GMA to Morales: Attain targets or face dismissal

Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales faces dismissal if his agency fails to meet its collection target for the year.

Presidential Management Staff chief Cerge Remonde, said over dzRH that  President Arroyo has “put him (Morales) on notice” during a “command conference” at the Bureau of Customs office on Friday.

“You better achieve your targets or what happened at the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) will happen again,” Remonde said, quoting the President.

The President was referring to Jose Mario Buñag who was removed from the BIR last month reportedly because of the huge collection shortfall.

For the first semester, the BOC registered a shortfall of P13 billion in its collections.

However, for the month of July, Morales reported that the BOC surpassed its target by P1.2 billion.

In a separate interview over dzRB, Remonde said that for tomorrow it would be the BIR’s turn to have a command conference with the President.

The BIR is faced with a bigger collection problem than the BOC, based on the first semester figures.

For the first six months of the year, the BIR posted a shortfall of around P40 billion in its collections.

With the new commissioner Lilian Hefti at the helm, the BIR is expected to report to the President its present collection performance as well as her strategy to recover the first semester shortfall.

“If they could not explain, then the President said they have no reason to stay in their posts,” Remonde said.

Remonde said that the President is assessing the two agencies on a month-to-month basis.

“If it appears that they would be able to recover that by December then they would be retained,” Remonde said.

“It’s a system of rewards and punishment. Rewards for those who do well and punishment for those who do not perform,” he added.