3 BIR employees arrested for extortion

MANILA, Philippines — Three Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) employees were arrested for allegedly trying to extort money from a restaurant in Greenhills, San Juan last Thursday.

The arrest of Arturo Buniol, Gary Atanacio and Edgardo Javier of the BIR’s Regional Investigation Division (BIR-RID) during an entrapment operation stemmed from a complaint filed by  Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) Commissioner Greco Belgica, NBI Director Dante Gierran said during a press conference yesterday.

Belgica said the owners of the Chinese restaurant – which started operating a little more than a year ago – said the suspects had been harassing them, claiming they owe P1.2 million in taxes.

The suspects demanded that the restaurant owners pay P600,000 to solve the problem and they needed to acquire the service of an accountant, according to Belgica.

He said he posed as an accountant and negotiated with the suspects through text messages. The suspects asked for a downpayment of P75,000 and the remaining balance to be given to an “insider” to fix the problem, the PACC official said.

After closing the deal, Belgica coordinated with the NBI, which staged the sting.

Gierran said the suspects were charged with violating Republic Acts 3019 (the anti-graft law) and 6713 (the code of conduct for public officials and employees) as well as bribery.