BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera office of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR-CAR) is saddened over reports on the wastage of public funds through various forms of corruption being committed in the various levels of bureaucracy that defeats the purpose of providing adequate funds for the enhanced delivery of basic services and implementation of development projects.
BIR-CAR regional director Douglas Rufino stated that the primary role of the bureau is to collect the right taxes from the people so that government will have sufficient funds to sustain the delivery of quality basic services and implement programmed development projects.
However, he admitted that officials and employees of the bureau are sometimes disappointed to learn about reports on the corruption being committed in the various levels of the bureaucracy involving the use of public funds which was made available because of their efforts to collect what is due to the government.
While there is a separate body in charge of investigating the matter on the misuse of the public funds, he pointed out that government officials and personnel and their cahoots must be penalized for such acts as this defeats the purpose of collecting and providing funds to improve the services and projects in areas that need such interventions in the different parts of the country.
According to him, BIR personnel are doing their best to collect from the people the taxes due to the government so that there will be funds that will be apportioned for the delivery of basic services and implementation of projects, thus, responsible government officers must ensure that the earmarked money is maximized for the programmed services or projects geared towards the welfare of the people and not for the personal interest of the involved officials.
Rufino assured the people that BIR officials and employees will continue to perform their mandate in ensuring the collection of the right taxes from the various individuals and companies that are obliged to pay their taxes to the government so that there will be a sustained effort on the part of concerned government agencies and local governments to perform their assigned duties and responsibilities in giving back the necessary services and projects to the very people who need the same.
BIR and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) are two of the government’s major revenue generating agencies whose revenue collections are the ones that are being shared by the national and local governments pursuant to the Mandanas-Garcia doctrine which will be used to ensure the efficient and effective delivery of quality basic services and implement high impact development projects in the different parts of the country.
Rufino urged all taxpayers to religiously pay their taxes in the different regional and revenue district offices of the agency to achieve its target tax collection goal so that the government will have sufficient funds to attend to the increasing needs of people in terms of the delivery of basic services and high impact development projects.
