The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
In line with the Marcos administration’s whole-of-government drive against corruption in public infrastructure, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Thursday filed criminal complaints with the Department of Justice (DOJ) against Mark Allan Villamor Arevalo, sole proprietor of Wawao Builders.
The charges stem from an estimated ₱48.39 million tax deficiency linked to an alleged ghost flood-control project undertaken by Wawao Builders in Malolos City, Bulacan in 2024.
In its complaint, the BIR said Arevalo violated Sections 254 and 255 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended, for tax evasion and for failing to provide correct and accurate information in the company’s income tax and value-added tax (VAT) returns for the first and second quarters of 2024.
BIR Commissioner Charlito Martin Mendoza said the filing is consistent with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s anti-corruption campaign and Finance Secretary Frederick Go’s directive to prioritize tax cases tied to anomalous government projects.
“This case reflects the BIR’s active participation in the President’s anti-corruption crusade,” Mendoza said in a news release.
“While other agencies address the irregularities in project implementation, we at the BIR are doing our part by filing criminal complaints against those who misuse public funds and evade their tax obligations through these ghost projects,” he added.
Mendoza warned that the BIR is also pursuing investigations against Wawao Builders’ other projects, as well as other contractors whose names have emerged in the government’s recent probe into irregular flood-control projects.
“We will continue to investigate and file cases against these contractors to protect public funds, strengthen accountability in public spending, and uphold our tax code,” he said.
Records show that Wawao Builders was awarded a government contract in January 2024 for the construction of a riverbank protection structure in Barangay Caingin, Malolos City, Bulacan, with a contract price of ₱77.20 million.
The firm later collected a total of ₱72.37 million, net of withholding taxes, in three tranches from March to April 2025.
However, joint findings by the Commission on Audit and the BIR’s own physical verification revealed that no riverbank protection structure was actually built at the project site, despite reports claiming 100 percent project completion.
As a result, the BIR disallowed the company’s claimed deductions and input VAT.
With the latest filing, the BIR has now lodged a total of 13 criminal complaints connected to anomalous flood-control projects, involving an estimated ₱8.92 billion in potential tax liabilities currently under investigation.