The camp of President-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr. has revealed nominees for two top posts in the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), which is undoubtedly among the agencies that must perform well if the country is to get its economic bearings back.
A statement from Press Secretary-designate, lawyer Trixie Cruz-Angeles on Saturday morning, June 18 bared that Marcos has chosen Lilia Guillermo, a former deputy commissioner of the BIR, to head the country's leading tax collection agency as commissioner-designate.
Currently an assistant governor at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Guillermo heads the BSP Technology and Digital Innovation Office and manages the BSP's Information Technology (IT) Modernization Roadmap of 2018 to 2033.
Guillermo was cited for successfully implementing the Philippines Tax Computerization Project, which established a modern tax collection system for the BIR and the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
"Guillermo's strong background in IT and her almost four decades of service at the BIR complements President-elect Marcos's objective of boosting the country's revenue through efficient tax collection," the statement read.
Cruz-Angeles said that lawyer Romeo "Jun" Lumagui Jr. will join Guillermo at the BIR in the capacity of deputy commissioner for operations-designate.
"Lumagui is a tax lawyer with decades of experience who once served as the Regional Investigation Division Chief of Revenue Region No. 7B East NCR (National Capital Region)," she said.
Cruz-Angeles added that President-elect Marcos also nominated retired Philippine National Police (PNP) Deputy Director General Ricardo de Leon as National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) Director-General-designate.
A member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) "Matatag" Class of 1971, De Leon is currently the president of the Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC).
PPSC serves as the premier educational institution for the training, human resource development, and continuing education of all police, fire, and jail personnel.
With the nomination, De Leon will become part of the President-elect's security cluster with other officials from the departments of national defense, the interior and local government, foreign affairs and justice; the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP); National Bureau of Investigation (NBI); and PNP.
The Marcos camp also announced new Cabinet member-designates via statement on Friday.