President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. appoints Tax Lawyer, Romeo ‘Jun’ Lumagui Jr. as the new BIR Commissioner

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced a significant change in the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) when he appointed Tax Lawyer Romeo ‘Jun’ Lumagui Jr. as the new BIR Commissioner. The new leadership was announced in Malacañang on November 15, 2022, where Lumagui took his oath on the same day.

The newly appointed BIR chief previously served the bureau in various ways, including acting as Deputy Commissioner, holding a position as a technical assistant in the Office of the Commissioner, and being the tax fraud head in various Revenue Regions such as Region 6, Manila, Revenue Region 4, Pampanga, and Revenue Region 7B, East National Capital Region (NCR).

Lumagui also oversaw the BIR’s project management and implementation services that helped modernise and reform the BIR’s programs. His most impressive accomplishments involve managing task forces that increased the BIR’s collection rate.

These taskforces included groups such as the Assets Recovery Task Force, which managed to accumulate PHP 833.69 million, and the Task Force on Direct Selling/Multi-Level Marketing and Investment Scams, which were also successful in gathering a total of PHP 792.56 million in less than a year.

Lumagui succeeded former BIR Commissioner Lillia Guillermo, a former BIR deputy commissioner and Assistant Governor for Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). Guillermo began her services not long after the president began his term, spending less than six (6) months as the BIR commissioner. The Palace hasn’t given a concrete explanation for why she was replaced or what will happen to her afterwards.

During Guillermo’s six-month tenure as commissioner, she managed to earn the BIR a commendation from the Civil Service Commission after placing 3^rd in the ten (10) government agencies that have the highest resolution rate regarding complaints handling from January to June 2022.

Read the full article from the Manila Times.