THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said renewed proposals to merge the government’s main revenue-generating agencies into a National Revenue Authority (NRA) should be considered as a last resort, saying that the immediate priority involves restoring credibility and public trust in the current institutions.
New calls to establish an NRA could remain part of the long-term conversation, though, Commissioner Charlito Martin R. Mendoza said.
“It should be approached as a governance reform of last resort, not a first response,” he told BusinessWorld via Viber on Feb. 9.
Former Finance Undersecretary Cielo D. Magno and Asian Consulting Group Chairman Raymond Abrea had called for a sweeping overhaul of the BIR and Bureau of Customs (BoC), including a proposal to establish an NRA, to be run professionally as a Government-Owned and -Controlled Corporation (GOCC).
Mr. Mendoza said this push “reflects long-standing concerns over fragmentation and coordination in revenue administration,” although the problem lies in “governance quality, not merely institutional form.
House Bill 695, filed in 2017 by former President Gloria Macapagal‑Arroyo, then a legislator, sought to replace the BIR and streamline tax collection.
“The more immediate and pragmatic reform path is to strengthen governance where it matters most — deepening coordination and data sharing between revenue agencies, tightening audit integrity and accountability mechanisms, and institutionalizing digital, risk-based processes,” he said.
These reforms directly address the governance deficits that reform advocates seek to correct, without the destabilizing effects of an abrupt merger, he said.
“Without these foundations (in governance reform), structural consolidation risks replicating existing problems at a larger scale,” Mr. Mendoza said.
For 2026, the government hopes to collect P4.82 trillion in revenue, with P3.431 trillion expected from the BIR and P1.003 trillion from the BoC. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante
