Duterte orders Panelo to review case vs Mighty

Presidential chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo on Tuesday bared that he had been directed by President Rodrigo Duterte to study the legal issues against the owners of cigarette firm Mighty Corporation and prepare any appropriate charges to be filed. (Photo: RODRIGUEZ/PPD)

MANILA—Presidential chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo on Tuesday bared that he had been directed by President Rodrigo Duterte to study the legal issues against the owners of cigarette firm Mighty Corporation and prepare any appropriate charges to be filed.

“I’ve been instructed to study, prepare the case against the Mighty cigarette. This will be the first case that I will study, if there is enough evidence to file the appropriate case against the owners of Mighty,” Panelo said during a press briefing in Malacañang.

The Palace official said the government could file both civil and criminal cases against the cigarette firm, depending on the outcome of the review.

“Civil liability will be based on the computation of the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) and the BOC (Bureau of Customs) on the liabilities of Mighty cigarettes. They are supposed to pay some taxes and they avoided that then we can prosecute them with that,” he said.

“Discovery of false stamps, then that is another case. If it reaches PHP1 billion and above then it is economic sabotage,” Panelo said.

Pressed on the possible settlement of the case based on President Rodrigo Duterte’s earlier pronouncements on the issue, Panelo pointed out that the President always bases his statements on the provisions of the law.

Earlier, President Duterte said that his administration is open to settlement with Mighty Corp.

“When the President makes his statements, it is based on what the law says. So any imposition or conditions imposed by law will be followed by the President. Under the law, civil liability can be settled, criminal prosecution is left to proceed,” Panelo said.

He added that there are also certain conditions by which one can settle a case.

“One, if there is no fraud; second there is reasonable doubt as to the existence of probable cause; and that the respondent cannot afford to pay. That’s when the settlement comes in, otherwise you cannot compromise,” Panelo explained.

In the meantime, the chief Presidential lawyer took a dig on the previous administration for ignoring to file a case against Mighty even if it had allegedly enough evidence in its hands.

“I’ve been in coordination with the BIR commissioner. I understand they have prepared (a case) even prior to the discovery of false tax stamps which the previous administration has ignored. It’s supposed to be filed against Mighty cigarettes, but it lied there for a while,” Panelo noted.

“What I understand is that the BIR then has a case against the owners of Mighty but apparently they failed to file the same and I’m looking over that,” he said.

He added that a case could be possibly filed against former BIR officials for not filing appropriate charges against the cigarette firm.

“It depends… it would depend based on my study of the case,” Panelo said.

In the meantime, Panelo said that he would be working in close coordination with the Department of Justice (DOJ) for the cases against Mighty Corp.

“We will be coordinating with the DOJ, we will be helping each other. DOJ will be main agency but we will be helping,” the Palace official said.

Mighty Corp. is presently being investigated for smuggling and tax evasion over the alleged use of fake tax stamps on its cigarette products.

The cigarette firm has continuously denied the charges and said that it will cooperate in any investigations.