2 BIR employees arrested for P2M direct bribery

MANILA, Philippines — Two employees of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) were arrested on Friday in a joint operation of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) for alleged direct bribery.

A report from the PACC said Bethshiba Bautista, an officer of the BIR Revenue District Office, and BIR examiner Rachel Villanueva were arrested in an entrapment operation in the agency’s office in Manila.

The suspects allegedly demanded P2 million from a certain company to settle its tax liabilities.

But only P500,000 will be given to the government while the remaining P1.5 million will be pocketed by the suspects, the PACC said.

The suspects are now facing direct bribery charges. /jpv