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<img src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-10/bir-theives-sm.webp" alt="Bureau of Internal Revenue" loading="lazy" />
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(Bureau of Internal Revenue)
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<p>
The highest amount that a BIR employee failed to remit was P6,278,555; the alleged embezzler is Meralina Salise (if you ask me, her name fits her. In Tagalog, salise means stealing through sleight of hand, like magic).
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<p>
The other alleged big BIR embezzlers are Mildred Cabral, who allegedly ran away with P1,144,807; Renaldo Santos, P1 million; Hilario Boacon, P1 million; and Emma Mendoza, P800,000.
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But the big-time embezzlers at the BIR remain scot-free.
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<p>
The big-time BIR thieves "stole" billions of pesos of the people's money by making some big delinquent taxpayers — such as Del Monte Corp. and Cosmos Bottling Corp. - pay only a pittance out of the billions of pesos they owed to the government.
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These elephantine thieves have filed cases against me and my Times editors for exposing them.
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As the cliché goes, in this country the small fry gets caught while the big fish gets away.
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Why? Because big-time thieves can afford to hire brilliant lawyers to defend them or pay off the judges or justices who try them.
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Why big-time BIR thieves stole billions of pesos but remain scot-free?