Gov’t workers seek SC relief vs new BIR tax ruling

MANILA, Philippines - Government workers, including court employees, skipped their lunch break yesterday to protest the imposition of up to 32 percent tax on their civil service benefits.

Clad in red shirts, they trooped to the Supreme Court (SC) to question the legality of Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) 23-2014 issued last June.

Led by the Confederation of Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage), workers also asked the high court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the implementation of the RMO.

Employees of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and National Housing Authority were among those who joined the march and filed the petition.

“The RMO is like a boulder hurled to practically drown employees in the bureaucracy. It is oppressive and unfair. We are calling on the justices of the Supreme Court to put a lid on this seeming abuse of authority,” Courage national president Ferdinand Gaite told reporters.

Through their counsel, former Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., the petitioners said taxes on allowances, bonuses, compensations for services and other fringe benefits are unconstitutional.

“Those benefits are deemed property within the purview of the Bill of Rights of which government officials and employees, including the petitioners, may not be deprived without due process of law under Article III, Section 1, Constitution,” read the 75-page petition.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue also violated the Constitution by “usurping the power and authority of the legislature” in defining new offenses and prescribing penalties, particularly on local government units, it added.

They said the taxes imposed on local government officials “thrash the principles of decentralization and local autonomy set forth in the Local Government Code of 1991, Republic Act 7160,” Pimentel said.

“The Local Government Code invests local government officials with certain powers that cannot be added on or diminished without violating its thrust of promoting decentralization and local autonomy that is mandated by the Constitution itself, unless done so by an appropriate legislation that amends the Code accordingly,” he added.

Named respondents in the petition were BIR Commissioner Kim Henares and Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima.

The petitioners said the BIR also violated Section 2 of the National Internal Revenue Code when it implemented the RMO without necessary approval of the secretary of finance.

“It cannot impose duties or obligations on other people who are not officials or employees of the BIR,” they said.

The groups also asked the SC to issue a writ of mandamus ordering the respondents to upgrade the ceiling of P30,000 for the 13th month pay and other benefits of concerned officials and employees of the government. – With Jess Diaz