Higher pay sought for BIR, BoC employees to fight ‘temptation’

Commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Newly-installed Customs Commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon is proposing higher pay for employees of revenue generating agencies like the Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Internal Revenue to help them fight “temptations.”

While they welcome a lifestyle check on Customs officials, Biazon said  it would  also  be unfair to expect these people to be  poor by not giving  them  the right compensation that they deserve.

“Aside from calling for lifestyle checks, maybe we should also consider a raise in the salary for employees of revenue generating agencies like the Customs and the BIR,” Biazon said over the phone on  Wednesday.

”Are we expecting them to be poor people because they are in these agencies? Keeping them poor will only open them up to temptations. We should give them appropriate compensation to lessen the temptations,” he said.

Biazon cited for instance a Custom examiner, who only gets a less than P20,000  pay a month.

“With the volume of money going through the agency, the temptation is high,” Biazon said.

While it was expected that those involved in revenue generations should have a high degree of integrity, the Commissioner pointed out that  people are also weak when faced with temptations.

“This is just my personal observation that it would help them resist the temptation if their needs are adequately met,” he further said.