Endriga replies

A couple of weeks ago, this column received an e-mail from one of the children of Quezon City treasurer Victor Endriga categorically denying an aspiration on the part of their father for the plum post of commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

The e-mail was in response to the concern aired in this column that some quarters might be using the name of Quezon City ’s respected treasurer in a suspected smear campaign against the tandem of Finance Secretary Gary Teves and BIR Commissioner Jose Mario Buñag.

Now that Endriga’s alleged ambition to take over the coveted BIR post has been denied, we hope that the smear brigade would finally just leave the BIR alone to do what it must – collect revenues for the country, which for this year is set at P730 billion.

At the outset, we underscored that this campaign against Teves and Buñag using Endriga’s name had been most unfair to the treasurer. No doubt, Endriga is one of the country’s best city treasurers. He can do a lot more for that city, as he has done for others. Local government revenue collection is not a task less noble than what the BIR does. And it is good to keep well-performing public servants in the posts where they can best serve the public welfare and interest.

The graciousness of the Endriga reply should put to rest speculations once and for all. This should also help the BIR staff focus on their jobs, as has always been the call of Buñag.

They have a giant task this year. They will try to hit or exceed a target P130 billion more than what was aimed for in 2006.

The task will be difficult – but not impossible. Last year, they batted for P601.4 billion. They hit P615 billion, or almost P15 billion more than the BIR’s fair goal for 2006. The collection also translated into a 23.11 percent growth over what the agency raised in 2005.

What is significant about the feat, as has been expounded in this column a good number of times, is that the target was exceeded sans any increase in budget, manpower, or technology for the BIR. The 2006 feat was a product of sheer human determination to succeed, and of the leadership of Teves and Buñag.

Our in-the-know friends say there are other names being floated by the smear brigade as "possible replacements" for the Teves-Buñag tandem. But none of these names are as sterling in their reputation as that of the respected Quezon City treasurer.

It is also the view that a major shuffle in the finance sector many no longer be justifiable. The international financial community has already taken cognizance of the government’s achievements in revenue collection, a reputation that has positive effects on the country’s borrowing capabilities.

Further, National Treasurer Omar Cruz has announced that the government is set to prepay a good chunk of its foreign debt again, way ahead of the debt settlement schedule. Cruz has unequivocally attributed the government’s ability to do so to the revenue collection performance of the finance sector. 

The prevailing sentiment is that any replacement in the ranks of the government’s finance sector leaders would only be politically motivated and would have nothing to do with performance issues. That Teves and Buñag are "miracle performers" is beyond question. Anyone who entertains the ambition to replace them would have to justify his or her appointment with other ruse. The resort to the hysterical cries of revenue collection "shortfall" would be old hat – worn out and outdated. 

Teves of course still has to disclose his personal plans relating to the May polls. There are talks he might want to return to legislative work. He was and will be an asset to Congress, the way his distinguished father Herminio has always been. We need an honest-to-goodness economist in Congress. But we hope he stays where he is. We have never had it so good. Under his stewardship, the focus of the finance sector has been on raising money, not on graft and corruption. If Teves throws his hat into the political arena, he will be sorely missed. 

As for Bunag, he has made his point. And he has made his mark. For one, we have a BIR commissioner whose capability and integrity are vouched for by both political and religious leaders. The prevailing analysis is that the good-natured commissioner is not the political type, so there is no need to fear he might join the political fray. In which case we can sleep soundly, knowing there are still good men in government. 

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