Underperforming BOC, BIR officials to be sanctioned - DOF

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Finance (DOF) has assured the Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) that sanctions have been slapped against officials and employees of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) who failed to meet their collection targets.

The Lateral Attrition Law provides for a system of reward and punishment for BOC and BIR officials and employees depending on their performance. Those who fall short of their collection targets by at least 7.5 percent would be dismissed from service while those who go beyond expectations would be given incentives which may include cash.

The Finance department, in a letter to FPI early this month said, that the Revenue Performance Evaluation Board, led by the department has already subjected to dismissal four BOC personnel and two BIR personnel for their performance in 2007.

In 2007, the BOC collected P209.439 billion, lower than the original revenue target of P235.141 billion.

On the other hand, in 2006, the BOC collected P198.161 billion, exceeding its target of P190.451 billion by P3.850 bilion.

As such, the DOF said the BOC were given rewards and incentives equivalent to 15 percent of the excess collection as mandated by the Lateral Attrition Law.

This year, the BIR and the BOC have been falling short of their respective collection targets but officials said there will be a thorough review of their performance as several factors affected revenues including the weak economic environment and the two typhoons that hit the country.

The BOC is tasked to collect P273.5 billion this year but it expects to collect only P237 billion on the back of weak imports brought about by the lingering impact of the global financial turmoil.

The BIR, on the other hand, has a collection target of P798.5 billion but officials have said it would be impossible to meet this target because of the difficult environment.