FINANCE Secretary Margarito Teves said
Thursday that the finance department would study the possible
exemption from the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) of personnel
from the Bureaus of Customs and Internal Revenue in order to
boost revenue collections.
Teves said in an ambush interview in
Malacañang that exempting the BIR and BOC employes and officials
from the SSL would enable them to be given higher pay and
benefits which would entice them to perform better in terms of
collecting taxes for government.
He said the study could be done by the
finance department or a consultant. He said the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund could also be tapped for support.
"We could have an organization from the
private sector like Watson Wyatt to take a look at the salary
structure. It’s still in the exploratory stage. There’s nothing
definite yet," he said.
Teves said the study would have to be very
thorough and should consider the culture, organization and
unintended effects of the exemption.
He said the final recommendations would still
have to go through Congress because it is the Legislature which
passes bills on exemptions from the SSL. "Even if the studies
are well taken there are legal hurdles that we have to go
through. They will have to go through Congress," he said.
The BIR has a workforce of more than 11,000
while the BOC has 4,000 employes.
Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales has
expressed support for the proposal of Teves to exempt the BOC
from the SSL. He said in other countries, the customs’ annual
budget is a percentage of the target revenue collections for the
year, which gives the agency more funds for operations and
incentives to deserving personnel.
Morales said the BOC’s budget is only half
percent of the P228 billion revenue goal for the agency this
year. He said of the P1.2-billion BOC budget, P900 million goes
to salaries and the balance to operating expenses.
He said the BOC relies on international grants to improve
facilities and regularly train and evaluate its people. –
Regina Bengco
