BIR Commissioner Jun Lumagui, Jr.; men and women of the BIR; Former BIR Commissioners; fellow workers in government; ladies and gentlemen: Magandang hapon po sa inyong lahat.

At isang makabuluhang anibersaryo sa isa sa mga pinakaimportanteng ahensya ng ating pamahalaan—ng ating panahon.

Other agencies take the day off to celebrate this milestone.

But with the weight of its responsibility on its shoulders, it is a luxury the BIR cannot afford.

Because if you are tasked to collect 8.6 billion pesos a day––Monday to Sunday. Kada beinte-kwatro oras––rest is a privilege one cannot invoke.

Kasi naman, tuloy-tuloy ang patak ng metro ng gastusin ng pamahalaan.

Kung tatlong oras tayo dito, obligado pa rin tayong makalakap ng isang bilyong piso.

This makes you the unsung heroes of the bureaucracy—and I stand proudly with you.

Without your thankless and tireless labor, the government will not be able to redeem its promises to the people, and the nation will not be able to realize its dreams.

Revenue agencies are the engine room of the ship of state, harnessing the fuel—the taxes the people pay—into the power that propels the ship forward, safely and strongly against headwinds, to its promised destination of peace and progress.

But like those who work below the deck, yours is not a glamorous job.

Workhorses covered in grease are not there to win popularity contests, but to win the future, and triumph against the odds.

You do not charge into enemy lines, but you make sure that those who do have the weapons to accomplish the mission and fight for the flag.

You do not perform miracles in operating rooms, but you make sure that personnel are paid, medicines are bought, and wards are built.

You do not mount the school stage to be garlanded with medals, but through your collections, faculties are compensated, and learning centers are equipped.

You do not get to be thanked by people who admire the sunset in newly built baywalks, but every pound of cement, every grain of sand poured into it was paid by the revenues you raised.

You are farthest in the minds of rural folk as they celebrate water from new canals that nourish their fields. They will never know that revenue is the spring from which expenditures flow.

Bakit nga ba?

Because people only want to hear about projects to be delivered, but they do not want to be told of who will pay the cost.

But the fact is, every government activity has a price tag. Scratch the surface of any glitzy government undertaking, and there is a sticker price underneath.

Ang hirap nga lang, kung ipapaliwanag mo ang expenditures in revenue terms, sasagutin ka na nakaka-nosebleed ang mga numero. Kailangan daw ng Bonamine sa nakakahilong mga datos.

Pero ano nga ba ang totoo?

For example, ‘yung entire VAT collection this year of 1.34 trillion pesos can only fund 9 months’ worth of payroll, premium, and pension of active and retired government workers.

‘Yung VAT, kulang pa pang sweldo.

‘Yung excise tax collection, from every sin product, of 619 billion pesos, is not enough to pay for basic education, tertiary education, and tech-voc programs.

These three have a combined budget of 965 billion pesos.

But for a clearer picture, let me go granular.

A net increase of 40—just 40 students in the public school system—and DepEd takes in hundreds of thousands of new enrollees a year.

This will trigger about 3.1 million pesos in new spending, for one teacher, one classroom, books, and chairs.

If this will be solely funded out of excise taxes on a popular ginebra, then the PTA will have to go on a marathon drinking of 78,383 bottles of that stainless tonic.

If, for example, we assign one police officer per 8-hour shift to patrol, say Quezon Avenue corner Agham, doon sa Central Office, then the 3 officers will have to be paid 1.07 million pesos annually, and this is just base pay alone.

If their pay will be exclusively raised on the excise tax on gasoline, then a long line of 10,680 motorcycle owners will have to have their tanks filled.

Yung isang kilometro lang ng aspalto sa Agham Road, kakailanganin na ng 24.5 million pesos.

And if the excise tax on cigarettes will be used to bankroll it, then it will be out of a bonfire of 7.4 million sticks of a famous menthol brand.

Even so-called “free items” adored by the people today will have to be paid for later, by them.

When the bill comes, it is the taxpayer who will pay the tab. The buck stops with them.

At sino pine-pressure kapag singilan na at puputok na ang mga bayarin? Hindi yung mga umani ng pogi points, pero yung mga kontrabida sa revenue raising sector.

And the government, noon pa man, has always been rife with “Enjoy Now, Pay Later” programs.

At alam naman natin na raising money to fund the budget is increasingly hard under a political culture that sees spending taxes as a virtue, but collecting them as a sin; which treats their evasion as a sport, but their imposition a crime.

There is a new hurdle we have to confront today: Fake news.

Katulad ko. I am Exhibit A, the test crash dummy of how malicious fake news can bring irreversible harm, more so at a time when fake ideas once planted in one’s mind can never be deleted.

Buti pa virus, pwede i-debug. Ang malisya, hindi.

Sabi sa akin ng inyong poging Commissioner, tambak na nga daw kayo sa trabaho sa opisina, kailangan pa nilang lumabas para sa tax drive.

But you know what, good spending is the best way to encourage tax compliance, a matter that is no longer in your backyard.

People are naturally born resistant to taxes. But their tax obedience can be won if they will see how the taxes they paid are spent for the right things, at the right price, by the right agency, at the right time.

As it stands, BIR should not be collateral damage of the problems on the expenditure side.

May kasabihan na patriotism is soluble in taxes. True, because floods can wash away belief in the government, too.

Kaya, in many meetings, I have always championed your cause.

Una, i-kalkula ng mabuti ang revenue target, kasi ang expenditures ay hindi naman open bar sa isang restaurant, tapos ang bill ibibigay sa tax collecting agencies.

Pangalawa, spend taxes well, because if we demand a receipt for goods sold, the people are also entitled to the resibo of government projects financed by the taxes they paid.

Sa mga taga BIR, tuloy ang trabaho, sa gitna ng batikos.

Because those who give light must endure burning.

Kaya’t taus-puso ang aming pasasalamat sa inyong lahat, sa bawat oras at patak ng pawis na inyong inaalay upang ang bansa natin ay patuloy na umusad.

Sa bawat pisong inyong nalilikom, nakaukit ang pag-asa at pangarap ng sambayanang Pilipino.

Muli, saludo kami sa inyong sipag at determinasyon. Happy anniversary, BIR!

Mabuhay kayong lahat. At mabuhay ang Bagong Pilipinas na sama-sama nating tinataguyod.