MANILA, Philippines - The Tax Management Association of the Philippines (TMAP) is seeking the

passage of a taxpayer bill of rights and responsibilities to ensure that all taxpaying individuals and
corporations are adequately protected amid the governments all-out war on tax cheats.
In a briefing yesterday, Rina Lorena-Manuel, TMAP president and concurrent head of Smart
Communications Inc.s tax department, said the organizations main thrust for this year is to safeguard the
rights of taxpayers while at the same time encouraging them to comply with their tax obligations.
Manuel said establishing a mechanism for taxpayers human rights will be a key component for the
protection of peoples basic right to life as well as for the continued stability of economic development.
The taxpayer bill of rights will clearly list the major rights and responsibilities of taxpayers.
One of the proposals we are preparing for is a magna carta of taxpayers rights and responsibilities. This
will be based on the model taxpayer charter that the Asia-Oceania Tax Consultants Association, of which
TMAP is a member of, is espousing, Manuel said.
Taxes derived from individuals and corporations fund the nations infrastructure and development.
Manuel underscored the need for the government to uphold procedural justice and plug the loopholes in
its tax system to ensure fairness.
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Manuel said the TMAP has already mentioned its proposal to Congressman Miro Quimbo, chairman of
the House committee on ways and means.
We want taxpayers to know they have rights but they must also know their responsibilities. So we will
encourage them to provide accurate and timely information and pay the correct taxes, she said.
She said the TMAP would also issue position papers on certain tax issuances to apprise taxpayers of the
implications.
For one, the TMAP has posed objection to the significant changes introduced by the Bureau of Internal
Revenue in the assessment process such as the elimination of the informal conference and the process
for filing request for investigation or reconsideration.
Manuel said the 15-day window given to a person or corporation to respond to a preliminary assessment
notice issued by the BIR is not enough for the main tax collection agency to go through all records and
come up with a fair decision.
She said the 15-day period will ultimately be rendered meaningless as the BIR will still issue a final letter
of demand and final assessment notice to taxpayers who disagree with the agencys findings of
deficiency tax.
http://www.philstar.com/business/2014/03/22/1303642/tmap-pushes-taxpayer-bill-rights


The Joint Administrative Order (JAO) No. 1 between the DOTC and the DTI more popularly known as
the Air Passenger Bill of Rights is taking effect tomorrow, much to the relief and appreciation of
millions of air travelers who have experienced the inconvenience of sleep-sitting in airports due to flight
delays or sudden cancellations. The JAO (very recently signed by Transportation Secretary Jun Abaya
and DTI Secretary Greg Domingo) clearly outlines the responsibilities of carriers (both local and
international) with regard to passengers, and this will hopefully address the complaints of passengers
about the indifferent treatment and at times, abusive behavior they get from airline personnel.
The order covers a wide range of areas/issues, from the simple and practical to the more complicated,
like snacks and drinks to stranded passengers an issue that can generate ill feelings from passengers
who do not relish the idea of shelling out extra cash for overpriced food and drinks from airport
concessionaires. Airlines will also be required to compensate passengers the amount of P2,000 for each
day that their baggage is missing so hopefully there will be less incidents of luggage being sent to
wrong destinations.
Among the more significant provisions include removal of the 10-percent overbooking limit in several
cases resulting in the denial of passengers to board despite no fault of their own, and the requirement for
airlines to fully disclose information on popular promos like zero fares which have been criticized as
misleading mainly because they fail to mention other expenses (like taxes and surcharges) and promo
limitations.
Several sectors are suggesting an expansion of the order to cover the inclusion of trained personnel and
the provision of certain medical equipment like portable defibrillators in case of emergency situations such
as a passenger suffering from cardiac arrest. Experts say that defibrillation wherein the heart is given
(controlled) electric shock to help bring back normal heart contractions can greatly enhance the rate of
survival especially if applied within five minutes after the patient collapses. This is definitely one
suggestion that Secretary Abaya should look into.

