Last week, this column aired the concern of some friends in the business sector regarding an article published in another daily which purported that the Malaysian-backed faction of the Philippine Racing Club Inc. ?has gained an ally in the Tax Management Association of the Philippines.?

The concern was understandable. The said article may have created the impression that the group of Santiago Cua Sr. a.k.a. Cua Sing Huan, and controversial Malay-Thai-Chinese businessman Surin Upatkoon had won the backing of the country?s tax experts in a war for a P500-million value-added tax exemption against Finance Secretary Gary Teves and the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

In the same article, the Cua-Upatkoon group had threatened to haul Teves and the BIR to court if our tax and finance officials stood pat on their position that the Malaysian-backed faction would not get away with the tax exemption.

The Cua-Upatkoon group wants the half-a-billion in VAT exemptions in connection with the transfer of the P12-billion Sta. Ana racetrack to the corporate shell JTH Davies which the same group owns via a controversial property-for-shares swap opposed by Filipino shareholders of PRCI.

The Filipinos, led by the prominent Puyat and Carandang clans of sportsmen and horse breeders, had opposed the swap not only because it was grossly lopsided but because of alleged lack of transparency in the transaction which would marginalize the minority shareholders in PRCI.

Early this week, the TMAP, led by its current president tax lawyer Ma. Criselda Guhit, wrote this columnist to directly deny that it is backing the Cua-Upatkoon group.

The salient portions of the letter read:

?TM-AP vehemently denies any involvement with the group of Cua-Upatkoon and is not in any way acting for and in behalf of this group in connection with any tax case before the BIR or DoF.

?TM-AP is a professional tax organization composed of the top 100 large taxpayers in the Philippines. It is a cohesive organization whose mandate is to professionalize tax management and practice in the Philippines.

?Consistent with this mandate, TM-AP advocates policies and undertakes concerted action to promote its objective of improving the tax system in this country. As Mr. Capino likewise pointed out, we advance and uphold causes to address only industry-wide tax concerns.

?The Cua-Upatkoon group is not even a member of the TM-AP. For TM-AP to support and encourage whatever particular agenda it has against the BIR and DoF is a violation of the purpose for which TM-AP was created.?

This column thanks the association, particularly Guhit for issuing this clarification.

We are glad to note that the country?s tax experts are not about to gang up on Secretary Teves and BIR Commissioner Sixto Esquivias IV who are both moving heaven and earth to meet the country?s revenue requirements.

The Cua-Upatkoon group is backed by Magnum Holdings Berhad, one of Malaysian?s biggest gambling concerns. Surely, this group has enough money to fund the legal battle with which it has threatened Teves and Esquivias. Indeed, it was unfair for the Cua-Upatkoon group to have dragged the association to this mess.

We gave the association a copy of the article which attempted to create the impression that it has allied itself with the Cua-Upatkoon group in the latter?s war with Teves and Esquivias.

Maybe, the TM-AP should now investigate and find out who caused that unfair insinuation that it is backing a powerful moneyed combine that wants half-a-billion pesos in windfall VAT exemptions. Maybe, it should demand public apology from the Cua-Upatkoon group for the unauthorized and embarrassing reference to its respected name.

Upatkoon, it must also be recalled, is the same character now facing major investigation by Thai authorities for his alleged role in the politically charged takeover of Shin Corp., by Singapore?s Temasek Holdings.

Indeed, we find it unlikely that the Tax Management Association of the Philippines would lend its prestige and name to the cause of such a character.

Now that it has strongly denied backing the Cua-Upatkoon group in its war against our chief revenue collectors, we wonder what the latter would do next.

If it can drag the name of a respected organization into its mess, then it is capable of anything.

Meanwhile, we continue to hope that Teves would remain firm in his position despite the threat of a legal battle and whatever else available in the arsenal of the powerful Cua-Upatkoon group.

Teves should rest assured that he has the support of Filipinos in this war. That half-a-billion pesos in potential VAT revenues belong to the country?s coffers. It can fund the construction of 1,000 brand-new classrooms, or of 500 health centers, or of 200 small water impounding systems that can irrigate thousands of hectares of Philippine farms.

Of course, we do not expect Upatkoon to understand that. He is not a Filipino.

In fact, he changes nationality depending on the business situation. He can be a Malaysian Datuk, or the Chinese Lau Khin Kun or the Thai Surin Upatkoon.

That?s the kind of character that the Tax Management Association of the Philippines says it has nothing to do with.