DOJ to probe head of doctors’ group for alleged tax evasion

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Justice (DOJ) has set its preliminary investigation into the much publicized tax evasion complaint against outgoing Philippine Medical Association (PMA) president Leo Olarte.

In a text message Tuesday, April 15, Assistant State Prosecutor Stewart Allan Mariano said Olarte had been summoned to appear before the justice department on April 28, at 10 am, for the preliminary probe.

Olarte, however, said Tuesday he had yet to receive the subpoena. 

The outgoing PMA president is a medical practitioner and lawyer by profession. He is a professor of Legal Medicine at the Far Eastern University-Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation Institute of Medicine and teaches Torts and Damages at the FEU Institute of Law and University of the East College of Law.

His term as PMA president ends on May 30.

Olarte is a respondent in complaints filed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) before the DOJ for willful attempt to evade taxes and for failure to file income tax returns (ITR) for the years 2006 to 2012.

The BIR said Olarte owes the government P2.93 million in deficiency taxes, inclusive of surcharges and interests.

Olarte, for his part, denied he failed to pay his taxes. He also questioned the timing of the complaint filed, which came after a BIR-PMA word war over the bureau’s print advertisements portraying doctors and other select professionals as tax cheats.

PMA condemned the BIR-released image, which first appeared in a newspaper on March 2, showing a doctor piggybacking on a school teacher. The image was accompanied by the following text: “When you don’t pay your taxes, you’re a burden to those who do.” 

Olarte said the advertisement was “absolutely unfair.”

With a newly-elected PMA president and in an act of reconciliation, the PMA and the BIR called for a joint press conference on Thursday, April 10, calling for the filing of ITRs before the April 15 deadline.  – Rappler.com