Tetra Pak corpse
Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
Gruesome details surrounding the death of Eva Rausing, wife of Tetra Pak heir Hans Rausing, have
become fodder for both tabloids and dailies, with the bizarre story causing shock and disbelief among
Londons high society. The 49-year-old Hans Rausing happens to be one of the richest men in the UK
being heir to his familys multi-billion dollar food and processing company in Sweden. Tetra Pak became
famous in the 1950s for introducing the tetrahedron packaging for milk, from which the Rausing family
built its fortune.
Hans grew up in Sweden then moved to England in the 80s, traveling in Asia where he reportedly picked
up a drug habit. He met Eva, daughter of a multimillionaire former Pepsi executive, in a rehab facility and
the two got married in 1992. Reports say the couple was clean for several years before everything went
downhill all because Eva celebrated New Years Eve in 1999 with a glass of champagne.
What followed was a sordid tale of drug abuse with the couple isolating themselves in their 50-room
mansion, spending more and more time locked in their bedroom. Eva used a pacemaker, with the drug
habit exacerbating her heart condition. Early in May, Rausing suddenly banned his household staff from
entering their second floor bedroom, telling everyone his wife was sick, frequently sleeping in a sofa in the
kitchen.
Apparently, Eva had suddenly collapsed and died. One can only surmise that drugs and the intense co-
dependency between husband and wife made Hans unable to cope, covering her body with 12 layers
of bed sheets and clothes, applying deodorants and wrapping the corpse in plastic to mask the stench.
The discovery came two months later in July when Hans was flagged for erratic driving. Police saw
scattered white powder and a crack pipe held between his legs. A further search showed a bag of
unopened letters to Eva. That led to a raid of the Rausings 70 million mansion the second floor
covered with flies and the couples bedroom where the very decomposed body of Eva Rausing was
discovered, her hands still clutching a crack pipe.
The disturbing tale of Hans and Eva Rausing merely shows the lethal combination of drugs and money,
and what this can do to ones life.

One for the dogs
The Belgian Malinois dogs that helped in the retrieval of Typhoon Pablo victims highlights the need for a
disaster-prone country like ours to deploy more trained canines that can help in search and retrieval
efforts. Our friend Renee Speltz, wife of then US Ambassador to the Asian Development Bank Paul
Speltz, was so shocked when she discovered that we did not have our own canine search and rescue
unit that she founded the Philippine Canine Search and Rescue Association (PHK9SAR), the first in the
country and we are told, also in Asia-Pacific.
It was Renees dream to make the Philippines become a significant training ground for canine search and
rescue teams in the region, where the dogs can be deployed to neighboring countries during earthquakes
and other disasters, without having to rely on canine teams coming from the United States. Training and
rescue efforts also require a lot of expenses for logistic requirements and special equipment, and in the
past, Renee has spearheaded a number of fundraising efforts like annual benefit concerts in coordination
with the Red Cross.
Judging from the results of the combined Makati Rescue and the Philippine K9 Search and Rescue
Foundation efforts in Compostela, Renees dream has taken shape.
http://www.philstar.com/business/2012-12-20/887965/air-passengers-bill-rights-welcome-gift

De Lima issues legal opinion on Cebu
grad school issue
By Evelyn Macairan (The Philippine Star) | Updated March 10, 2014 - 12:00am
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MANILA, Philippines - In a recent legal opinion, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said students of the graduate
school of Cebu Normal University cannot automatically become members of the schools Graduate School
Students Organization (GRASSO).
In a letter to CNU president Marcelo Lopez, De Lima answered the query on the legality of GRASSOs
regulations on membership.
Article 3 of GRASSOs by-laws on membership reportedly states that all bona fide students of the graduate
school of CNU shall automatically become members of the organization.
But De Lima, in a three-page legal opinion, said, The right to form associations and be a member thereof is
one of the basic fundamental rights protected under the Bill of Rights of the Constitution. The constitutionally
guaranteed freedom of association includes the freedom not to associate.
The right to choose with whom one will associate oneself is the very foundation and essence of that
partnership. It should be noted that the provision guarantees the right to form an association. It does not
include the right to compel others to form or join one, she said.
Thus, to compel an individual to be a member of a society or organization is a violation of the persons right to
association, she added.
Nation ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
De Lima said the resolution issued by the CNU Board of Regents that authorizes the universitys president to
issue a memorandum on the voluntary nature of membership is on proper footing.
The memorandum was sent to all student organizations in the CNU campus.
http://www.philstar.com/nation/2014/03/10/1298968/de-lima-issues-legal-opinion-cebu-grad-school-
issue

