In a report submitted to Quezon City Revenue Regional Director Nestor S. Valeroso, Pasig Revenue District Officer Raul Vicente Recto said his district’s 2005 take was also R1.1 billion higher than the collection target of R14.9 billion.

The Pasig revenue district’s collection performance did not only fill up the collection shortage sustained by other districts under the Quezon City revenue region but also enabled the regional office to exceed last year collection goal of P50.4 billion by P181 million.

Valeroso said the figures are still tentative as it would further rise when all collection reports for December come in.

Recto, a cousin of Sen. Ralph Recto, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said his office also raised an additional revenue of more than R100 million from the modified tax amnesty program that ended recently.

BIR insiders said the Pasig district’s take from the program, called Enhanced Voluntary Assessment Program (EVAP), was one of the biggest, if not highest, among the agency’s 119 district offices throughout the country.

Recto attributed the successful tax collection drive last year to the series of tax collection strategies initiated by BIR Commissioner Jose Mario Buñag and Valeroso.

Among these are the tax compliance verification drive and the stocks-taking and benchmarking methods of investigation.

He also cited Pasig Mayor Vicente Eusebio for his full support on the tax information and collection drives, adding that the chief city executive is even donating more office spaces at the City Hall complex to make it more convenient for taxpayers to transact business.