THE Department of Finance (DoF) said it fielded complaints and conducted lifestyle checks against 468 members of staff over the past five and a half years.
In a statement on Tuesday, the DoF said 58 cases were filed before various quasi-judicial bodies, including the Office of the Ombudsman and the Civil Service Commission, following investigations conducted by the department’s Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS) between July 2016 and December 2021.
The employees involved were from the DoF, the Bureau of Customs (BoC), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF), the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr), and the Insurance Commission (IC), RIPS Executive Director Ray Gilberto J. Espinosa said in a report to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III.
Some 55% of the employees investigated were from Customs, while 38% were from the BIR.
At the end of March 2022, the BoC issued 32 show-cause orders against members of staff, while the BoC’s Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service conducted 250 investigations. This led to the relief of 85 employees, nine transfers, two suspensions, and one reprimand.
Between July 2016 and February 2022, 16 were dismissed, 10 were convicted of criminal charges, 35 suspended, 9 reprimanded, and 7 had to pay fines, Mr. Espinosa said in his report. — Tobias Jared Tomas