With balls: BIR Kim Henares Equipped with Gun; rap cases ₱5.5 billion tax evasion to businessmen

Philippine Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares. Photo: PhiSTAR

Philippine tax sheriff takes aim at cheats to hit target

MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines' chief tax collector is constantly thinking about targets. Sometimes she picks up an assault rifle and hits them.

In July 2010, newly-elected President Benigno Aquino made Kim Henares commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) because he wanted a tough tax sheriff - and he got one who's taking aim at the country's legion of tax cheats.

Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares fires a 45-calibre pistol during target shooting inside a firing range in Mandaluyong city

Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares inspects her target board during target shooting inside a firing range in Mandaluyong city

Aquino gave Henares presidential guards, but the tax lawyer and accountant said "I should know how to shoot their guns, just in case".

The president, a gun enthusiast, gave her lessons at shooting ranges. The 52-year-old Henares, who packs a pistol, now can wield an M-16 and SG552 Commando.

Her no-nonsense approach appears to be helping pull in more tax, which is pivotal to meeting a government goal - getting rating agencies to award the Philippines investment-grade status.

Historically, tax collection has sometimes been a "let's make a deal" game between taxpayers and bribable officials.

Henares, BIR's deputy commissioner from 2003 to 2005, has been chasing evaders and crooked bureaucrats to clean up collection and the image of the bureau, perceived to be one of the country's most corrupt institutions.

She is also trying to make tax-paying synonymous with patriotism. The chief, who amended BIR's vision statement to call it a partner in nation-building, makes sure her staffs attend weekly flag-raising ceremonies. She often wears a T-shirt sporting BIR's 2012 slogan: "I love Philippines. I pay taxes."

FEAR FACTOR

Her approach isn't just touchy-feely.

"We are changing ourselves from being primarily a customer service institution to a law enforcement institution," said Henares. "We were collecting taxes at the pace the taxpayer dictates."

Now, the bureau - which collects nearly 70 percent of all government revenue - is taking the initiative, and it wants taxpayers to be afraid of ignoring laws. "If you look at the psyche of the Filipino, if you do not put fear in them they will not obey," Henares said.

She does scare people, according to Budget Secretary Florencio Abad. "They fear her, rightfully," he said.

Headway is being made in plugging leakages. In January-October 2012, BIR collected  ₱858.6 billion pesos ($21 billion US Dollars), nearly 14 percent more than a year earlier and 28 percent above the same period of 2010. In 2011, when the economy grew only 3.9 percent, total collections rose 12.3 percent from the previous year.

Progress is still needed. In 2011, the Philippines had a tax revenue-to-GDP ratio of 12.3 percent, well below Malaysia's 15.3 percent and Thailand's 16 percent, according to the Asian Development Bank. But last year, the Philippines was ahead of Indonesia's 11.8 percent, which has won investment-grade ratings from two agencies.

CLOSE TO INVESTMENT-GRADE RATING

Aquino aims to get tax revenue to at least 15 percent of GDP by the end of his term in 2016. Helped by Henares's efforts with legislators, he is nearing approval of a "sin" tax bill that should lift cigarette and alcohol tax revenue by 40 billion pesos the first year.

Fitch, Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service have all raised their Philippines ratings to one notch below investment grade, thanks to the government's improving finances.

"The tax ratio has been improving and that indicates they are getting somewhere to an extent," said Philip McNicholas, Fitch's Hong Kong-based director of Asia Pacific sovereign ratings.

"It is clearly a positive for the rating, but that's got to be sustained," he said.

To McNicholas, what's needed is a "structural uplift... you've got to change people's perceptions, change people's minds on these things, and get them to participate."

RUN AFTER TAX EVADERS

After taking the helm, Henares revived a BIR campaign to catch cheats and promised no let-up.

She quickly filed her first case, against a pawnshop chain owner who bought a Lamborghini for 26 million pesos during a year in which he and his wife allegedly did not pay tax. The case is pending in a tax-appeal court, with the accused out on bail.

The cases that Henares files at the Department of Justice can lead to arrests, but only a court can convict. To date, only five tax cheats have been convicted.

While Henares may have to wait years to get her first criminal conviction, she has filed 135 evasion cases so far. They include a ₱120 million peso suit against an impeached Supreme Court chief justice and a ₱5.5 billion peso claim against a billionaire businessman.

"I take pride in all the cases we file, they are fully backed by data and evidence," said Henares.

The tax chief said she isn't discouraged by how slow the legal process can be. For alleged cheats, "we can always attach their property, we can foreclose on them, and we can garnish their bank account," Henares said. "Don't push us to that point."

PLAYING HARD

The bureau is playing some hard-ball. Recently, it temporarily shut a hardware store in Davao which was accused of under-declaring sales by more than 30 percent.

Henares, who is married to a businessman, has an annual salary of only $17,000. Aquino gets paid about $20,000.

Abad, who was Aquino's campaign manager, said Henares long has had a reputation for being straight and firm.

