By Lawrence Agcaoili

A former Internal Revenue commissioner has filed a bill in Congress seeking to establish an independent authority to take over the functions of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs.

Camarines Norte Rep. Liwayway Vinzons Chato filed House Bill 6007 that proposes to merge the government?s major revenue-generating agencies and create the Philippine Revenue Authority, or PRA.

The bill seeks to dissolve the BIR and transfer all its functions to the authority and integrate the revenue generation function of Customs, that will be renamed Philippine Border Services Agency.

Chato said the two agencies had consistently missed the collection targets set by the Development Budget Coordination Committee over the past few years.

She said the proposed law would make the decision-making process of the PRA more similar to corporations, with the revenue board making the ultimate decisions, including the choice of a commissioner, who right now is being appointed by Malaca?ang.

?By having a collegial body it is envisioned that corruption would be deterred. Also, the commissioner, being appointed by the board, would not be made indispensable as he or she could be replaced by the board if he or she does not perform satisfactorily,? Chato said.