Silkair (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue G.R. No.184398, February 25, 2010

Silkair (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

G.R. No.184398, February 25, 2010

Leonardo - De Castro, J

FACTS:    Silkair, a foreign corporation organized under the laws of Singapore is an online international carrier plying the Singapore-Cebu-Singapore and Singapore-Cebu-Davao-Singapore routes. Silkair filed with the BIR an administrative claim for the refund of Three Million Nine Hundred Eighty-Three Thousand Five Hundred Ninety Pesos and Forty-Nine Centavos (P3,983,590.49) in excise taxes which it allegedly erroneously paid on its purchases of aviation jet fuel from Petron Corporation from June to December 2000.  Since the BIR took no action on petitioner’s claim for refund, petitioner sought judicial recourse. CTA First Division ruled that Silkair was qualified for tax exemption under the provisions of Section 135 of the National Internal Revenue Code and Art. 4 of the Air Transport Agreement between the Philippines and Singapore but not entitled thereto for failure to present proof that it was authorized to operate in the Philippines during the period material to the case due to non-admission of some of its exhibits which were merely photocopies. The said exhibits were Silkair’s Certificate of Registration from the SEC and operating permit from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB). CTA  En Banc denied the petition for review on the ground, among others, of failure to prove that it was authorized to operate in the Philippines for the period June to December 2000 and further ruled that Silkair was not the proper party to file the instant claim for refund.

ISSUE:      Whether Silkair has substantially proven its authority to operate in the Philippines [by invoking the principle of judicial notice].

RULING:    No. The CTA cannot take judicial notice of Silkair’s SEC Registration, previously offered and admitted in evidence in similar cases before the CTA. A court is not compelled to take judicial notice of pieces of evidence offered and admitted in a previous case unless the same are properly offered or have accordingly complied with the requirements on the rules of evidence. In other words, the evidence presented in the previous cases cannot be considered in the instant case without being offered in evidence.   The documents are not among the matters which the law mandatorily requires the court to take judicial notice of, without any introduction of evidence.

Neither could it be said that petitioner’s SEC Registration and operating permits from the CAB are documents which are of public knowledge, capable of unquestionable demonstration, or ought to be known to the judges because of their judicial functions, in order to allow the CTA to take discretionary judicial notice of the said documents. Moreover, a hearing is necessary before judicial notice of any matter may be taken by the court.  This requirement of a hearing is needed so that the parties can be heard thereon if such matter is decisive of a material issue in the case.

Silkair cannot rely on the principle of judicial notice so as to evade its responsibility of properly complying with the rules of evidence.