MANILA, Philippines — Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto Henares urged Thursday her field officials to redouble their collection efforts so the agency can reach its P940-billion tax target this year.

Henares made the call at a command conference attended by 19 regional directors and 126 revenue district officers (RDOs) of the bureau.

The meeting was also attended by heads of various divisions of the Large Taxpayers Service which collects more than 60 percent of the annual total take and which handles the audit of the country's top 1,200 corporations.

Informed sources said discussions in the closed-door meeting centered on how the bureau can hit its more than a trillion-peso collection target next year.

Collection performance during the last 11 months was also reviewed as some top officials reported that they managed to register a modest surplus.

If this happens, BIR insiders, said it will be the first time that the bureau met its collection goal in decades.

Henares said she will release on Friday the results of the BIR's collection drive in November.

Sources said the revenue chief told her subordinates not to complain about their collection assignments and try their best to raise more funds so the government will have more money to support government's anti-poverty programs.

Henares also denied that the BIR's goal was reduced to reflect economic conditions.

The BIR has been encountering serious difficulties in hitting its collection goal because of the current economic slowdown.

A regional director said there is no secret formula in tax collection, adding that "if the economy is good the BIR will collect more and less if the economy is down."

The director the BIR sustained a collection deficit of P3.5 billion during the first 10 months of the year despite the fact that its collection growth rate increased by more than 25 percent over that of last year.