FINE, DEPORT THIS MAINLAND CHINESE WHO CHEAT THE GOV'T

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

If the Revenue District Office -No. 4 of the Bureau of Internal Revenue under the helm of its chief Ernesto Mangabat and his assistant chief Aldrin Camba immediately acted on my complaint and penalized by P20,000 each of the more than 80 stall and kiosk owners in 2019 in the then newly opened SM Center- Dagupan for operating without issuing an official receipts (O.R) to their customers, I expect RDO- No. 6 Chief Helen Leaño and RDO- No. 6 Assistant Chief Lolita Salayog Chief to sanction Fresh Fruits, a huge Chinese owned suppliers of imported fruits, that does business in Barangay Nancayasan, Urdaneta City in Pangasinan.

I did not only find its Chinese owner rude in shouting to one of its swarming customers who patronized his warehouse that host three giant cold storage but found he did not issue an O.R from the BIR when my wife and I bought our fruits there.

Please see the photo on this article of its unofficial receipt similar to the hundreds of thousands probably it issued to its customers at the expense of the government.

RDO-6 Chief Leaño, that covers the thriving Northern Luzon’s fruit hub’s Urdaneta City, proved me wrong that under your stint countless businessmen like another huge fruits importer’s Harvest in Xentromart not only issue temporary receipts instead of the O.R for our purchase but would not replace the spoiled fruits like Australian oranges and imported grapes to the unwitting customers who discovered them when they arrived to their stores hours away from the place of the seller. Mind you the buyers are not even allowed to inspect the contents of the boxes they purchased thus the brouhahas of the unwelcome replacement of the spoiled procurement.

“Hinde po puweding palitan ang damage kasi malayo ang pinagbilhan din namin,” the importer-owner or staff of Harvest would tell their sorry clients who came from various cities and towns of the mammoth Pangasinan province.

Now, I am calling too the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Pangasinan Director Natalia B. Dalaten, the missus of my friend Regional Trial Court Judge Julius Dalaten, to check this store about the similar complaints of the buyers.

***

Oh by the way, I want to see the documents attesting the legality of these Chinese like the owner of Fresh Fruits, who haphazardly speak Filipino, from the Bureau of Immigration in Dagupan City.

Fresh Fruits is one of the mammoth four warehouses that supplies foreign fruits in Northern Luzon. They compete with those fruit behemoths in Divisoria and other parts of Metro Manila.

What these Mainland Chinese traders are doing aside from allegedly cheating with millions of pesos of taxes our hard pressed government aggravated by the pandemic’s COVID-19, they deprive the legitimate Filipino businessmen of a healthy competition.

Some of these Chinese traders were raided and caught by the law enforcers maintaining illegally a Shabu (illegal drug’s metamphetamine hydrochloride) facility like in Burgos, Pangasinan and fake cigarette factories in Pangasinan and Pampanga provinces like in the villages of Lubao, Villasis (two), Mangaldan, and Bugallon towns in the guise of businessmen running a piggery or feed mill.

***

By the way, what are the penalty and jail time if those business establishment failed to issue an official receipts from the BIR and fool the government through double or multiple receipts?

As provided by the National Internal Revenue Code, it says that “Any person who, being required under Section 237 to issue receipts or sales or commercial invoices, fails or refuses to issue such receipts of invoices, issues receipts or invoices that do not truly reflect and/or contain all the information required to be shown therein, or uses multiple or double receipts or invoices, shall, upon conviction for each act or omission, be punished by a fine of not less than One thousand pesos (P1,000) but not more than Fifty thousand pesos (P50,000) and suffer imprisonment of not less than two (2) years but not more than four (4) years”.

(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)

PHOTOS: The non-BIR receipt of Fresh Fruits, the facade of its warehouse and its signage in Brgy. Nancayasan, Urdaneta City, Pangasinan.

BIR Region-1 Leads School Online Tax Quiz

 

The Bureau of Internal Revenue – Revenue Region No. 01 spearheaded by Revenue District Office No. 03 San Fernando City, La Union held its 1st Regional Schools Online Tax Quiz last December 10, 2020.

The tilt was participated by 36 student contestants from 19 colleges and universities from all over the four provinces’ Region -1.

The online tax quiz was made possible via Zoom and Kahoot's online platforms that provided automated scoring and tabulation system. It involved not only providing the correct answers but also speed up on how fast a contestant can give the correct answer.