Support, protection for student-athletes
SPORTS FOR ALL By Philip Ella Juico (The Philippine Star) | Updated April 9, 2014 - 12:00am
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We were able to obtain a copy of Senate Bill (S.B.) No 2133, An Act Providing for the Magna Carta of Student-
Athletes, introduced by Senator Pia S. Cayetano.
The first paragraph of the Explanatory Note lays the Constitutional basis for the Bill: the 1987 Philippine
Constitution recognizes that the the State shall promote physical education and encourage sports programs,
league competitions, and amateur sportsto foster self-discipline, teamwork and excellence for the
development of a healthy and alert citizenry.
The second paragraph states that Student-athletes are a pool of students who have exceptional talents and
skills in sports that could be further honed and developed in a school setting. At a young age, they have to
embrace a dual role being a student and athlete at the same time. Thus, this bill recognizes their special
circumstance, and aims to provide support and parameters on how they can thrive and excel in both fields of
study and sports.
A Magna Carta whether for labor, teachers, medical practitioners or whatever sector encompasses all the rights
and safeguards all the so-called freedoms of that sector. In this case, therefore, we are not talking of a Magna
Carta for students in general, we are dealing with a presumably small (perhaps not even five percent of a
schools total population) and very specific sector engaged in a very specific activity.
It is therefore understandable when the bill states, that, as a bill of rights for Student-Athletes, it endeavors to
address issues and concerns encountered for many years by many Student-Athletes past and present as
there is no existing law that promotes and protects their overall welfare.
The purpose of this bill is even more pointed: It is the purpose of this bill to provide appropriate recognition and
protection to the rights and general welfare of Student-Athletes encompassing academic, amateur sports,
mental and physical health aspects. On the other hand, it also acknowledges that these Student-Athletes are in
a specific; situation and thus the bill also specifies the accompanying responsibilities that they have to fulfill to
this end. Schools, athletic associations, Student-Athletes and their parents recognize and uphold the amateur
nature of the programs and competitions that Student-Athletes participate in.
Sportshub ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
The key and most important word in the preceding paragraph is amateur or one who plays for the love of the
sport. And this concept of amateurism will once again be brought up in the latter part of this column as an
important aspect of the whole concept of student-athletes and athletic scholarships in the Philippines and in the
United States. The Philippines copied the concept of athletic scholarships from the US.
To continue with the rest of the Explanatory Note of the bill of Sen. Cayetano, a sportswoman of note, the fifth
paragraph says that this bill also recognizes that Student-Athletes should be protected from any discriminatory
policy that may restrict their participation in any field of amateur sports that they have chosen to participate and
compete in and consequently hinder the development of their full potential as athletes and well-rounded
citizens of our country.
Lastly the bill stresses that it recognizes the vital role of the schools and accredited athletic associations, not
only in providing the opportunity and avenue for Student-Athletes to participate and excel in sports, but also
ensuring the protection of Student-Athletesrespective fields of amateur sports.
A chapter in the book Government and Sport: The Public Policy issues, edited by Arthur T. Johnson and
James H. Frey is entitled (ominously), The Amateur Athlete as Employee, written by Allen L. Sack and Bruce
Kidd. The two authors start the chapter with an interesting statement: What is widely known as amateur sport
is becoming increasingly commercialized.
Sack and Kidd add that amateur sport has been increasingly professionalizes as well. Most athletes at major
athletic universities in the US receive athletic scholarships, which pay for room, board, tuition and other
expenses. In the Olympic sports, the rules now permit athletes to accept living and training grants,
endorsement fees, and in some cases prize money, as long as these funds are administered by their sports
governing bodies.
The authors assign themselves the first task of identifying the conditions that distinguish sport as an amateur or
leisure activity from sports as employment. They state while there is no agreement on what is meant by the
term leisure, they argue that amateur sport is a type of leisure activity. As such it is free from instrumental or
utilitarian constraint. An amateur can walk away from sports without economic loss. An amateur, to use legal
terms according to Sack and Kidd, has no material interest in sport, and sport does not constitute a property
right.
Based in these insights and others that we were not able to highlight because of space constraints, it would
appear that consideration of this Bill will have to include an examination of present day real athletic scholarship
practices if our lawmakers want to perform a real service to the academic and school sports sector. In doing so,
however, the delicate balance between excessive government regulation and protection of the rights of the
youth has to be maintained.
http://www.philstar.com/sports/2014/04/09/1310514/support-protection-student-athletes

