DOF orders lifestyle checks on 70 revenue employees

The Department of Finance (DOF) will conduct lifestyle checks before the year ends on some 70 employees of its revenue agencies whose assets exceed their annual pay.

Finance Undersecretary Bayani H. Agabin, who oversees the DOF’s Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS), said in a statement on Thursday that the move was “in line with the Duterte administration’s goal of weeding out corruption.”

Agabin cited one employee who bought a lot worth P40,000 on an annual salary of P80,000 in 1996 and another lot for P150,000 the following year.

“His annual salary is not even enough to pay for that lot,” Agabin said.

According to RIPS executive director Ray Gilberto Espinosa, about 10 revenue personnel were being added monthly to the list of those under investigation.

“We started actively initiating investigations last January, so we are targeting around 70-plus by the end of the year,” Espinosa said.

The results of investigations were being forwarded for further investigation and resolution to the Civil Service Commission or the Office of the Ombudsman.

On its website, RIPS said that as of July it had taken “punitive action against 19 erring local treasurers and other officials under its supervision.”

The DOF’s attached agencies include the Bureau of Customs, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Bureau of Local Government Finance, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Insurance Commission. The DOF also oversees local treasurers.