  

WINNERS. The three winners of the First Regional Schools Online Tax Quiz held last December 10, 2020 at the regional office of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in Calasiao, Pangasinan. Those who garnered the top three of the tilt, from the highest to the lowest, are Rosemarie T. Abrigo from Colegio de Dagupan, Ivan P. de Vera from San Carlos College, and Franz Josef DS. de Guzman from Kingfisher School of Business and Finance.The winners were flanked by top BIR officials in Region-1.  

BIR Region 1 OIC-Regional Director Josephine S. Virtucio, together with Revenue District Officer Charmaine C. de la Torre and Assistant Revenue District Officer Doris G. Rimando, led the awarding ceremonies last December 16, 2020 at the BIR Region 1 Covered Court, in Calasiao, Pangasinan.  
As the tilt became tougher, the chances of all the contestants who were scored by points narrowed to the top three winners.

Those who topped the quiz from the highest to the lowest were Rosemarie T. Abrigo from Colegio de Dagupan, Ivan P. de Vera from San Carlos College, and Franz Josef DS. de Guzman from Kingfisher School of Business and Finance.

Their coaches and schools were likewise recognized and awarded during the ceremony.

 The online tax tilt was the first and only tax quiz conducted by the Bureau for the year 2020 pursuant to the Taxpayer Awareness Program of the BIR. It was also made possible in coordination with the Commission on Higher Education (Region 1) and the National Federation of Junior Philippine Institute of Accountants (JPIA).

Amnesty for Errant Taxpayer is Until December 31 Only - BIR

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

CALASIAO – Taxpayers who do not want to pay the hefty penalties because they failed to pay their taxes in the past years can avail of the Voluntary Assessment Payment Program (VAPP) of the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

According to Assistant Revenue District Office-4 Chief Aldrin Camba, the twenty five percent surcharge, twelve percent interest, and the compromise penalties based on the table that commensurate to the debt of the errant taxpayer to the government can now be availed by paying only the five percent meted to a taxpayer of the entire back taxes since 2018.

“Lahat iyon babayaran mo with this program pag mag avail kayo. Iyong tatlong penalty na iyon ang ma wipe out at magiging isa na lang maging five percent of the basic,” he told this writer.

TAX BRASS. From left is Revenue District Office No. 4 Chief Ernesto Mangabat and Assistant RDO-4 Chief Aldrin Camba of the Bureau of Internal Revenue that supervise Central Pangasinan.  

Camba said the voluntary assessment program was implemented through Revenue Regulations No. 21-2020, signed by BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay last September this year and will end on December 31, 2020.

He said that the program can help add for the BIR's target of 2.61 Trillion this year.

The target is lowered by 16.7 percent from the actual revenues of P3.14 trillion last year.

To collect additional revenue at the least administrative cost, the BIR is granting taxpayers the opportunity to pay additional tax, with or without a tax investigation, through VAPP, the Regulation said.

The VAPP covers all internal revenue taxes including those arising from one-time transactions (ONETT) like estate tax, donor’s tax and capital gains tax (CGT) for the calendar year 2018 and fiscal years ending July 31, 2018 up to June 30, 2019.

RDO-4 oversees two cities and 13 towns of Central Pangasinan.

Because of the rampage of the dreaded pandemic Corona Virus Disease-19, its tax collection of almost P5 billion was reduced to P3.5 billion.

ARDO Camba said as of October this year RDO-4 had already exceeded 6% of the P3.5 billion collection mandated to them by the government.

RDO-4 is under the stewardship of RDO-4 Chief Ernesto Mangabat.

 RDO-4 is considered the biggest in terms of collection and premier office of the six RDOs in Region 1. It has a reduced tax goal of P3.5 billion from the P5 billion for year 2020. Mangabat blamed the new target as a result of the sluggish economy due to the rampage of the lethal phantom pandemic.

READ MY OTHER BLOG/COLUMN:

The Infamous S.O.P (Cut) on Gov't Projects

Aunt Ichu Maceda: Pionerring Force Behind Renowned Film Institutions

BY CONG. TOFF DE VENECIA

I just attended a Film Development Council of the Philippines tribute for my beloved aunt, Manay Ichu Maceda.

She was the pioneering force behind such storied film institutions such as the Metro Manila Film Festival, Mowelfund, Film Development Council, Film Academy of the Philippines, Philippine Motion Picture Producers Association, Experimental Cinema of the Philippines, and many others.

