Actor Gomez charged

Members of the opposition met as the Bureau of Internal Revenue filed charges of tax evasion against an actor.

The charges were filed against actor Richard Frank Icasiano Gomez who campaigned for actor Fernando Poe Jr in last year's elections.

"It was unfair. My accountant was supposed to meet with BIR agents, to find out if there were payments that we failed to make," said Gomez, in an interview over the phone from Hong Kong.

BIR commissioner Guillermo Parayno said Gomez failed to declare his income for the years 2000, 2001 and 2003.

"Gomez issued authorisation to his bookkeeper to present his income-tax returns but only one ITR was filed in 2002. His bookkeeper later said that Gomez had no income for the other years and so he did not file an ITR," Parayno explained.