BIR Western P’sinan Lags anew in Collection

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

CALASIAO – The Revenue District Office 5 in Alaminos City lagged again in the tax collection efforts of the Bureau of Internal Revenue this year.

LOT FOR BIR EASTERN PANGASINAN: A Filipino Chinese couple (4th and 3rd from Right) in Urdaneta City donated a sizeable lot in Brgy.

In a cumulative and comparative collection report furnished to Northern Watch by the regional office of the BIR based here, RD0-5, that oversees almost all of the towns and a city in Western Pangasinan, has been left behind by its five counterparts in Region 1 in the collection of revenues in January to June this year compared to the same period last year.

According to the report, RDO-5 collected only P423, 932,834.91 this year versus the P437, 739,356.19 in the same period last year.

Last year RDO-5 did not meet its goal and its year-on-year tax efforts.

RDO-5 is under the watch of RDO chief Emir Abutzil.

The same reports said that RDO-1 in Ilocos Norte collected P577 million versus 572 million last year, RDO-2 gathered P599,328, 772 versus P562, 418,144 last year, RDO-3  collected P909, 604,375 versus P826,342,359 last year, RDO-4 gathered P1, 289,528,950 versus P1,150,116,199 last year, and RDO-6 collected P537,324,638 versus P504, 237, 521 last year. 

The cumulative and comparative report did not provide the tax goal given by the national government to the six RDOs.

In genera however, the regional office under the stewardship of lawyer Arnel Guballa collected P4, 818,869,458.31 in the first semester versus the P4, 653,434316.35 in the same period last year. 

Last year Guballa collected P8, 012,446,364.83 in the entire year versus the P7, 117,734, 630.75 collections he had in the same period in year 2012

Meanwhile, Mr. Lee Caday, head of the Taxpayer Assistance Unit, denied that the recent revamp of all examiners and collectors in Region 1 happened partly because of the raps that some of these officers have been involved in extortion and harassment as reported by Jun Ramirez of the Manila Bulletin in an article titled “BIR reshuffles 4,000 collectors” that saw print last May 6.

Caday said BIR Region 1 was the first in the country to reshuffle its examiners and collectors. Assistant RDO-6 chief Maria Bernadette Mangaoang, who oversees the entire towns and city of Eastern Pangasinan, said the same officers in other parts of the country will follow suit.

“The government has been doing this as mandated by the National Internal Revenue Code every three years. The wisdom here is to avoid familiarization among the examiners and collectors and their clients,” she stressed.