Jojo Buñag deserves praise, not blame

The over-publicized demand of some loudmouthed Congressmen who called for the "resignation" of Commissioner Jose Mario Buñag because they claim he goofed in his job at the Bureau of Internal Revenue and "failed" to meet collection targets is not only off base – it’s stupid.

I won’t go so far as to call Jojo Buñag an Evangelist as was one of Jesus Christ’s first disciples, Saint Matthew, who was also a tax collector – or grant him an Angel’s wings. (Yep, one of St. Matthew’s symbols as an Evangelist was that of a winged young man, or an Angel). But Buñag successfully completed his first and most urgent mission, contrary to the naysayers and critics. Facts are facts, and here they are:

Actually in the first three months of the year from January to March, the BIR exceeded its collection target. For the first quarter, the BIR accumulated a total of P134.96 billion, compared to the P110.23 billion for the same period last year, or an increase of P24.75 billion or up by 2.43 percent.

In April, internal revenue collections actually rose by 13.13 percent over the collections for the same month last year. The April 2006 collection amounted to P71.368 billion, compared to P63.086 billion in April 2005, or an increase of P8.281 billion.

However, it’s true, when compared to the BIR’s announced goal, the April collection was short by P7.2 billion or 9.7 percent.

BIR officials rightly point out that, in the first place, collection goals are arbitrary figures or estimates made by officials of the Department of Finance and the Department of Budget and Management based on projections and with the eye to supporting budgetary expenditures. The goal may therefore be arbitrary and even unrealistic. The BIR is hopeful it can meet the pre-set target by the end of the year.

In a memorandum to Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Jojo Buñag explained the reasons for the so-called "shortfall."

Among the reasons cited by Jojo were the following: increased used by taxpayers of withholding tax credits; higher utilization of tax credit certificates; and low consumer public spending owing to higher prices of goods and commodities occasioned by the fuel cost upsurge. Even giant food corporations like San Miguel and Jollibee, Buñag noted, had reported lower income because of "poor" business.

Corporate income tax payments were lower in April, too, because businesses had already remitted the bulk of their income tax payments in the previous three months.

Jojo further said that large amounts of internal revenue, which ought to be credited to the BIR, are instead credited to other agencies, such as the tax on the sale of government securities which is credited instead to the Bureau of Treasury. Billions of pesos in VAT collections on imported oil and other fuels are credited to the Bureau of Customs. Being taxes which are collected under the Internal Revenue Code, these should have been credited to the BIR but were not. The goal-setters, Buñag pointed out should assign to the BIR P27 billion from customs and P49 billion from the BIR.

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Jojo, who’s admittedly an old friend whom I trust, naturally cried on my shoulder after our breakfast in the Tuesday Club (where I’m chairman and he’s a faithful member).

He told me that morale is still high in the BIR, despite the criticisms. He said he had rewarded over 200 personnel with promotions for work well done, while demoting or "punishing" scores of others he had found inefficient, lazy, lax – and, worst of all, corrupt.

As an effect of the purges and promotions, he underscored, seven of the BIR’s 19 regional collection offices surpassed their targets despite the "economic slowdown."

On the other hand, he complained, there is a "creeping demoralization" in the BIR’s ranks because its field men and officials are being pilloried in Congress and in the press, instead of being credited for doing their job.

Oh well, as I cautioned Buñag, nobody loves the Tax- man. And everyone resents the fact that there are two things which are inevitable, as the old axiom goes: Death and Taxes.

Sanamagan. Everytime this writer gets a check from the Philippine STAR, I find that the government has already taken a more than 20 percent bite out of it,. In short, the government gets its cut of the money, even before my grubby little hands get to feel those pesos.

Let’s face it. Nobody enjoys paying taxes – even if everybody knows those tax payments are needed to keep our society and the government afloat.

And there’s less incentive to pay when many notice that our Senators and Congressmen are getting P7.1 billion "pork barrel" (tax-free) out of the people’s tax contributions.

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>I asked a friend, Mrs. Jobe Valencia, a former Councilor of Negros Oriental, from Dumaguete, to do a study on the "pork barrel" of our legislators. Here are some of the fact she dredged up:

The pork barrel has assumed different names. During the presidency of President Fidel V. Ramos, it was known as the Countrywide Development Fund (CDF). Presently, it is known as the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF). But, as the saying goes, the same dog with a different collar. Whatever name and method we attach to it, the pork barrel today has the same purpose as it was used for in the 1930’s when the pork barrel fund was created during the American Colonial era. It is a privileged "politicking machinery" utilized by an incumbent politician at the expense of the government and the people. In pre-war days, Assemblymen spent their pork barrel any way they wanted. Essentially, the same old practice exists today.

The pork barrel is easily available. It is a handy-dandy source of cash for kickbacks, patronage and campaigning.

Senators are allocated about P200 million in pork barrel funds and Congressmen P70 million. These amounts represent significant clout in the economy.

The cuts or kickbacks are called by other euphemistic names, like commissions, rebates and discounts.

Not content with simply disbursing unaudited funds for projects chosen by them willy-nilly, certain legislators give themselves "discounts" or kickbacks ranging as high as 40 to 50 percent – Sanamagan. No wonder many of the "projects", when completed, come out sub-standard. How explain, too, why some freshly-delivered medicines delivered to local health centers reach their "expiry" dates much too quickly?

According to Valencia’s observation as a former politician herself, many roads and bridges never seem to be completed. Some contractors have confessed they reduce the amount of materials needed for a job by 20 percent to 30 percent just to save on their own expenses! That’s why our roads and highways get potholed within just a few months. This is no secret. Everyone who travels daily on such roads and thoroughfares feel the corruption with every bump they experience on their sore bottoms.

Not all legislators, of course, take a cut from pork barrel allocations for projects and purchases – but they still spend their pork barrel.

It’s a practice which should be abolished.