Gullas: Give Teves free hand to choose BIR, BOC heads

Cebu first district Rep. Eduardo Gullas has urged President Arroyo to give newly designated Finance Secretary Margarito "Gary" Teves a free hand in choosing the new heads of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

Gullas, who once served as House majority leader, said Teves’ appointment as head of the Department of Finance (DOF) "is being received gladly by everyone."

"We are proud to have a worthy son of Central Visayas as finance chief," he said in a statement.

"Gary’s integrity and credibility gives him a lot of capital that he can use to get things done at the DOF," he added.

Gullas said Teves has a "tough job" ahead of him. "He is being tasked to aggressively build up revenue collections at a time when the government is trying to avert a full-blown fiscal crisis," he said.

"He should therefore be given the opportunity to build his own senior staff at the (finance) department," Gullas added.

The President earlier asked various sectors to give her the names of candidates that she could invite to replace officials who have resigned.

Last week, Guillermo Parayno and Alberto Lina resigned as BIR and BOC commissioners, respectively, along with then Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and a number of Cabinet members.

Teves, a master’s degree holder in Development Economics from Williams College, Massachusetts, served as president of the Land Bank of the Philippines for nearly five years. He also previously served as congressman representing the third district of Oriental Negros.