BIR to put up building in Bacolod
BACOLOD CITY -- Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Region 12 Director Rodita Galanto confirmed that the construction of their new office building will start before the end of her term.
It has been a dream of every BIR employee in her region and in Revenue District 77 (Bacolod City) to have a building of their own since they cater to taxpayers who should be comforted well with better facilities and service.
Past Revenue Regional Directors had the same dream but it was not realized because some problems occurred during the planning and finalization stages. But during the term of Galanto, she promised to iron-out everything since she believed that it's high time for the bureau to have it now.
With less than one year stay in Bacolod she made extra efforts to look for the best property where the building is to be situated. After several months, she made it in Montelibano's prime property in Reclamation Area near SM City Bacolod -- the giant mall in heart of the city.
"The cost of the lot and the building is now with the Land Bank of the Philippines to determine but the bureau has the budget," Galanto said.
Before Governor Joseph Marañon died in 2007, he promised to donate a provincial government property in front of Land Bank in Gatuslao Street. But when the new governor came in, it was declared that the agreement is not to donate but to sell it to the bureau.
Gov. Isidro Zayco in an interview revealed that as far as he knew, there was no agreement of donation but to sell it to BIR because he believed that BIR has the budget, and the money they will get from the bureau can be used as additional fundings for the province.
Because of the fact that the price is not right and too high for the BIR to finance, Galanto looked for other property and chose the reclamation area.
The BIR RR-12 is currently renting three-stories of the Philippine National Bank building in Lacson while the RDO 77 is in Centrum building in Rizal-Lacson Streets.
Revenue Region 12 covers the provinces of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and the island of Siquijor.