BIR urged: Audit MRT-3 maintainer

MANILA, Philippines - A congressman asked the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) yesterday to do a tax audit of the maintenance service provider of Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3), the breakdown-prone rail line along EDSA.

The MRT-3 reported 11 undetermined technical problems and limited its operation once from Monday until Friday afternoon.

In a letter to the BIR, Rep. Jericho Nograles of party-list group Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta said the agency should look into the tax filings of Busan Universal Rail Inc. (BURI) and its incorporators.

Nograles, who comes from Davao City, identified the incorporators as Elpidio Silvestre Uy of Edison Development and Construction, Tramat Mercantile Inc., TMI Corp., Castan Corp. and Busan Transportation Corp.

He claimed that based on his investigation, at least four BURI shareholders did not declare the true value of their “taxable financial assets obviously to deny the government of much-needed tax revenues.”

“It came to my attention that the aforementioned companies have invested huge amounts of money but have not appropriately declared the same,“ he said.

Nograles cited the case of Edison Development and Construction, which he said did not declare its P124.8-million shareholding in BURI as required by law.

Tramat Mercantile, on the other hand, reported having only P27.7 million in total assets but managed to invest P124.8 million in BURI, he said.

TMI Corp., which has P102 million worth of investment in BURI, declared no such amount in its audited financial statement.

Castan Corp. has P60.3 million in shares in BURI but has declared only P5.3 million worth of actual assets.

“The figures do not add up. The BIR and even the Securities and Exchange Commission should look into them,” he said.

Nograles reiterated his call for the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to immediately rescind BURI’s maintenance contract and should stop all payments to MRT-3’s maintainer.

He lamented that while DOTr officials have been promising to scrap the contract, their promise has remained lip service. – With Robertzon Ramirez