Arroyo: Bañez a big loss to BIR

The President yesterday admitted she regretted having accepted the resignation of Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Rene Bañez.

Bañez, the President said, was a "big loss" to the government’s aim to turn the BIR into a showcase of its anti-graft campaign.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the President will confer with Finance Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho before she makes her final choice of who will be the new BIR commissioner from the "short list" submitted to her by a Palace Search Committee.

Bunye said the top three nominees to the top BIR post are former Customs Commissioner Guillermo Parayno, Social Security System (SSS) Administrator Corazon de la Paz and Finance Undersecretary Cornelio Gison, who was earlier designated as acting BIR commissioner.

Bunye said the President may name the new BIR commissioner on Wednesday.

Bañez resigned last Aug. 19 because of what Mrs. Arroyo termed "extreme pressure" on him from within the BIR and political circles.

Also, Bañez conceded that he could not meet the BIR’s tax collection target this year because the structural reforms he was undertaking were being sabotaged by affected quarters within the BIR.

In her weekly radio message aired over the government-run Radyo ng Bayan yesterday, the President said her administration’s campaign to eradicate graft and corruption in the government suffered a temporary setback with Bañez’ resignation.

"That is why I am regretting the resignation of Rene Bañez as commissioner of the BIR. He is a big loss to the government because I wanted him to implement he reforms at the BIR, foremost of which is to put order in the system of tax collection," she said.

"During these times, we need honest and orderly collection of taxes," the President said. "We all know that it is from the taxes being paid that we source the money being used by the government to build schools, roads, irrigation, rural electrification and other development projects."

Thus, Bunye said, the next BIR commissioner must have the "ability to pursue the reforms and the ability to meet the revenue collection targets." These abilities, he said, are the two basic qualifications sought by the President from the top nominees to the BIR post.

"We have to choose somebody who will not only have reform orientation, but he will also have the integrity and competence to handle the job," Bunye added.

"We hope that we’ll have somebody who could work within the bureaucracy," he said.

Bunye added that Bañez made a "personal sacrifice" by resigning his BIR post in an effort to prevent "saboteurs" within the BIR from derailing the Arroyo administration’s efforts to bring the budget deficit down. — Marichu Villanueva