THE National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), in coordination with the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC), announced the arrest of two Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) employees for graft, plunder and extortion.
“It’s easier to arrest and do an operation against organized criminals … to arrest a government official is very hard to do,” said NBI Deputy Director Ferdinand Lavin in a press conference on Friday.
The suspects were identified as Alfredo Pagdilao Jr. and Agripina Vallestero, employees of BIR’s Revenue District Office in Pasig City. Two others, Rufo Ranario and Michelle dela Torre, are at large.
They tried to extort P75 million from a telecommunications company (telco) in exchange for settlement of the firm’s alleged tax deficiency amounting to P1.6 billion.
Pagdilao and Vallestero were arrested via an entrapment operation in which a PACC official, posing as an employee of the telco, handed P75 million in marked money on July 20.
PACC Chairman Dante Jimenez expressed his dismay as he reiterated what he told President Rodrigo Duterte that “corruption is as deep as the debris and garbage in Manila Bay.”
“Kayong mga nasa revenue offices pwede ba makonsenya kayo (Those of you who are in the revenue offices, have some conscience, or else) the NBI will really run after you,” he said.
Cesar Bacani, NBI regional director for the National Capital Region, said the suspects demanded a 10-percent cut or P160 million from the P1.6-billion tax deficiency the telco was facing.
Pagdilao Jr. was arrested in the basement parking while transferring the marked money and Vallestero was left with another agent while providing BIR documents.
source: manila times