Another BIR Official Killed by hit men in P’nan

B.I.R BIGWIGS: Deputy commissioners of the Bureau of Internal Revenue from Manila attended the 2013 Tax Campaign Kicked-off Program, introduction of the mobile revenue collection office system (MRCOS), the blessings of the new the buildings and the covered court, and the awarding ceremony of the tax agency's partners and top taxpayers all held recently at the BIR Region -1 office in Calasiao, Pangasinan (Photo by MCO).

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

 URDANETA CITY, Pangasinan – Another official of the Bureau of Internal Revenue has been waylaid by assassins in a span of three months in the humongous province of Pangasinan. Jose R. Labonete, 46, chief of Assessment Division of the Revenue District Office-6 here has been opening at 7:30 pm of March 4 this year the gate of his apartment at City Homes Subdivision in Barangay Nancayasan in this city when a gun man with a companion treacherously peppered him with four fatal shots.
 According to the blotter of Urdaneta City Police Station two male suspects coming from behind of the victim, one armed with a short firearm, opened fire by hitting him on different parts of his body that resulted to his instant death. “The suspects after the shooting, fled on board a single motorcycle towards north direction. SOCO (Crime on the Scene Operatives) team from the PNP CLO, Urdaneta City was requested to process the crime scene that resulted in the recovery of four (4) fired cartridge cases of caliber 9mm and one (1) fired bullet and these specimens were brought to the CLO for continuous ballistics and cross matching examinations.”
It said there that Labonete was brought to Villanueva Funeral Homes in Brgy. Bayaoas for autopsy.
 The police was still uncertain on the motive of the killing.
 But according to a source here who asked anonymity, one of the angles being seen was work related. Lobanete has probably got the ire, according to the source, of taxpayers who were swindled by his unscrupulous employees here who duped them with the impression that they remitted their taxes to the coffer of the BIR.
 “Just go to the police and the prosecutor’s office and check how many of these rogues BIR personnel have been complained there”.
The source said that Labonete, known as Jojo here, have a scare of his life in December last year after he was chased by two men from a van after he disembarked from the bus he rode. The source said Labonete was followed by the van from SM-Rosales to the Sanctuary Building in Brgy. Nancayasan .”
 “When he saw two menacing men stepped down from a white van he immediately ran up to CB Mall and mingled with the shoppers there”. Fearing they would be exposed the men did not abduct him, according to this paper’s source.
 Labonete’s former boss, RDO-6 chief Marlyn Vicente, said he was a good man. “What a bad news. In fairness mabait naman iyang si Jojo at gawa niya lang talaga work niya”.
 Recently two BIR top honchos in RDO-6 released a paid advertisement in the press warning taxpayers in Eastern Pangasinan to be cautious with present and former BIR outlaws in that office who victimized unwary taxpayers.
These fixers according to the paid warning are illegally transacting transfer of properties through deeds of sale/exchange, deed of donation, extrajudicial settlement/self adjudication, etc.
 RDO chief Beverly Milo, a lawyer, and Assistant RDO chief Maria Bernadette Mangaoaong exhorted taxpayers to transact only at the One Time Transactions (ONETT) office. They said documents there are officially numbered and processed within five days from receipt of complete documentary requirements and validated payment forms.
Milo and Mangaoang stressed that transacting with ONETT save lives. “Please support the direct transfer eradication program of this office to protect taxpayers and avoid tax collection pilferage and loss of life. Tandaan: Ang tama o maling gawain ay babalik sa iyo”
Earlier, an examiner of the BIR in RDO-4 based in Calasiao, Pangasinan was ambushed in his car before noon in late December last year at Brgy Lasip in the same town.
Police identified the victim as Antonio C. Mesina, 59, married and a soon to retire examiner of RDO-4. Mesina was driving his Nissan Sentra when a Honda motorcycle appeared from nowhere with its back-rider firing shots that resulted to his demise.
 According to a BIR insider Mesina, a hot head, shot on the thigh a taxpayer in a heated argument inside RDO-6 office when he was assigned there as an examiner years ago.
 Another angle being looked up on his killing was grudged when his son a barangay captain in Calasiao was mauled by men where one of them was a son of the former village chief of the same barangay.
 One of the suspects for the mauling was shot to death a few months later.

 BIR Region 1 uses techno marvel MRCOS

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

 CALASIAO, Pangasinan – A district office here of the Bureau of Internal Revenue showcased recently its technological marvel called mobile revenue collection officers system (MRCOS). According to Charmaine de la Torre, Assistant chief of the Revenue District Office -4, the MRCOS will be used by the collection agents in transacting taxes in the two cities and nine towns strong RDO-4.
 She said the gadget would serve as a tool to collect taxes, the tax details of the taxpayers like their address, their tax information number, and the amount they are going to pay to the BIR. “Mag-i-issyu na kaagad ng recibo (the MRCOS),” she beamed.
She said that this innovation made the typewriters a thing of the past in the tax agency where they are still being used to encode the data of the taxpayers in lieu of the computers. RDO-4 chief Christine Cardona disclosed that those who graced the multi-pronged activities here were Lelia C. Guillermo, Deputy Commissioner, Information System Group, who gave the kick-off message for the tax caravan, Celia C. King, Deputy Commissioner, Resource Management Group, and Lucita G. Rodriguez, Assistant Commissioner, Taxpayer Assistance Service all of the BIR central office. Before the tax caravan rolled on with the personnel of the BIR , bookkeepers, and taxpayers in Central Pangasinan, the deputy commissioners and some officials of the tax office introduced the MRCOS to the spectators here, followed by the blessings of the new the buildings including the swanky covered court that were constructed under the watch of BIR Region- 1 Director Arnel Guballa , and ended by the awarding ceremonies of BIR partners and top taxpayers. Cardona said the bigwigs from Manila exhorted the personnel of the RDO-4 and the BIR Region-1 led by Regional Director Guballa and Assistant Regional Director Eduardo L. Pagulayan, Jr. that “the BIR is not only a tax payer service agency, but primordially a tax enforcement agency, “she stressed. Cardona said it is high time for the tax agency to exploit new technology like MRCOS since the BIR has been left behind in the technological race by other government agencies and the private sectors to buttress its operation.
Meanwhile, a source who asked anonymity said that RDO-4 have exceeded its goal amid the failure of the BIR as whole to collect its target in January this year, given by the national government. She cited that with the goal of P174, 798,000.00, RDO-4 collected P182, 255,970.31 or an increased of 4.27 percent. The office collected P137, 676,835.13 in the same month last year. Moreover, According to Maria Bernadette Mangaoang Assistant chief of RDO-5 based in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan has been given a more than 24 percent tax target compared to its P739, 148,186.33 last year. Record cited that RDO-5 under the watch of Beverly Milo, a CPA-Lawyer, will be collecting P941, 745,000.00 this year.