Unmindful To Danger, BIR Exec Opens Door To Public

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

CALASIAO – Probably the first revenue district office (RDO) chief in Pangasinan whose office’s door is always literally open to the taxpayers to entertain their queries and complaints.

“I always open my door especially if I have no pressing tasks on my table,” said by newly assigned Bureau of Internal Revenue's RDO-4 chief Ernesto Mangabat.

RDO-4 handles the revenue collections to businessmen and professionals in the two cities and fourteen towns’ Central Pangasinan.

TAX MAN - Bureau of Internal Revenue's RDO-4 chief Ernesto Mangabat. RDO-4 handles the revenue collections from businessmen and professionals in the two cities and fourteen towns’ Central Pangasinan.

He cited that taxpayers who transact at the RDO-4 office can approach him because his office is always open to them.

This was the first time an RDO chief in the history of three RDOs in Pangasinan as far as this writer is concerned opens his door to the public impervious to the danger brings by the position.

There were past RDO chiefs in the three districts in the province who did not only close their doors but have police escorts and even private armed guards because of the threats on their lives.

One of them got the ire of some businessmen in the city in Pangasinan when the revenue office closed their restaurants  through Operation Kandado (padlocked) and allowed to open them if  each of them pay the one million pesos penalty for not issuing official receipts to their customers.
"Racket lang pala iyong Operation Kandado, kunwari pa-padlocked padlocked iyong restaurant namin may mga kasamang media men at television crew pa, iyon pala front lang sa kotong," the same sourced continued.

Rosendo So, the chairman of the powerful Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag), told reporters then about one of the owners of the three restaurants who complained to him that when they each paid the one million pesos they received an official receipt from the RDO chief that each of them paid one hundred thousand pesos.

The beleaguered RDO chief allegedly told friends that he started receiving death threats thus the two armed police bodyguards sitting at the bench near outside his door.
In May 2017, RDO-5 Chief Thelma D. Mangio's red Innova multi-purpose vehicle was peppered with countless firearms bullets while it was parked inside the BIR office in Alaminos City.
The motive of the shooting was Magio's aggressive collection of taxes to business owners in the western Pangasinan.

BULLET HOLES. The bullets riddled Toyota Innova car of Revenue District Office Chief Thelma D. Mangio of the Bureau of Internal Revenue based in Alaminos City. The car, according to BIR insiders, was shot by unidentified gunman sometime in May 2017 while it was parked at the periphery of the BIR office in the city. Bullet holes are covered by a brown packaging tape in this photo. MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

The other RDO- Chief-6 Nasrollah Conding had not only two to three  Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) personnel guard him through the intercession of a high police official’s friend but even had Muslim bodyguards with long beard sitting on the chairs near in front of his door that was always close.

“Clients of the BIR are even intimidated with the presence of these men,” one of the BIR officials, who asked for anonymity, said.

She cited the RDO-Chief, a Maranao who is now in Marawi, had allegedly a “Rido”  or threat in Mindanao that his enemies lurked around his office in Urdaneta City. RDO- 6 oversees eastern Pangasinan.

"Rido" is a Maranao term that refers to clan feuds. It is considered one of the major problems in Mindanao because apart from numerous casualties, rido has caused destruction of property, crippled the local economy, and displaced families, according to the online findwords.

Mangabat, a Certified Public Accountant, said he is from Ilocos Norte where he finished his Bachelor of Science in Accountancy at the Mariano Marcos Memorial University.

He stayed at the BIR guest house here while his family live in Ilocos Norte, he told this writer.

“I could not answer your question about our plan to spike our tax collection since we faced collection problem nowadays,” he cited.

A top executive of the Bureau of Internal Revenue worries that the tens of billion pesos per year to be collected by the regional offices of the tax agency are prejudiced because of the cap on the income taxes and those of the contractors’ taxes.

“Yes, not only sa income tax but also we have a problem on the collection of the withholding tax on DPWH. Kinuha na ng national office ng Large Taxpayers Service (LTS). This year they de-listed LTS from the regional office lahat ng withholding taxes, from all contractors all over the Philippines, doon na ma reremit sa national,” cited by former Region 1 BIR Director Marina de Guzman.

She is now the Regional Director of Manila.

How dirty monies exchanged hands at the B.I.R