged connivance of Castro for the 12 heirs of Gavino Vinluan in Labrador, Pangasinan to have their 358,966 square meters of lands transferred to buyer former mayor Ernesto Acain of Labrador despite the lack of the requisites. As a result the government was deprived of P9.26 million taxes. Atty. Carolino told me that Castro’s involvement started when he wrote at the Day Book of the RD -Lingayen a statement that was used by the provincial assessor office under Nestor Quimbao to issue a new tax declarations in the name of the buyers. “My act there was ministerial after the RD has already signed the approval of all the requirements before it reaches my office,” Quimbao told me later. After the BIR sued Atty Castro, he was not sacked as deputy of RD. Susmariosep, he was instead promoted as the chief of Register of Deeds in Alaminos City. Malas naman ng taga Alaminos City! *** We could still bear with unqualified and without a news outlet media men masquerading as legitimate members of the trade who are eye sores among public officials particularly. But it is an affront to see swindlers among our ranks duping unwary village and public school officials for projects they sell then disappear after they got hold of the initial payment. Take this rogue news reporter without an outlet, who was imprisoned already for duping somebody. He would go back to the prison cell, the place where he rightly belongs, after a government employee files an estafa case against him soon. I hope that after news outlets like TV gets the Complaint- Affidavit against him, his photo and a news clip warning the public could serve better the general welfare.. *** Here is a wake-up call to Rep. Rachel Arenas if she wants to win here last term next year. People in the 3rd Congressional District particularly those who live in Calasiao are up in arms against the additional fares and the inconveniences of longer travel time because of Arenas and Eng. Mayette Mendoza’s (chief of 2nd Engineering Sub-Office of the Department of Public Works & Highway) failure to build a foot bridge in the closed Marusay Bridge in Calasiao. An engineer and an expert on the nuances of projects at the DPWH told me recently that the duo could construct a foot bridge as opposed to the media statement of Mendoza that there was no budget from the P90 million Spanish grant. “A foot bridge would cost less than P1 million. Those (DPWH) officials could use the appropriation intended for the rip-rap (on both banks where the bridge is connected).He said the rip-rapping (concreting of river bank) starts after the bridge was already constructed. He wondered why not these officials use the P1 million appropriations from the P90 million grants as they can still process P1 million from the solon’s funds before the construction of the rip-rap in January next year. Susmariosep, is this not a common sense? (You can read my selected intriguing but thought-provoking columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com).