📷Phil. Navy officer Jessa Mendoza | screenshot from Senate probe
IN what appears to be one for the Guinness Book of World Records, a navy officer fell prey to another scheme embarking on the use of somebody else’s name – including hers, in forming not just one, but 193 dubious corporations, including two offshore gaming firms.
In a Senate hearing, Philippine Navy officer Jessa Mendoza recounted the ordeal she has gone through after she was charged over supposed tax deficiencies due to the government from what she supposedly earned as an incorporator.
According to Navy officer Jessa Mendoza, her cousin in 2016 borrowed her government issued ID card which had her Tax Identification Number (TIN) and signature – which she agreed “in good faith.”
“Syempre out of respect, trust, and confidence pinahiram ko yung ID ko. Tapos may pinuntahan sya, then immediately she returned it to me,” Mendoza told the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality.
After eight long years, she got the shock of her life when she received a Letter of Authority from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for tax deficiency linked to Xin Wanhao Online Game Technology, Inc. Not long after, she got another LOA for the tax deficiency of Handy International Prime Carry, Inc.
She admits, she ignored the BIR documents under an impression that those could have just been a mistake, only to realize later she’s in deep shit when the Makati Prosecutors Office sent her a subpoena asking her to submit a counter-affidavit over violations of another company she never heard of – Serart Construction Corp.
It was then that Mendoza, a recent law graduate, found out that she was made an incorporator of 193 companies – including two confirmed POGO firms – using the TIN ID card that was borrowed from her eight years ago, for which she was indicted for crimes she never heard of.
To avoid being arrested, she spent P100,000 to post bail.
When she sought the help of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mendoza was told to request for a “reverse search of filiation of all corporations under my name.”
Soon after, she got a hand of a five-page document which had a total of 193 companies – half of which she described as Chinese-sounding attributes – where her name consistently appeared as a shareholder.
“After two months of waiting, we secured from the SEC a preliminary 5-page list of the corporations where my name is listed as a director or incorporator… To my surprise and dismay, my name, Taxpayer’s Identification Number (TIN) and signature were used to incorporate no less than 193 corporations,” shared a teary-eyed Mendoza, as she denied any involvement with private corporations under Senate scrutiny.
“I assert that I have no involvement in any business venture and that the only source of income is my job as a devoted member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, which I have committed 14 years of my life in serving my country with courage, integrity and loyalty.”
“Pasensya na po your honor. Sorry, sorry po, hindi ko po sinasadya. Sorry po talaga,” Mendoza said as she apologized for turning emotional.
As the hearing continued, Mendoza said that even her cousin who borrowed her TIN ID card to incorporate a travel agency, her dad and other members of the family, fell prey to what Hontiveros suspects as another case of identity theft perpetrated by POGOs in the country.
“Palapit nang palapit rin ang panganib na dala nila sa mga karaniwang Pilipino gaya ni Lt. Jessa… Ginagamit nila ang pangalan ng mga taong walang kamalay-malay, para pagtakpan ang mga krimen nila,” Hontiveros quipped. (ANGEL F. JOSE)
