The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) will continue to demand from the Makati city government the payment of its P1.2-billion tax debts even if Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay finally becomes the country's vice president, it was learned Wednesday.

"It is our duty to collect taxes for the government which job is beyond politics," said a top revenue official who refused to be named.

The same official said the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) has upheld the validity of the BIR assessment against city hall and even ordered it to pay the debts.

The liabilities covered mostly withholding taxes due from salaries of local government employees and payments of the city to its suppliers of goods and services for the years 1994, 2001, 2002, and 2004.

Revenue Commissioner Joel L. Tan-Torres had earlier rejected the offer of the city to settle the liabilities with P400 million, saying the amount was not substantial.

The offer was made when the BIR tried to seize the money kept by the city with the Land Bank of the Philippines, which was stopped by the Commission of Audit on the ground that it might paralyze the operations of the local government.

Lately, the CTA granted the request of the city government to suspend the BIR's collection notice until next year when the city council comes out with appropriation to settle the accounts.

Binay said earlier that the city could not pay the liabilities right away because no funds have been set aside in the current budget.