525 Phil. 226
CORONA, J.:
A careful scrutiny of the MBTC checks x x x revealed that they were not used to pay withholding taxes but were used to purchase documentary stamps from the BIR, for on the dorsal side of the subject checks [are] the handwritten notes that they were used to pay documentary stamps x x x, the corroborating findings or written reports submitted by Manuel J. Seijo, Revenue Collection Agent, and the report dated February 16, 1994 submitted by Mrs. Rosario Beltran.The CTA's findings of fact, affirmed in toto by the CA, were informative:
The foregoing reports [gathered] by Mr. Leogardio Tenorio, Assistant Chief of the Collection Performance and Audit Division of the BIR [and] one of the members of the Special Projects Team that conducted the investigation in the instant case, in addition to the annotations appearing on the dorsal sides of the checks, substantially established the fact that said checks were used in the purchase of documentary [stamps] and not in payment of petitioner's unremitted withholding taxes on compensation of its employees.
...[Petitioner] never offered any explanation on how and why these things happened to its checks. Indeed, as borne out by the BIR Records, the MBTC checks of petitioner were actually remitted to the respondent's office but they were not remitted as payment for the subject withholding taxes, but as payment by different taxpayers for loose documentary stamps of different denominations. L.C. Diaz and Co. is the best party to shed light on this, as it was such company which was authorized by [petitioner] to handle the latter's remittances of withholding taxes to the BIR.xxx xxx xxx
It cannot be denied that when petitioner entrusted to L.C. Diaz the remittance of said taxes to the BIR, the former is expected to exercise due diligence [and] extra vigilance in the handling of such remittances. The negligence of the agent is imputable to the principal. Evidently, the latter failed to do so. Petitioner therefore, should be held responsible for such omission or negligence. The alleged remittances cannot be considered as valid payments for the unremitted withholding taxes.[26]
x x x [The] POs were later on verified by respondent's Special Projects Team as to have been used by different taxpayers for the purchase of documentary stamps. x x x [The] CRs were subsequently issued to different taxpayers other than the [petitioner] for various payments of documentary stamps. These facts were also verified by respondent's Special Projects Team.Petitioner contends that no witness ever identified the notes on the checks nor testified as to their veracity; therefore they were hearsay evidence with no probative value.[29] It avers that whatever anomaly occurred with the checks happened while they were already in the possession of the BIR or its agent banks.[30] It also denounces the BIR reports as hearsay.[31]xxx xxx xxx
When checks are used for payments in settling obligations, the best evidence are the checks themselves. x x x [Considering] that the POs and CRs of petitioner, although seemingly genuine, do not appear in respondent's files/records,[27] the best evidence in proving petitioner's alleged payments are the MBTC checks x x x. A careful scrutiny of these checks, however, revealed that they were not used to pay withholding taxes. The checks themselves confirm respondent's Special Projects Team's findings that they were used to purchase documentary stamps from the BIR. For on the dorsal sides of the subject checks [are] handwritten notes that they were used to pay documentary stamps. As to how many pieces of documentary stamps were purchased for each denominations of P5.00 or P3.00, and even their respective serial numbers were also indicated at the back of each check.xxx xxx xxx
That petitioner's MBTC checks, Exhibits "A" to "A-24" are undeniably clear proofs of payments of documentary stamps, is corroborated by findings or written reports submitted by the Special Projects Team. x x x [The] report of Mr. Manuel J. Bello, Revenue Collection Agent, stating, among others that the following MBTC checks x x x were all personally handed to him by Mrs. Maria Bulaclac O. Aniel, District Collection Supervisor, RDO No. 33 x x x as payment for documentary stamps tax.
