Ombudsman to step up lifestyle checks on BIR, BOC execs amid bribery reports

The Office of the Ombudsman will conduct intensified lifestyle check on officials of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) amid reports of its officials collecting bribe money, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said Friday.

Remulla made the announcement during his town hall meeting with the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industries (PCCI).

It also comes just a day after the Marcos administration announced that erstwhile BIR Commissioner Charlito Mendoza will move to the Bureau of Customs, while Finance Department official Rolando Ligon Jr. will take over as the country's top taxman. Both Mendoza and Ligon were sworn into office on Friday.

"We will intensify our lifestyle checks on officials of the BIR and the BOC, the two agencies that [are] entrusted with collecting the money that builds our roads, our schools, and our hospitals. That money belongs to the Filipino people," Remulla said.

Remulla said he has received reports of government officials collecting illegal fees with no receipts, and instances wherein these fees even exceed the amounts duly collected with receipts.

"Walang lehitimong bayad sa gobyerno na walang resibo. Bawat piso na binabayad sa estado, dapat may resibo,” Remulla said.

(No government transaction is paid without a receipt. Every peso paid to the government must have a receipt.)

"Ang bayad na walang resibo ay hindi buwis. It's corruption," Remulla added.

(Those fees without receipts are not taxes.)

Remulla said these issues are what the Investment Ombudsman, a new unit under the Ombudsman, seeks to address.

The Ombudsman said businesses should be able to feel safe to report government officials who try to collect bribes from them.

"The Ombudsman's job is to protect the people, protect the businesses that employ them, feed them and build communities," Remulla said. — VDV, GMA News