Unfair

Meanwhile, Gaite said that it is an injustice to say the least that while the law aims to “axe” the more than 5,000 rank-and-file employees, it simply systematized corruption at the top level. “It is a reward for the officials but punishment for the employees,” he said.

He disclosed that in January, the tenured employees of Customs were coerced to sign performance contracts apparently as part of the implementation of the law.

“Just like a kiss of death, these binding documents mean that they agree to their lay-off should they fail specified targets. No matter how the employees work themselves to death, given the impossible task, they will fail eventually unless by some machinations their officials will suddenly declare otherwise. For government employees, this means tightening the noose further on them, so to speak, because the employees are also affected by the ongoing bureaucracy-wide rationalization or simply the streamlining program of the Arroyo government” he said, referring to EO 366 signed by the chief executive on Oct. 4, 2004.

He also disclosed that high-ranking officials of the BoC enjoyed the windfall brought about by the scheme which made them “surprisingly surpass” the 2006 target despite missing the same in 2005 and several years back.

“While the employees did get their share of the promised bonus, the officials who have no direct hand on collection, including the BoC Commissioner (Napoleon Morales), got the millions. To paraphrase a saying, ‘Kawani ang nagsaing, iba ang kumain’ (It’s the government employees who cooked the rice, but others ate it). We go further, ‘Matapos kumain, papatayin na ang nagsaing’ (after eating, they will kill the cook), laments Gaite.

The law, he said, must be immediately repealed. He said that Courage will lobby before Congress for its repeal.

RA 9335: A Short History

The Lateral Attrition Bill was signed by Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Jan. 25, 2005. It creates a reward-and-punishment system for personnel of the BIR and the BoC, purportedly because this could make tax collection more efficient. Its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) were formulated in 2006.

By virtue of RA 9335, a Rewards and Incentives Fund to be administered by a Revenue Performance Evaluation Board (RPEB) was created.

By that time, Internal Revenue Commissioner Guillermo Parayno said that the BIR is very optimistic the agency could meet the collection target of P567 billion (US$12.316 million) that year and even Customs Commissioner George Jereos shared the same optimism by saying that BoC has set a tax collection target of P140 billion ($3.041 million) for 2005.

According to the law, the commissioners of the BIR and Customs are mandated to submit a regular report on the status of tax collections to the nine-member RPEB to be chaired by the secretary of finance or his representative.

The report of the commissioners should include the following information, which will be the bases of the “reward” or “punish” move by the RPEB:

· A report on revenue shortfalls, and the cause of such shortfalls or surplus;

· The personnel in charge of the unit, his explanation for a shortfall or surplus, and his recommendation on a remedial course of action.; and

· The names of officers and employees recommended for termination or reward.

“In the event of a shortfall in the national target, a separate report shall be submitted by the voting members of the Board to the Office of the President containing its evaluation of the performance of the Commissioner concerned on the basis of which the President may pursue a course of action consistent with the national interest,” part of the law reads.

Upon the signing of the law, Mrs. Arroyo herself that she would help both bureaus in developing their efficiency in tax collection by issuing various administrative reform measures.

However, before its passing into law, RA 9335 was hounded by controversy.

The late Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) Rep. Crispin Beltran said that the House of Representatives was railroading the House Bill 2996 or the Lateral Attrition Bill (LAB) despite the countless technical and legal flaws in the proposed measure.

In a Nov. 15, 2004, the late legislator had urged his fellow legislators to thumb down the bill, which was principally authored by Reps. Danilo Suarez, Imee Marcos, Mauricio Domogan, Francis Nepomuceno, Jesli Lapus, and Rolando Andaya Jr. among others.

“It has no merits whatsoever. The very premise that employees are to blame for low collections is very unjust. It’s obvious that the real objective of the bill is to overhaul the BIR, BoC and the 20 other agencies it targets and prepare them for full privatization. The BIR and the BOC are two agencies that generate income for the national government, but they’re both being targeted for privatization which will translate to even more massive losses for the government,” read the statement.

“The LAL and its twin bill on tax amnesty are among Malacanang’s eight priority measures that will provide a bandage-type cure to the fiscal hemorrhage; but both severely works against government employees and the even the economy itself,” he said.

Beltran added that the LAL was inherently biased against government employees, and violates civil service regulations protecting job security and the right of employees to due process.

“In a nutshell, LAL is the transfer in post or assignment and/or separation from government service of internal revenue or customs officials/officers/employees and collection officials/officers/employees of other revenue-generating units, who do not meet their respective revenue or collection goals for the year,” the late congressman further said. (Bulatlat.com)

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