DOF draws up shortlist for replacement of usec

The Department of Finance (DOF) has already drawn up a shortlist of candidates for the post to be vacated by Finance Undersecretary Gaudencio Mendoza Jr., who has tendered his resignation effective April 1.

Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said the department is looking at four prospective candidates to take over Mendoza’s post. The department will submit the list to President Arroyo for the final decision.

“We have a shortlist and we are going to submit this to the President,” Teves told reporters but declined to reveal the names.

Teves said Mendoza resigned due to personal reasons, dismissing talk that the finance official quit his post amid Teves’ failure to hurdle the Commission on Appointments (CA).

“People want to move on and we recognize (his) contribution to the department,” Teves said.

Mendoza has yet to issue a statement explaining his resignation.

Some finance department employees have blamed Mendoza’s presence at the agency for Teves’ failure to hurdle the CA.

Mendoza, who joined the finance department in 2006, penned the controversial DOF ruling on the Pall Mall tax issue.

The DOF ruling, which has been widely and strongly criticized by lawmakers, reversed a decision by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Pall Mall cigarettes.

The BIR had slapped the Pall Mall brand of cigarettes an excise tax rate of P26.06 per pack, saying the brand is high-end and is sold at duty free shops.

British American Tobacco, owner of the Pall Mall brand, appealed to the DOF which subsequently reversed the decision and instead taxed Pall Mall at a lower rate of P6.74 per pack.

Lawmakers and cigarette firms have criticized the controversial ruling. Mendoza later reversed the ruling anew and affirmed the BIR’s original ruling on an excise tax rate of P26.06 per pack.

Prior to his resignation, Mendoza heads the DOF’s all-out campaign against erring revenue officials and employees under the RIPS (Revenue Integrity Protection Service) program.

Teves has tasked Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran to oversee the operations of the agency’s Revenue Operations Group so as not to derail the government’s campaign against corrupt officials and employees.

The finance chief said the work that would be left behind by Mendoza will continue.