Duterte appoints Koko Pimentel's legal staff head to Court of Tax Appeals

President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed an aide of Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III as justice of the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA).

Duterte named Catherine Manahan, chief of the legislative division of the Office of the Senate President, to the post following the retirement of CTA Justice Amelia Colangco-Manalastas in September.

Manahan's appointment papers were transmitted to Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on December 7.

An officer of the University of the Philippines Women Lawyers' Circle, Manahan was chosen from six candidates for the post. The other five candidates include a tax lawyer and four local court judges.

Established in 1954, the nine-member CTA is mandated to try cases involving violations of the National Internal Revenue Code and Tariff and Customs Code.

Pending before the CTA are tax cases filed against several corporations and personalities such as ring icon and Senator Manny Pacquiao, who is accused by the Bureau of Internal Revenue during the Aquino administration of failing to pay P2.2 billion in taxes from his boxing earnings in 2008 and 2009. —ALG, GMA News