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TWO days
after a Palace command conference tackling the
government’s increasingly problematic fiscal situation,
the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) shuffled 13 key
officials, in what is seen as an effort to better
prepare the economy’s top revenue raiser for tough
targets it is being held to by an impatient President.
The
rigodon was primarily triggered by the “need to fill
major vacancies,” according to officials; specifically,
the two positions of deputy commissioners: one deputy
has retired, while the deputy for operations, Lilian
Hefti, was recently promoted officer in charge of the
BIR with the exit of Commissioner Jose Mario Buñag.
Still,
sources acknowledged that the changes in the key
positions were occasioned by the urgent need to boost
the BIR’s capacity to meet tough revenue targets that
had sparked the very public word war between Finance
Secretary Margarito Teves and then-BIR chief Buñag.
The
targets last week came under renewed focus as government
unveiled the deficit figures for the first five months,
while Teves said there would be no deviation from the
full-year deficit target of P63 billion.
The
finance chief also said he reported to the President
that “based on preliminary figures,” the government is
“likely to breach” the first-semester deficit target “by
about P6.4 billion.”
He said
the revenue targets for the BIR and the BIR for this
year remain at P730 billion and P228 billion,
respectively, despite the revenue shortfall by the
biggest collection agencies in the first half of the
year.
Teves
said the government estimates a P53-billion shortfall in
its tax collection target from January to June—P40
billion for the BIR and P13 billion for the BOC—but
added that the official figures would be released on
July 18.
Under
the “Revenue Travel Assignment Order No. 14-2007,”
signed by Hefti, Makati Regional Director Nelson Aspe,
becomes the new OIC-deputy commissioner for operations (Hefti’s
former post).
The
chief of staff of the Resource Management Group, Danilo
Duncano, will assume the second deputy commissioner’s
post, as OIC Deputy Commissioner for Resource Management
Group.
In
signing the RTAO 14, Hefti said the “exigencies of the
service” required the movements, and directed the 13
officials so listed to report to their new assignments
after complying with agency requirements on the
inventory of pending papers, correspondence and proper
turnover of possessions.
Under
the RTAO, Cebu’s regional director Jaime Santiago has
been named OIC-Assistant Commissioner for the Taxpayer
Assistance Service, the post held by Aida Simborio. The
latter, in turn, has been designated Head Revenue
Executive Assistant (HREA) for the Policy and Planning
Service.
Changes
were also made in the crucial Large Taxpayers’ Service (LTS),
which has been split into three units.
Cesar
Charlie Lim, who recently made news after he was named
deputy commissioner under a controversial executive
order complained of by Buñag and subsequently withdrawn,
now becomes the OIC-HREA for the
“Regular
Large Taxpayers” group under the LTS.
Marissa
Cabreros, the OIC-HREA of the LTS, has been named to
head the second LTS group, as HREA for
Administration and Enforcement, with supervision over
the two large taxpayers’ district offices (LTDOs) of
Makati
and Cebu Cities.
Finally,
the third LTS group is headed by Elvira Vera, who moves
from being HREA of the Policy and Planning Service to
HREA of the Excise Large Taxpayers group, which reviews
the payments by big excise taxpayers in tobacco and oil,
among others.
Nestor
Valeroso, the OIC-Assistant Commissioner of the LTS,
goes back as regional director to Revenue Regional (RR)
District 5 in Valenzuela.
The
regional director for RR No. 4 in San Fernando, Pampanga,
Jose N. Tan, is being moved as regional director for RR
13 in Cebu City.
The
assistant regional director for RR 8 in Makati, Ma.
Nieva Guerrero, moves up as OIC-regional director for
Makati.
Zenaida
Garcia, assistant regional director for RR 6 in Manila,
becomes OIC-regional director in San Fernando, Pampanga.
Tomas
Rosales, the assistant regional director for RR 14 in
Tacloban City, moves to Manila with the same position.
Wilma
Elivera, revenue district officer for RDO No. 82 in Cebu
City, is the OIC-assistant regional director
in
Tacloban.
Earlier,
the deficit in the first five months was reported to
have reached P41.763 billion, a number that was invoked
to replace Buñag last month.
However,
with improved revenue flows in June the first-half
deficit was seen to reach P37.7 billion.
Despite
poor tax collections in the first half of 2007, the
government is sticking to its fiscal goals this year,
including the P1.12-trillion revenue and P63-billion
deficit targets without sacrificing spending on social
services and infrastructure development, Teves had said
on Wednesday.
Teves
told Palace reporters in a news briefing that this was
the “objective and agreement” at the end of the two-hour
DBCC-BIR-BOC Command Conference convened by President
Arroyo in Malacañang. |
