300 cases filed against erring revenue execs, smugglers, tax evaders

MANILA, Philippines - The Aquino administration has so far filed close to 300 cases against erring revenue officials, smugglers and tax evaders, Malacañang said yesterday.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said a total of 109 cases have been filed against 150 respondents under the Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS).

RIPS probes allegations of corruption in the Finance department as well as its attached agencies. It was formed through Executive Order 259 signed by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2003.

On the other hand, 75 cases have been filed under the Run After The Smugglers (RATS) program.

RATS was launched in 2005 to punish smugglers, increase state revenues and ensure the attainment of the government’s fiscal targets.

Lacierda said the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has filed 107 cases under the Run After Tax Evaders (RATE) program.

Formed in 2005, RATE is tasked to file charges against tax cheats to ensure that the government has enough funds to bankroll its programs.

Lacierda said the drive against tax evasion and corruption has benefited the country’s revenue-generation efforts.

“In the past, there was amnesty (for tax evaders). There has been call for amnesty, there has been call for settlement. But this administration has found it fit to make sure that we hold accountable those who do not pay their taxes properly,” he told radio station dzRB.

“It has an effect right now because our collection efforts have improved. More are paying taxes and this is borne out by the statistics in the DOF (Department of Finance) and in the BIR,” he added.

Latest Treasury data showed that the BIR collected P345.07 billion as of April, higher by 13.9 percent than the P302.94 billion earned in the same period last year.

The Bureau of Customs, on the other hand, generated P94.9 billion in first four months of the year, up by 11.6 percent from last year+fs P85 billion.

The growth in state revenues enabled the government to post a surplus of P31.02 billion in April and to trim the fiscal deficit to P2.895 billion for the first four months of the year.