CTA Issues Gag Order vs Pacquiao, Henares

The Court of Tax Appeals on Thursday issued a gag ordered against WBO Champion and politician Manny Pacquiao and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares and their counsels.

The order was issued during the hearing on Thursday morning with presiding Justice Roman del Rosario, who also resets the said hearing on January 16, 2014, in which the BIR will present its counter evidence on the case.

CTA First Division Clerk of Court Margarette Y. Guzman told GMA News Online the gag order was the only thing that happened at the hearing. Guzman said the court commanded “no declarations from either parties and their counsels to the media”.

The order was issued while Pacquiao’s urgent plea to lift the freeze order on his bank accounts is being heard by the court and while the BIR tries to settle the issue amicably.

“The copy of the gag order is still with the judges for signing and may come out today or tomorrow,” Guzman added.

Earlier, while fresh from his dramatic victory against American Brandon Rios in Macau last November, Pacquaio complained in a press conference that the BIR has frozen his bank accounts. BIR Commissioner Kim Henares, on the other hand, responded stating that the boxer’s predicament was a simple tax collection case from a tax payer who had not paid his taxes.

Reports said the BIR had issued a warrant of garnishment which allows the government to seize Pacquiao’s assets to cover his tax liabilities amounting to P2.2 billion, including penalties and sur charges. Pacquiao and his wife Jinkee are questioning the BIR’s calculation of his purported P2.2-billion tax liability.

On August 1, Pacquiao reportedly asked the appellate court to review the tax deficiency claimed by the BIR against him and his wife. They filed on October 18 an urgent plea to lift the warrant issued by the BIR and prayed the CTA to stop the bureau from issuing any warrant against them, Gma News Online said.

The BIR was scheduled to present its counter evidence against Pacquiao’s motion to lift the warrant of garnishment on Thursday. The CTA has already had two hearings on the case – on Oct. 22 and on Nov. 5, Gma news online reported.

Accordingly, a gag order is a court order demanding or prohibiting the attorneys and the parties to a pending lawsuit or criminal prosecution from talking to the media or the public about the case. The intent is to prevent prejudice due to pre-trial publicity which would influence potential jurors. A gag order has the secondary purpose of preventing the lawyers from trying the case in the press and on television, and thus creating a public mood (which could get ugly) in favor of one party or the other, Gma News online reported.

The Tax court resets the hearing to January 16, 2014.

Source: Gma News Online