Mayor, 2 others face graft complaints

(UPDATE) PASIG City Mayor Vico Sotto was charged with graft before the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly giving a 100-percent tax discount to a telecommunications company.

Also charged were Melanie de Mesa, head of the Business Permit and Licensing Department, and Jeronimo Manzanero, the city administrator.

In a 17-page complaint, complainant Ethelmart Austria Cruz accused the three officials of grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of public service and dishonesty.

Cruz said that since 2018, Converge ICT Solutions Inc. has declared, for tax purposes, that they are only occupying a 5-square-meter office space and employing four employees.

But inspection reports, dated July 18 and Sept. 19, 2022, revealed that Converge misdeclared the actual size of its office and the number of its employees as it actually has 1,901 workers, and occupies four flats with a combined floor area of 9,037.46 square meters.

Further, a tax order of payment was also issued to Converge on Oct. 18, 2022, for a total amount of P3,670,340.11 with a total surcharge of P447,106.77 and a total interest amount of P979,570.27 representing deficiencies and delinquencies in the payment of fees and licenses.

Cruz said the mayor granted the telco a 100 percent tax discount, which «constitutes the giving of unwarranted benefits and is a violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.»

«The authority of respondent Mayor Sotto is only to grant a deduction from the amount of obligation assessed by the business office and license office (BPLO). The proper remedy and course of action that would have been less detrimental for the City of Pasig was to enter into a compromise agreement,» Cruz added.

Sotto brushed off the complaint filed against him.

«Anyone can file a complaint, it doesn't mean anything,» he told reporters.