Only 10 BIR, BOC execs to be penalized for target shortage

Only 10 officials from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) will be penalized under the Lateral Attrition Act of 2005.

The list gathered by the Department of Finance (DOF) showed that only ten would be slapped with the penalty out of the 51 revenue officials that were investigated for falling short of their targets.

Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said the list would be reviewed by the DOF’s Revenue Performance Evaluation Board in February for final recommendation.

The DOF is expected to release the names of the ten officials as soon as the list is finalized by the evaluation board.

The Lateral Attrition Law provides for a system of reward and punishment for revenue officials and employees depending on their performance.

Those who fall short of their collection targets by at least 7.5 percent would be dismissed from service, while those who go beyond expectations are given cash incentives, additional perks and benefits.

The 51 officials from the BIR and BOC explained why they missed their targets for 2007, saying the macroeconomic assumptions used in setting the targets for that year did not materialize.

Last August, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves instructed the revenue chiefs to finalize the list of officials from the two agencies who would be penalized under the Lateral Attrition Act.   

Teves recognized the need to strengthen the implementation of the law after lawmakers noted the lapses in the implementation of the measure. – Iris Gonzales