Brillantes culpably violated the
Constitution thrice
GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star) | Updated May 31, 2013 - 12:00am
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Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. violated the Constitution in giving himself and the six commissioners
intelligence funds last Feb. He also broke the fundamental law in buying land in behalf of the poll body in 2012.
His legal brilliancy self-proclaimed, Brillantes presumably knew what he was doing was wrong. He could be
impeached for such culpability.
Malacaang disclosed Brillantess P30-million intelligence fund last week in the course of defending the
commissioners pocketing of a prior P10 million. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the P30
million was realigned from the Comelecs budget savings in 2012. Brillantes had sought and got presidential
clearance for the fund juggling.
The realignment went against the express provisions of the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2012. That
budget law specifically forbade the Comelec from thenceforth having intelligence funds.
The prohibition was inserted during the budget hearings in late 2011 by Sen. Franklin Drilon, head of the
Senate finance committee. He had then just finished a probe of fund abuses by government-owned and -
controlled corporations. Unearthed were the pocketing of confidential and/or intelligence funds by GOCC
heads. Example: P18 million at the Clark Development Corp. in 2010. Also just concluded was an inquiry into
the military comptrollers conversions of unused personnel funds into multimillion-peso pabaon(going-away
cash gifts) for retiring chiefs. No longer would the malpractices be allowed.
Only security and policing agencies were to have intelligence funds starting with the 2012 budget. Specifically
to be debarred from then on, the press quoted Drilon, were the Comelec, Public Attorneys Office, Office of the
Solicitor General, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, Presidential Commission on Good
Government, National Telecoms Commission, and the Judiciary.
Brillantes thus was explicitly prohibited from converting the Comelecs savings into intelligence funds.
Opinion ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
Specifically, Brillantes broke the Constitutions Article VI (The Legislative Department), Section 25-(5), which
states: No law shall be passed authorizing the transfer of appropriations; however, the President, the
President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,
and the heads of Constitutional Commissions may, by law, be authorized to augment any item in the general
appropriations law for their respective offices from savings in other items of their respective appropriations.
No law has been enacted to let Brillantes augment the intelligence budgeting of his constitutional commission.
The GAA of 2012 in fact disallowed him from doing so.
Brillantes cannot invoke the Comelecs fiscal autonomy. Article IX (Constitutional Commissions, Common
Provisions), Section 5 is not applicable. For all it means is that his agencys approved budget shall be
automatically and regularly released, not subject to delay by the budget department.
Brillantess securing of a presidential approval does not exculpate him either. If at all, it shows a lawyers
attempts to pass blame on a non-lawyer.
Ex-commissioner Gus Lagman exposed last week the misuse of Comelec intelligence funds. He said he was
given two checks for P1.25 million in late 2011. In Mar. 2012 he was advised by the agencys finance chief to
sign a one-page report of concocted expenditures, and the money would be his to pocket. Appalled, he
returned the P1.25 million.
It was part of a P10-million intelligence fund to which the six commissioners were entitled P1.25 million
each, with Brillantes as chairman getting double, P2.5 million.
Brillantes has acknowledged receiving that amount. Presumably he has taken too his P7.5-million share of the
subsequent P30 million released last Feb.
* * *
Another savings anomaly was committed earlier. Sometime in 2012 Brillantes negotiated to purchase land for
P1.2 billion from the Philippine Retirement Authority. During the hearings in late 2012 for the GAA of 2013, he
admitted to the Senate having paid an advance of P250 million. The money supposedly came from the
Comelecs P3.5-billion savings in 2011.
That again was a culpable violation of the Constitutions Article VI, Section 25-(5). For, Brillantes had no
authority from any congressional enactment to buy land for his agency from savings. There was no provision in
the GAA of 2012 for the land acquisition.
As a constitutional commission, the Comelec may use its savings to augment only approved or existing
programs. Like, if it has provisions of P1 million in salaries for 100 new recruits, but actually hires only 50, it can
use the savings of P500,000 to augment ongoing projects, say, voter education.
No way may Brillantes cook up any expenditure at whim, like P1.2 billion for real estate, with a whopping P250-
million down payment. The Constitution and the yearly GAAs contain checks and balances against fund
abuses.
Brillantes has scuttled the P1.2-billion land deal. He said last Nov. that he did so on the Ombudsmans advice
that he could be breaking the Constitution (seehttp://www.philstar.com/headlines/2012/11/14/866395/comelec-
stops-paymen...).
But then, discontinuing the purchase does not absolve Brillantes. For he already gave away P250 million
without congressional consent.
Brillantes was piqued with Sen. Alan Peter Cayetanos questioning that made him confess to the P250-million
indiscretion. The latter had wanted to know if there was hanky-panky. Drilon said then that if Brillantes was
removed from office for culpable violation of the Constitution, criminal prosecution could follow for technical
malversation of public funds, with jail time.
Members of constitutional commissions can only be ousted by impeachment. Aside from breach of
Constitution, the other grounds are graft and corruption, bribery, treason and other high crimes, and betrayal of
public trust.
Brillantes is under fire for a series of blunders and fund anomalies related to the automation of Election 2013.
* * *
In wangling Malacaang consent of his P30-million intelligence fund, Brillantes needed justification. Valte said
Brillantess stated reasons was for intelligence and counter-intelligence activities and gathering of information
relative to the activities of certain groups, individuals and technology experts suspected of conducting overt and
covert operations to sabotage the results of the upcoming elections.
The technology experts are likely the members of AES (Automated Election Systems) Watch, who have been
critical of the Comelecs use of unreliable, expensive voting machines. Brillantes at one point had called them
election saboteurs, but gave no specifics of their alleged heinous offenses. After the election of May 13 he
also said that, for making life difficult for him, he would get even with them by naming their supposed
orchestrator. He has not done so.
The AES Watch has challenged Brillantes to make public his intelligence gatherings, if any. He has remained
quiet. Perhaps he knows that he had treaded on illegal grounds violation of civil liberties. The Bill of Rights
guarantees freedom of speech and redress of grievance; and the security of persons, houses, papers, and
effects.
Brillantes culpably has violated those rights with his P30 million.
http://www.philstar.com/opinion/2013/05/31/948358/brillantes-culpably-violated-constitution-thrice