Tinaan, Alexis Jaina 3A4 M2 – Formative Assessment no 3

THE OFFER: A CONCEPTUAL CASE

You are married with a young daughter who was diagnosed with cancer. Her treatment requires a big sum of money
to the tune of P800,000. You were struggling to raise this amount.

Professionally, you work as the Finance Manager of a large manufacturing company. Currently the company is under
examination by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). At the moment, the company is losing due to the significant
drop in demand arising from the Covid19 pandemic and is experiencing cash flow problems.

Finally, when the review was over, the BIR assessment came out in the midst of the pandemic and it was an
overwhelming P20,000,000 inclusive of interests and penalties. You were tasked to negotiate with the BIR.

The BIR examiner told you that this can be settled outside of the regular assessment process if your company were
willing. The examiner offered that it can be settled for P5M, P2M of which will be remitted to the National Treasury
and will be issued a government official receipt, P1M will be for you and P2M for the examiner. Otherwise, the
assessment stands at P20M.

What will you do? Will you accept the offer of the BIR examiner? How about your personal problem? How about
the cashflow problems of your company?

Instructions:
Come up with a proposal and a plan of action with the following details using 400 to 600 words.

1. Apply the Viral News Test.

Using the viral news test, and taking into consideration how choosing to pay for only 5
million would be viewed by others if it became viral headline news, I would choose to pay for the
20 million instead of the paying 5 million, which is outside the regular assessment process. As a
professional, I should not let my personal life mix with my professional work, so even if the 5
million option would be more beneficial for me and the company, I would still choose to pay the
20 million because it is the right thing to do.

2. Construct a similar matrix proposed by Dr. Antonette Angeles. Identify the positive (+) and
negative (-) consequences in the table (i.e., discuss in two sentences or less the consequences
rather than just putting the plus or minus sign).

Alternatives Values/Principles Consequences

1. Choose to pay the 5 Love for my family Me and Daughter
million offer outside of - It will have a + positive effect on me
regular assessment Importance of human life and my daughter because we will have
more funds to pay for her treatment
- It will have a - negative effect on me
and my daughter because we can pay
for the treatment and she might survive,
but it is at the expense of the common
good
 Company
- It will have a + positive effect for the
company because they would have less
expenses to pay which would lessen the
cash outflow from the company
- It will have a - negative effect on the
company because they would not
follow proper ethical principles that
businesses should follow.
Government/Country
- It will have a + positive effect on the
government because they will still be
able to collect the money even if it’s
just 5 million
- It will have a - negative effect on the
government of because they are not
getting paid the right amount, which
could have been used for the
betterment of our community/country.
2. Choose to pay the Deontology ethics – Me and Daughter
original amount of 20 choosing to do what is - It will have a + positive effect on me
million more in line with my duty and my daughter because we will not
commit any crimes/ unethical actions
to pay for her treatment
- It will have a - negative effect on me
and my daughter because we will not
have enough money to pay for her
treatment
Company
- It will have a + positive effect for the
company because they would be
paying the right dues to BIR and they
will contribute to the common good
- It will have a - negative effect on the
company because it will worsen their
cashflow problem
Government/Country
- It will have a + positive effect on the
government because they will collect
the right amount of dues that will be
used for the common good
3. Make the right Deontology ethics – Me and Daughter
decision for my choosing to do what is - It will have a + positive effect on me
company as a more in line with my duty and my daughter because we will not
professional and look commit any crimes/ unethical actions
for another source of Love for my family to pay for her treatment
 funds to settle my -
It will have a - negative effect on me
personal problems. Importance of Human and my daughter because we will not
Life have a certain source of funds for her
treatment
Company
- It will have a + positive effect for the
company because they would be
paying the right dues to BIR and they
will contribute to the common good
- It will have a - negative effect on the
company because it will worsen their
cashflow problem
Government/Country
- It will have a + positive effect on the
government because they will collect
the right amount of dues that will be
used for the common good

3. Discuss and defend your answer.

My answer would be to pay the original amount of 20 million because it is the right thing
to do. As a professional, I should not let my personal problems influence how I make decisions
about my professional work. Deontology ethics can be applied in this case because I should
consider what is more in line with my duty. Also, taking into consideration Emanuel Kant’s
Categorical Imperative, where it states that I should act only in a maxim whereby I can, at the same
time, will that it should become a universal law; if all companies decided not to pay their correct
BIR dues, our country would experience a downturn because of the corruption that people
continuously commit. I know for a fact that as a parent, I will not give up on my daughter, but I
will not resort to sacrificing the common good for my own gain. I can do the right thing and choose
to pay the right amount to BIR, and then think of another way to pay my daughters treatment
because there are many possible ways where I can get money without being selfish and sacrificing
the common good for my own gain.