Former congressman Alfredo “Albee” Benitez paid 500 for his cedula, or community tax certificate, from Brgy. Mandalagan – an amount far too small for the P1 billion net worth and the P1.2 billion in assets he had declared.
The community tax is computed at P5.00 plus P1 every P1,000 earned a year. With the P500 he declared, it is presumed he is also declaring an annual income of P500,000.
These figures are contained in the complaint against Benitez opposing his application for transfer of his voter’s registration to Bacolod. The cedula that was acquired on April 30, 2021, was used in Benitez’s application for an electrical permit with Ceneco.
The complainants – Hector A. Yulo, Teodoro R. Abao, and Jonah Tornea Abao – described Benitez’s cedula as “spurious and irregular”.
The electrical permit application is another point the complainants have raised to bolster their claim that Benitez does not have residence in Bacolod. The application seeks to have a separate meter of an existing residential building.
This means, they said, that Benitez has yet to establish the electrical connection to wherever he intends to reside. The complainants also said they have a certification from Prime Water/Baciwa that the area Benitez is claiming has no water connection.
Benitez claims his residence is at Mt. Kanlaon Street, Mountainview Subd., Mandalagan. These are undeveloped lots purchased only on April 19, 2021, three days before filing his application for transfer. The titles were issued to him on June 15, 2021.*
