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I’m ashamed, says resigned BIR chief

By Michelle Remo
Philippine Daily Inquirer


MANILA, Philippines—Sixto Esquivias IV has resigned as commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) because, according to him, “it was the honorable thing to do.”

“The BIR has a large tax collection shortfall right now, and I feel ashamed to stay,” Esquivias said in Filipino in a telephone interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer Monday night.

Esquivias, who was appointed to the top BIR post on Nov. 1, 2008, said he found it prudent to resign to give way to anyone who may be better at making the agency meet its tax collection targets.

“If someone can do the job better, then why would I stay?” he said.

He said he exerted his “best, but apparently it was not enough. Resigning was the honorable thing to do.”

Esquivias, the fifth tax chief to be appointed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo since she took office in 2001, was appointed last year to replace Lilian Hefti amid a similar problem of tax collection shortfall.

Resignation accepted

Esquivias tendered his resignation on Friday effective the same day.

“The President has accepted his resignation,” Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said in a statement.

“He has not performed well and he said he takes responsibility for it. He said the President should be given the chance to make changes as she sees best,” Ermita added.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde told reporters that Ms Arroyo would announce on Tuesday the new head of the bureau that brings in three-fourths of government revenues.

Stressful

Esquivias found the job of a BIR commissioner exhausting, saying that last week his blood pressure rose to a level higher than normal because of stress.

Latest data from the Department of Finance
(DoF), mother agency of the BIR, showed that the revenue agency’s tax collection reached P557 billion in January to September.

This fell short of the official target of P596.2 billion for the nine-month period and much lower than the P587.9 billion collected in the same period last year.

Bigger budget deficit

Because the BIR accounts for 75 percent of the revenues generated by the national government, its shortfall will widen the budget deficit.

For this year, the DoF expects the budget deficit to widen to P300 billion largely because of the weaker-than-expected tax collection.

Last year’s deficit stood at P68 billion. As of end-September, the deficit was already P237.5 billion.

Tax collecting in the Philippines has been dogged for years by widespread tax evasion, corruption and inefficient tax administration. The difficulty of the task was made worse this year by the global economic downturn, which adversely affected corporate and household incomes.

Officials had acknowledged that the full-year target would be difficult to reach because of the downturn...

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