Buñag: I'm a sacrificial lamb and scapegoat

Outgoing Bureau of Internal Revenue commissioner Jose Mario Bunag, who was sacked on Wednesday by Malacanang due to his agency's failure to meet collection goals, said he was made a 'sacrificial lamb and scapegoat' by higher finance officials in the government. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has appointed deputy commissioner Lilian Hefti as officer-in-charge of the collection agency. The Palace expects Hefti, a lawyer and certified public accountant with 30 years of experience in public service, to turn around BIR's performance. "There are higher authorities in the government's financial institutions who would like to wash their hands of responsibility for the dire consequences of their unrealistic, failed and bungled policies and who look for a sacrificial lamb and a scapegoat to which they can assign the blame," Bunag said in the statement. "So be it. Their time to answer for their failure and incompetence will also eventually come," he added. A television report quoted Wednesday a Finance department study showing that weakness in tax administration led to the collection shortfalls, at a time when the robust economy should have led to bigger tax takes for the agency. The BIR is an agency under the Finance department. The government on Tuesday reported that it had a budget deficit of P1.7 billion in May 2007, a turn-around from the P5.8-billion surplus it declared in the same month last year. The May deficit brought the government's budget for the first five months of the year to a P41.8-billion deficit. This made Finance officials admit that it would be hard pressed to achieve its official P63-billion budget deficit target for the full year. Bunag has been offered an ambassadorial position to either Norway or the Netherlands as he leaves the BIR. He declined the offer saying he wanted to take a "long-deserved" rest from government service. Instead, he thanked the President for the opportunity of having been part of her administration. "I am grateful to the President for having given me the opportunity to have served the government under her administration as commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Although the task of tax collection is very difficult and intricate... we have tried our best to meet the administration's expectations," Bunag said. "I pray for the success of those who follow me in this difficult post of BIR commissioner and for the continued well-being and success of the entire personnel of the bureau," he added. - GMANews.TV