Sen. JV Ejercito on Wednesday dismissed as “absurd” San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora’s claim that the city government had failed to pay its tax obligations to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) during the senator’s term as mayor.
According to Ejercito, Zamora brought up the issue to divert the attention from the mayor’s supposed arbitrary decision to withhold the release of terminal leave benefits of retired city hall employees who were perceived to be supporters of the Ejercito-Estrada clan.
“I reiterate my call on Zamora to immediately release the terminal leave pay that is due to our retired city government employees,” Ejercito said in a statement.
“This issue is about them and giving what they deserve. Stop these diversionary tactics,” he added.
During his term as mayor, he said the city government challenged the BIR’s tax assessment of the San Juan Medical Center and the local government unit’s parking income as these were “treated as private corporations and calculated tax dues on the basis of gross income.”
“We saw this as unfair and a waste of taxpayers’ money. We rightly contested the BIR’s assessment. My term had already ended before the result of that contest was released,” Ejercito explained.
“(Zamora’s) allegations against me are nothing short of an attempt to avoid accountability for his failure to facilitate the timely release of the terminal leave pay of our retired city government employees,” he said.
Instead of addressing the concerns of the retired city hall workers, the senator said the mayor “went around, looking for someone to blame.”
“I was, of course, the easiest target,” Ejercito lamented.
“I will let the achievements of my administration speak for themselves… The fact that we were frequently awarded the Seal of Good Local Governance during my administration is proof of this,” he said.
