Dancing treasurer targets P5B for Capitol

She swung her hips and did a quick horse gallop “Ganggnam-style”.
This is one way to increase tax collections, said Ofelia Oliva to Capitol treasury employees yesterday.
The OIC provincial treasurer, who showed up two days ago, announced a bold goal – to collect P5 billion in taxes for 2013 for Cebu province or almost a triple of the P1.8 billion collected last year.
She said her strategy of making treasury employes do brief dance routines in the office to entertain and attract taxpayers to come over and settle their obligations, a gimmick she used effectively as Cebu city treasurer, would also be adopted in the Capitol.
Oliva has a 30-day appointment from teh Bureau of Local Government Finance but she hinted that she could be retained longer by incoming governor Hilario “Junjun” Davide III.
“We will teach towns how to increase tax collection so they don’t need to ask for financial assistance from the province anymore,”she told reporters.
Dara Acusar, spokesperson of Vice Governor Agnes Magpale said Oliva’s 30-day appointment still needs confirmation from the executive director of the BLGF.
Oliva met yesterday with treasury staff to brief them about her policies and expectations.
“Those who don’t like me, after this meeting, you may make a graceful exit. You can request the governor to reassign you to another office,” she said.
“Everybody must go out of my office to raise revenue. I will impose a collection target for each one of my staff even if they are not a collector. It is a must. And so far, they promised to do it,” Oliva said.
She said she would divide Cebu’s 44 municipalities into four clusters with a deputy provincial treasurer in each cluster.
“We will teach them how to catch fish but not how to eat it,” she said.
Oliva said she woudl reprise her “dancing collectors” program which she introduced as treasurer of the Cebu City government.
“Every month, I’ll have an activity. My staff asked me ‘dancing tax collectors?’ Yes That is one of my strategies,” she said.
Oliva replaced acting provincial treasurer Emmanuel Guial who went on leave last Monday just before Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia reassumed her post following a six-month suspension.
Oliva said her Capitol assignment wasn’t requested by Garcia or Davide.
“I will never compromise my career with politics,” she said.
So far, Oliva said she observed that Cebu province has limited real property tax collection, “foregone revenues” and and untapped sources of revenue.