Teachers side with docs in shame drive

“Don’t pit us against each other. Go after big corporations instead.”

This was the response of the officers of the local chapter of the  Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT)   who said they were “appalled” over the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) latest tax campaign ad that targetted Cebu and Davao doctors.

“We are upset with this latest shame campaign ad of BIR. The ad wanted us (teachers in Cebu and Davao) to get mad at the doctors on the grounds that we are paying our taxes religiously while doctors are not,” said ACT Central Visayas president Antonia Lim.

According to the ad’s info graphic, about 52 percent and 19 percent of registered taxpayer doctors in Cebu and Davao declared that their 2012 income tax dues were less than P27,360 – which is the income tax due from a public school teacher earning P222,552 annually.

“Ilang giduwaan ug gisabong ang sectors (They are playing and pitting sectors with each other). We’re not just carrying doctors, but also congressmen, senators and even the president.

Why are they running after small professionals, how about big corporations?” said ACT 7 union secretary Phoebe Sanchez who is also a professor in the University of the Philippines Cebu.

“We call on BIR Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares to go after big businessmen both locally and internationally-based instead of auditing medical professionals who are not earning that much. Ilang bilyon ba dapat ang buwis ng mga doctor? Are they really the ones behind the poor collection of the bureau?” Lim added.

The group is also calling for the amendment of the current legislation on tax exemption which was adjusted last in 2008.

“Six years have passed and the costs of basic commodities and services like health, education and transportation have tremendously gone up. We call on Commissioner Henares to support House Bill 247 which seeks to adjust the personal tax exemption so as to make it responsive to the needs of the times,” Lim added.

In Manila, doctors slam the tax agency saying it needs to clean up its ranks first.

This was the challenge of the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) president, Dr. Leo Olarte, to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), following the agency’s release of a new print ad repeating the previous message branding doctors as tax cheats.

“[The BIR] should look at its own backyard first. It must ensure that the taxes we pay do not go to the pockets of corrupt people in the bureau. BIR has many corrupt people,” Olarte said in a phone interview.

“Bato-bato sa langit ang tamaan huwag magalit,” Olarte said. It is a Filipino saying that in essence means that people who feel alluded to by criticisms should not get immediately angry and defensive.

“They’ve been saying the same thing to us,” Olarte said, referring to Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares’ statements defending the controversial ad that says: “If you’re paying the right taxes, it’s not alluding to you. If you’re not paying the right taxes, then it’s talking to you.”

Estela Sales, BIR deputy commissioner, said the agency had never wavered in its commitment to police its own ranks.

“We have an active integrity management program,” she said. “If there are formal complaints, we will take action. We urge people to come forward and help us in our efforts to get rid of corruption.”

Henares said she expected to find out the results of the ad campaign after April 15, the deadline for the filing of income tax returns. She expressed satisfaction the ad campaign worked. “I believe it made people aware,” she said.

Olarte urged the BIR to file charges against doctors who did not pay their taxes instead of subjecting them to a shame campaign.

“There should be due process. Why not charge these doctors in court if they are indeed tax cheats or tax evaders? Do not generalize because not all doctors are not paying the correct taxes,” he said.

“These are mere allegations and they are not the gospel truth. The BIR’s shame campaign is indeed a gross violation of the doctors’ human rights,” Olarte said. / Story written with Inquirer News Service