"She is not very sociable, which actually is good because of the kind of work she does," Abad said. As she is incorruptible, people "don't even attempt to induce her with whatever form of inducement," he added.

In the office, Henares tries to make every minute count. She photocopied a newspaper article on places to get the tastiest roast pig in Metro Manila, not for eating-out tips but because she saw them as potential tax targets.

"I asked my people if they are registered and if they are issuing receipts," she said. (http://is.gd/E2LYKV)

($1 = ₱40.87 Philippine pesos as of November 27, 2012) 

Chicago Tribune

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Israel Ask the Philippine to Lift Travel Ban and Welcome more Filipinos

Israel - Gaza War Scene. Photo: japanfocus.org

Israeli envoy seeks lifting of Philippines ban on workers in wake of cease-fire

Israel's envoy to Manila says he will ask the government to lift a ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Israel following the end of heavy fighting between Israeli and Hamas forces.

Ambassador Menashe Bar-on said Tuesday that the ban is unnecessary because the situation in Israel was returning to normal after a cease-fire agreement last week.

Bar-on says there are more than 40,000 Filipinos in Israel, mostly employed as care-givers, who have access to bunker-like protection against rocket attacks. The Philippine government says there are also about 120 Filipinos in Gaza.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration banned the deployment of workers to Israel because of the conflict, but made its decision after Wednesday's cease-fire.

Overseas workers provide one of the largest sources of foreign revenue for the Philippines.

Filipino Workers Always Welcome in Israel – Ambassador

Filipino workers, particularly caregivers, will always be welcome in Israel because of their impressive skills, experience and work etiquette, according to a top Israeli diplomat in the Philippines.

"They are welcome. The way these (Filipino) caregivers work, they really know how to do it," Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Menashe Bar-on told Manila Bulletin in an interview. "They can speak English--so it's more easy to communicate between employer and employee."

Ambassador Bar-on said that ever since their government decided to give working visas for caregivers the number of Filipinos in Israel have increased despite the ongoing conflict with Palestinian militants.

There are about 41,000 Filipinos living and working in Israel, mostly in the caregiving sector.

But, according to Bar-on, the relationship between Israel and the Philippines does not depend merely on manpower.

"The Philippines and Israel also have very good trade relations and knowledge exchange," he said.

The Israeli envoy noted that more than 200 Filipinos are studying in Israel.

In addition, every year at least 40 Filipinos participate in higher education training, particularly doctors, to gain new skills and to be able to use different equipment in their profession.

Also 300 Filipino students have studied in Israel on how to use greenhouses and other technology related to agriculture.

"It is knowledge, and you cannot measure it in money," said Ambassador Bar-on.

Trade between the two countries has reached $200 million the previous year with Israel importing semiconductors and agricultural products such as dried mangoes from the Philippines.

Bar-on said Israel also extends assistance to the commercial sector in the Philippines "as we do business with them."

The Philippines and Israel have enjoyed excellent bilateral relations since the latter was established in 1948, but their relations predate this, he said.

President Manuel L. Quezon espoused a policy of "Open Doors" which facilitated the issuance of visas for Jewish refugees who are escaping the Holocaust during the Second World War.

Bar-on pointed out that the Philippines opened its doors to 10,000 Jews escaping Nazi Europe from 1936 to 1939, but only 1,200 made it.

The Israeli embassy is coming up with a project to show Filipinos "the wonderful part of history related to the Holocaust."

The project aims to show the generosity of the Filipino people who gave these refugees an opportunity to start a new life in the Philippines.

He said they plan to include it in the curriculum of De La Salle University with the support of the Department of Education.

"Part of wonderful history of the Philippines, we want to raise it to the knowledge of Filipinos today," Ambassador Bar-on said.

With report from Foxnews and Manila Bulletin

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Spratlys - Kalayaan Islands SCHOOL Construction pushed – hurdles red tape and corruptions

Kalayaan Island Group, Province of Palawan, Philippines. Photo: jibraelangel2blog.blogspot.com

A municipal official and a lawmaker disclosed Monday that they were battling red tape in their effort to build a schoolhouse in Kalayaan Islands in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) as China insisted the Philippines' territorial claims in those waters were based on an erroneous interpretation of the international law of the sea.

A Chinese national newspaper has called President Aquino "rude" for pressing for the "internationalization" of the Philippines' territorial dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea at the 21st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, last week.

Speaking at a news conference on Monday, Kalayaan Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon Jr. urged Malacañang to expedite the release of funds for the construction of a two-classroom school building on Pag-asa Island, the largest in the Kalayaan Group, to solidify the Philippine claim to that part of the Spratlys archipelago.

Rep. Antonio Tinio of Act Teachers was also at the news conference and he said he set aside P4.3 million from his priority development assistance fund (PDAF) to help finance the construction of the proposed Pag-asa Island Elementary School.

The PDAF is a pork barrel that channels funds to congressional districts for project development.

