MANILA — The Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) denied the petition for review against Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra on the supposed failure of Camp John Hay Hotel Corp. (CJHHC) to submit additional records pertaining to its books of accounts.

The petition was filed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) against the former Department of Justice (DOJ) secretary.

In the CTA en banc decision promulgated last Thursday, August 3, 2023, the court said the appeal of the BIR was denied for lack of merit.

The complaint arose from the alleged failure of CJHHC president Ferdinand Santos to present its available books of accounts and other accounting records, in violation of the 1997 National Internal Revenue Code.

“We find no showing that the public respondent in affirming resolutions of the investigating prosecutor was marked with grave abuse of discretion,” the court said in the decision penned by Associate Justice Catherine Manahan, with the concurrence of Presiding Justice Roman Del Rosario and Associate Justices Jean Marie Bacorro-Villena, Lanee Cui-David and Corazon Ferrer-Flores.

In 2016, the investigating prosecutor of the DOJ dismissed the BIR’s complaint against Santos on the grounds that there was no evidence that he was still required to present additional documents.

The prosecutor believed that the BIR has not given sufficient proof to warrant the filing of an information against Santos.

The prosecutor also found no evidence to prove that Santos was apprised and informed of whatever records and documents are still needed to be presented.

Guevarra, as then DOJ secretary, also dismissed the subsequent appeal filed by the BIR.

The BIR then elevated the case to the CTA asserting that there was grave abuse of discretion on the part of Guevarra.

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The CTA 2nd Division denied the BIR’s petition in a decision promulgated on February 8, 2022.

In upholding the decision of the 2nd division, the en banc agreed that courts do not reverse the Secretary of Justice’s findings and conclusions on the matter of probable cause except in clear cases of grave abuse of discretion.

“Notwithstanding the foregoing conclusion, this court finds that public respondent did not act with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction when he issued the subject resolutions,” the court en banc said.

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