The Department of Finance should address the unfilled positions and low salaries in the country's two tax-collecting agencies to improve efficiency in revenue collection, said Senator Win Gatchalian on Tuesday.

Gatchalian said the DOF had a total of 11,745 unfilled positions in 2022. Of this number, some 7,724 unfilled positions are in the Bureau of Internal Revenue while 2,761 are in the Bureau of Customs.

"This is a huge number considering that the BOC and BIR are tax-collecting agencies. I would assume that the more people they have, the more efficient that they will become and the more taxes that they can collect," Gatchalian said.

"We don't want a scenario wherein our tax-collecting agencies, among the most important government agencies, are being left behind. Another consequence of this is the temptation of corruption if lawyers and accountants receive very low salaries. It's about time to address this," he added.

Gatchalian urged the two agencies to submit their suggestions on which positions should be reclassified so that a more attractive compensation package could be offered.

BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. and BOC Deputy Commissioner Michael Fermin admitted that their respective bureaus are having difficulty in hiring personnel, such as lawyers and accountants, as other agencies offer more competitive compensation packages.

"Our main problem is the difficulty in recruiting personnel, considering the low salary that the BIR offers compared to other government agencies," said Lumagui.

He noted that the entry-level salary for an accountant is P27,000 and for a lawyer P46,725, compared to P51,000 in the Civil Service Commission.

The BIR, in order to fill the vacant positions, has adopted an easier hiring process where regional offices can hire employees on their own, and the approval of the commissioner is no longer required.

However, Gatchalian underscored that the two agencies do not stand a chance in hiring the best talents if their compensation packages are not even competitive with other government agencies.

"The basic consideration is the salary package. No matter how we improve the process, if the basic attraction or salary is low, then it's going to be very difficult for government agencies to attract talent," he lamented.

Since the agencies are enforcement entities, Gatchalian stressed the need to have industry-level packages at least "to ward off temptations, attract the best talents, and improve credibility and integrity within the office."