Marichu "Manay Ichu" Maceda. Photo Credit: GMA.Network.Com

She produced the critically acclaimed film Batch ‘81, and many other films under Sampaguita Pictures which was a movie outfit which my grandfather Doc Perez started.

Manay Ichu was a gamechanger and was vital to the Philippine movie industry’s sustainability and evolution in its first 100 years.

Emboldened by her fire and her legacy, and as the film industry faces new challenges today amidst the pandemic and digitization, I will endeavor as best I can and in my capacity as a legislator to continue the fight that she started as we transition into the next 100 years of Philippine cinema.

We miss you everyday Manay Ichu.

***

MY THOUGHTS

1. How do we empower our local MSMEs such that we can transition them from cottage industries into becoming globally competitive brands?

2. Where craftsmen are not in short supply in the 4th District of Pangasinan, how do we upskill them to encourage the evolution of more designers?

3. Better yet, how can we encourage the young to continue the good work their forebears have started and then dare to innovate, disrupt, and transform towards creative industry 4.0?

4. While we are in the thick of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, how can we encourage traditional businesses to develop an online presence and use social media to enhance their B2B (business to business) and B2C (business to consumer) engagement?

5. More importantly, how do we encourage our MSMEs to be bold, to dream, to explore endless possibilities, and develop the insatiable curiosity, appetite, and drive to see them through?

I Ain’t Only Write, I Sing Too

 

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

I relished some pages of the hard bound I bought The Soul of It All (My Music, My Life) that talks about the life story of rock, R&B (Rhythm and Blues), and pop singer Michael Bolton that I kept all the time in my fatigue knapsack. Damn, I whisked out the stuff whenever I was snagged in a dull situation like waiting for my name being called by a teller in a bank or money remittance center.

The only thing I could not fast read it when I was struck with a dull talker hahahaha!

Since I loved to sing and play guitar and hear (since high school) mostly foreign singers, I was glued with interest what Bolton has to say on the following:

“I heard Stevie Wonder perform recently and it’s amazing how the quality and range of his voice are still as strong as ever. His voice is superior on every level – in its range, flexibility, and power. Stevie’s singing also has an ethereal, inspired soulfulness that may be beyond the reach of most mere mortals”.

Photo is internet grab

I agree about what Bolton said.

The song My Cherie Amour I played for the umpteenth times when the blind Stevie Wonder’s belted Lately and My Cherie Amour when he exhorted the crowd in the latter song to sing its introduction or what musician calls in a song book as “intro” and first verse:

La la la la la la
La la la la la la

My cherie amour, lovely as a summer day
My cherie amour, distant as the milky way
My cherie amour, pretty little one that I adore
You're the only girl my heart beats for
How I wish that you were mine

His iconic voice never stop to mesmerize me. Just like the blind Ray Charles weaving vigorously  his head, where both sport a dark sunglasses, while belting “Georgia on My Mind” I played several times after Georgia State in the U.S.A gave us those breathtaking poll counting how between presidential rivals Democrats Sleepy Joe Biden and Sore Loser Donald “The Donald” Trump snare the 16 Electoral College Votes there and where Biden and Trump got a hair thin popular votes of 2,473,633 (49.50% ) and 2,461,854 (49.26% ), respectively.

“Was that song sang by Stevie Wonder?” I asked folk-rock singer Jun Lahi when I dropped by for the second time to the folk-rock bar’s Cuervo Makati in the Red District's Barangay Poblacion, Makati City in October 13, 2017 after he finished belting the scintillating song.

Before he sang it by the way he told the mostly foreign patrons “This song is dedicated for my media friend Mortz Ortigoza of Dagupan City”.

“No, it’s the song of Ray Charles,’ he retorted.

He added: “It’s your time to sing your favorite Desperado (by Eagles)”.

                                                        ***

Let’s go back to Bolton.

“Technically, Stevie is acknowledged to have the greatest range (of voice) of any singer in the history of popular music. His top notes in full voice after well above high C,” he said.

Talking about the “High C”, Bolton said that Italian consummate operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti Cavaliere di Gran Croce was the greatest tenor ever. His power, his magnificence, his tone, and, behind it all, his personality were combined in a way he had never heard elsewhere, even as he studied, as Luciano put it, “the tenor”.

