DOF forms unit to ferret out corruption

The Revenue Integrity Protection Services (RIPS) finally received executive mandate as Malacañang issued the executive order making it an official agency under the Department of Finance (DOF).

The new agency was intended to plug the most problematic leak in the government’s revenue collection program that was estimated by the DOF to cost at least P240 billion in foregone revenues every year.

President Arroyo signed Executive Order No. 259 last week, allocating an initial P10 million from the Presidential Contingency Fund and allowing RIPS to receive even private donations.

Finance Secretary Juanita Amatong disclosed over the weekend that RIPS would continue to be headed by Finance Assistant Secretary Noel Bonoan who was originally appointed by former Finance Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho.

Amatong said the DOF will begin in earnest to look for possible foreign funding for RIPS to supplement the initial allocation by Malacañang.

"An effort like this needs adequate funding in order to work," Amatong told reporters. "Fortunately, there has been a lot of interest already even before the EO was issued, especially in the foreign donor community."

Amatong expressed confidence that there would be no shortage of support from the foreign community as long as the government could show political will that it was serious about its efforts to weed out the corrupt elements in BIR and BOC, as well as other revenue-generating agencies under the DOF.

On the other hand, Bonoan said RIPS would be initially preoccupied with staffing and program development although the initial outline of its strategy has already been mapped out.

"This is just an offshoot of the efforts that we have been quietly undertaking since last year," Bonoan said. "It has been our intention to make the BIR and the BOC the showcase of governance reforms."

Bonoan explained that under the EO, RIPS was given the mandate to conduct lifestyle checks as well as other investigation into reports of graft and corruption in BIR and BOC.