Real schoolhouse

Bito-onon opened a single-classroom elementary school on Pag-asa in June. He built it from materials he had scrounged from the area to give the island its first learning center for children.

But his dream, he said, is a real schoolhouse for the small community on the island. The schoolhouse must be built to specifications laid down by the Department of Education, including at least two classrooms and toilets.

Tinio came to the island's aid, proposing to finance the construction of a real schoolhouse from his pork barrel allocation.

But the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is taking too long in approving Tinio's proposal and releasing the funds.

Bito-onon called on Malacañang to speed up the release of the funds.

"If the project of Congressman Tinio pushes through, it will be a big help for us,"

Bito-onon said. "That will set a landmark for the history of Kalayaan. I'd like to make it a centerpiece program," he said.

Tinio said the construction of the schoolhouse would be significant amid tensions between the Philippines and China in the West Philippine Sea.

He called on the Palace and the DBM to release the funds immediately so that the construction of the schoolhouse could begin.

Contested Kalayaan Island Group (Spratly Islands) Province of the Philippines - invaded by neighbors . Photo:aurorametropolis.files.wordpress.com

Sovereignty

"It's not just a symbolic action, certainly it's not a military action," Tinio said. "But by building a [schoolhouse] in Kalayaan, we are showing the world that the government of the Philippines exercises actual, real sovereignty over citizens in the Spratlys," he added.

Pag-asa is the only inhabited island in the Kalayaan Group, located 684 kilometers west of the southern end of Palawan province.

The island has a population of about 300, 100 of them soldiers.

Bito-onon said there were only seven schoolchildren on the island—six in kindergarten and one in Grade 1.

But more children could be taken to the island to study there once a schoolhouse is built, he said.

At present, he explained, people on the island entrust the education of their children to relatives in other provinces where there are schools.

But once a real schoolhouse opens on Pag-asa, those children can be taken back to study right on the island, he said.

Pag-asa has a 1.3-km airstrip used by both the military and civilians. Bito-onon said the island could be developed into a tourism and fishery hub.

China angry

That will surely raise the hackles of China, which warned the Philippines in June not to proceed with the opening of the makeshift schoolhouse on Pag-asa, but was ignored.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao got into an exchange with Southeast Asian leaders during last week's ASEAN-China Summit in Phnom Penh over disputed territories in the West Philippine Sea and the East Sea.

China got a boost from ally Cambodia, which tried to picture the ASEAN summit as agreeing not to "internationalize" the disputes, but President Aquino intervened, publicly rebuking Cambodian Premier Hun Sen for the attempt.

Mr. Aquino stated that ASEAN leaders had no agreement not to "internationalize" the territorial disputes and that the Philippines would press ahead with its search for a resolution of its dispute with China in accordance with international law.

Countering Mr. Aquino's pronouncements in Phnom Penh, China on Monday said the Philippines' claim to Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal) was based on a "misinterpretation" of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

In a statement issued Monday, the Chinese Embassy in Manila cited the China National Institute for South China Sea Studies' analysis debunking the Philippines' claim to Panatag Shoal based on the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) provision of UNCLOS.

The institute reiterated China's historical ownership of the shoal, known to the Chinese as Huangyan Island.

"Clearly, the Philippines here has misinterpreted and misapplied UNCLOS on the basis of its own interests, which is contrary to international law and to UNCLOS," the statement said.

"It has been an established basic principle of international law that 'the land dominates the sea.' Coastal states derive their sovereign rights and jurisdiction over EEZs from their territorial sovereignty. Hence, UNCLOS cannot serve as a basis for a country to claim sovereignty over China's Huangyan Island," the statement said.

 Aquino 'rude'

China Daily criticized President Aquino for insisting on drawing other countries into discussions of the territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea and East Sea, a reference to the United States.

"[I]t was very rude of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III to interrupt and rebuke Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, alleging that no such consensus had been reached and he would continue to speak out on the global stage," the paper said in an editorial, titled "A rude Manila helps no one," published on Friday.

"Aquino's undiplomatic move was ill-advised, and will not help solve the issue in peace," the paper said.

The paper also criticized the Philippines' for inviting claimants Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam to four-way talks on the disputes in Manila next month.

DFA replies

Responding to the Chinese Embassy statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) insisted the Philippines' sovereignty over Panatag Shoal was based on the EEZ provision of UNCLOS.

"The Philippines has sovereignty over [Panatag Shoal] on the basis of effective occupation and effective jurisdiction," DFA spokesperson Raul Hernandez said.

"Philippine sovereign rights over the EEZ and continental shelf of [the shoal] are government by UNCLOS," he said.

Hernandez reiterated the Philippines' call to China to "respect the territory of maritime domain" of the Philippines.

Echoing a statement by Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, Hernandez described China's claim to nearly the entire South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea, an "excessive declaration of maritime space in violation of international law."

Inquirer GLOBAL NATION (http://is.gd/O1Vv7M) 

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