Another corroborating evidence, proving that the MBTC checks of petitioner were used to purchase loose documentary stamps, was the report, dated February 16, 1994, submitted by Mrs. Rosario Beltran x x x stating that the following checks were presented to her as payments for loose documentary stamps by the representative of L.C. Diaz and Co. named "CANTRE" or "CASTRE" on different dates x x x.
x x x The reports were gathered by Mr. Leodegario Tenorio, Assistant Chief of the Collection Performance and Audit Division of the BIR, who was also one of the members of the Special Projects Team that conducted the investigation of the instant case. Mr. Tenorio was presented as witness for the respondent. And in the hearing of May 19, 1994, he testified that in the course of his investigation, he discovered that "the checks which were used for payment of withholding taxes and wages of [petitioner] were not really used and submitted as payment for withholding taxes and wages. The same [checks were] used in payment of documentary stamps of different denomination."xxx xxx xxx
Petitioner presented the Payroll Head of L.C. Diaz, who testified that x x x petitioner's manager's checks are handed to their messenger. The latter, in turn, presents the form and the check to the collecting agent of the B.I.R. and later to the authorized bank. The messenger of L.C. Diaz was not presented to testify on this matter, or at least to rebut the reports of respondent's collecting agents that he or she presented the manager's checks of petitioner for the purchase by other taxpayers of loose documentary stamps.
Therefore, even if respondent also admitted that the checks were for the account of petitioner, said checks entered the coffers of the government not as [petitioner's] payments for withholding taxes, but as somebody else's payments for loose documentary stamps. No evidence was adduced as to how and why this happened.[28]
It bears emphasis that questions on whether certain items of evidence should be accorded probative value or weight, or rejected as feeble or spurious, or whether the proofs on one side or the other are clear and convincing and adequate to establish a proposition in issue, are without doubt questions of fact. This is true regardless of whether the body of proofs presented by a party, weighed and analyzed in relation to contrary evidence submitted by the adverse party, may be said to be strong, clear and convincing. Whether certain documents presented by one side should be accorded full faith and credit in the face of protests as to their spurious character by the other side; whether inconsistencies in the body of proofs of a party are of such gravity as to justify refusing to give said proofs weight - all these are issues of fact. Questions like these are not reviewable by us. As a rule, we confine our review of cases decided by the CA only to questions of law raised in the petition and therein distinctly set forth.[36]The CTA and CA gave credence to the annotations and reports and, these being questions of fact, we hold that their findings are conclusive. This Court is not mandated to examine and appreciate anew any evidence already presented below. Petitioner has not advanced strong reasons why we should delve into the facts. The findings of the CTA, as affirmed by the CA, are supported by substantial evidence.
Year Involved | Month | Amount Involved |
1988 | February | |
1989 | May | |
July | 250,951.96 | |
September | 260,803.87 | |
October | 271,676.00 | |
November | 259,970.75 | |
December | 466,052.22 | |
1990 | March | |
April | 217,960.62 | |
May | 220,174.42 | |
June | 226,847.18 | |
July | 224,038.21 | |
August | 223,851.42 | |
September | 227,850.67 | |
October | 226,052.50 | |
November | 231,806.28 | |
December | 166,553.62 | |
1991 | January | |
February | 263,022.03 | |
March | 263,211.87 | |
April | 265,758.27 | |
May | 266,628.27 | |
June | 297,964.66 | |
July | 275,930.12 | |
August | 276,389.48 | |
| ||
TOTAL |
[26] Id., pp. 21-22, citations omitted.
- Whether or not the CA Decision which held that [respondent's] own [POs] and [CRs]-which acknowledged receipt of petitioner's withholding tax payments-were not evidence of the fact of such payments, must be reversed for being contrary to law.
- Whether or not the CA Decision which held that the anonymous "handwritten notes" on the back of [petitioner's] checks and [respondent's] offer of evidence and internal reports-all based on those anonymous "handwritten notes"-were evidence that those checks were paid for documentary stamps purchased by unknown other parties, must be reversed for being contrary to law.
- Whether or not the CA gravely erred in failing to consider that the anonymous "handwritten notes" were made only on 8 of [petitioner's] 25 checks, and therefore could "affect" only those 8 checks, assuming without admitting that those anonymous notes could defeat the official BIR POs and CRs issued to [petitioner] for the withholding taxes in question; rollo, pp. 57-58.