Malacañang on Wednesday said the alleged money-making scheme at the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) should be investigated.
Earlier, Sen. JV Ejercito cited reports on the supposed involvement of certain BIR revenue officers and regional directors in corrupt activities.
‘This should be investigated. If such activities were observed and reported, they should not be ignored. This must be looked into,’ Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said in Filipino at a briefing.
Castro added that she had no information on whether the issue was related to the removal of Romeo Lumagui Jr. as BIR commissioner.
Pocketed collections?
According to Ejercito, the alleged scheme involved letters of authority (LOAs), which allowed the officials involved to keep 70 percent of the collections.
LOAs are official documents that authorize revenue officers to conduct tax audits on a business or taxpayer.
‘Because the target was projected to raise about P6 to P8 billion from these LOAs for revenue generation. But what they actually raised was only about P2 to 3 billion. Seventy percent of what was collected was not remitted and instead went into people’s pockets. Only 30 percent was turned over to the government,’ Ejercito said in Filipino during a press conference on Tuesday.
‘From P6 billion, they raised only about P2 billion. It’s kind of sad – everyone is running their own schemes. I wish at least a larger amount went to the government. Even if they took a small cut, it should have been the other way around – 70 percent is being pocketed, and only 30 percent goes to the government,’ he added. /mcm