“One of my favorite moments during the performance was the grand finale, when my turn came to step up to the microphone, following Pavarotti, and sing a verse of ‘Nessun Dorma’. He was gesturing to me to take over, very visibly supportive, smiling, and joyful, which helped ease my nerves. At the same time, everything was accelerated and elevated. The tone, power, and perfect control of his phenomenal voice was felt by all my senses, setting the bar as high as it could go for my entrance. The sensation was both inspiring and demanding. The audience was pleasantly surprised when I hit the high note. Just after that Luciano walked behind me and gave a thumbs-up. I couldn’t see him, but I heard the audience reaction, and of course I’ve only replayed that part of the video six or seven -thousand – times”.

Okay ‘nough said. This yokel has to go back to his room and mimic’s Bolton’s How Am I Supposed to Live With Out You where he struggled on the high toned lyrics:

Tell me how am supposed to live without you?
Now that I've been lovin' you so long
How am I supposed to live without you?
And how am I supposed to carry on?
When all that I've been livin' for is gone

Just like the high note’s chorus of Bruno Mar’s Versace on the Floor, this wannabe singer could conquer someday his frustration on those parts of the two songs.

“Just like Bolton hitting those High Cs of Pavarotti’s ‘Nessun Dorma" this writer told himself for the impossibility and incredibility of his illusion to be a singer.

Hinde naman masama ang mangarap. Ang problema lang noong last na kumanta ako sa Mindanao noong na locked down ako, five junkies or narco addicts were arrested by the cops dahil sa kinanta ko hahahaha!

READ MY OTHER BLOG/COLUMN:

Filipino Folk Rock Singers in Makati

(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)

FISHERMEN AND THEIR AUDACITY

 

THE AUDACITY of fishermen in Barangay San Isidro Norte in Binmaley, Pangasinan to encroach with their more or less ten wooden boats half of the stretch of the coastal national highway. Mayor Sam Rosario please look at the matter because your village officials have been giving you this nuisance and accident waiting to happen with the riding public. I took the photo at 1 P.M yesterday while I was traversing the area with my car.

Trabaho Para sa mga taga- San Jacinto, San Fabian, at Manaoag

By Pangasinan Fourth District Cong. Toff de Venecia

Tayo po’y nakipagpulong sa ating DTI Provincial Office na pinamumunuan ni DTI Provincial Director Natalie Dalaten upang talakayin ang mga planong programa ng inyong lingkod at ng kanilang ahenysa. Ang mga programang ito ay para sa promote at pag pundar ng mga ibat ibang negosyo sa ating distrito na makatutulong at magugustuhan ng ating mga kabaleyan.

Abangan sa ating page ang mga programang ilulunsad ng aming opisina sa buong kwatro distrito. Tuloy-tuloy ang #SerbisyongSubokNa na hatid ng inyong lingkod mula sa konsultasyon sa iba’t ibang mga ahensya hanggang sa implementasyon ng kanilang mga programa.

Ating pinaunlakan ang imbitasyon ng Philippine Librarians Association, Inc. bilang isa sa mga panauhin sa “Libraries as Catalysts in the New Normal Environment: Changes. Reforms. Transformations.” Dito, tinalakay natin ang kahalagahan ng isang matibay ng library system at kung paano ito nakakaepkto sa ating lipunan at ekonomiya. Nagbigay din tayo ng mga halimbawa sa mga hakbang na ginagawa Kongreso at Senado sa pag address dito katulad na lamang ng digitization ng mga libro sa public schools. Isa lamang ito sa mga natalakay na solusyon sa kinahaharap ng sektor ng edukasyon kaharap ang COVID-19. Kung nais niyong mapanood ang buong diskusyon, narito po ang link ng Day 1 ng PLAI Congress 2020.

Tuloy-tuloy po ang #SerbisyongSubokNa na hatid ng inyong lingkod, hindi lamang sa sektor ng edukasyon kundi pati na rin sa lahat ng adbokasiya na malapit sa ating mga kabaleyan. Maraming salamat po sa inyong walang sawang suporta!

xxx

Kamusta kayo mga kabaleyan? Nagsagawa po tayo ng inspeksyon sa Binday Dam upang makita ang progreso nito sa pagkakakumpleto. Ang rehabilitasyon ng Binday Dam ay ginawa upang makapabigay serbisyo sa higit 1500 na mga magsasaka mula sa San Jacinto, San Fabian at Manaoag.

Tuloy tuloy ang #SerbisyongSubokNa na hatid ng inyong lingkod hindi lamang para sa ating mga manggagawa ng agrikultura, kung hindi para din sa iba pang mga industriya na mayroon ang buong Distrito Kwatro. Maraming salamat sa inyong walang sawang suporta, mga kabaleyan.