A Bureau of Internal Revenue officer is currently on the hot seat for allegedly arriving late for work and then simply relaxing in his office.
Marge Caparas, a taxpayer who spent more than 3 hours at the BIR Pasig branch waiting for her turn was thoroughly disappointed with what she saw firsthand. According to her, Alejandro San Juan, Chief Officer of the Assessment Division in BIR Pasig “arrived at exactly 11:30am” and then lounged around his office, asking his assistant to pluck out some of his gray hairs.
Disgusted by what she witnessed, Caparas took out her smartphone and snapped photos of San Juan. The images were later shared on the Facebook page ‘Kaya Di Umuunlad Pilipinas.’
It quickly became viral as angry netizens spread the link like wildfire. Originally uploaded just last September 11, the post has already earned 37,108 shares, 21,017 likes, and 4,982 comments as of this writing.
The post even attracted the attention of no less than Edwin Lacierda, the Presidential Spokesperson who also commented:
“Good afternoon, this is Edwin Lacierda and I am respectfully posting here a message from Commissioner Kim Henares. She does not have a FB page and so she asked me to convey her message to this post – “The management of the BIR has started conducting an investigation on the matter as soon as the matter came to our attention yesterday. We would like to thank the people concerned for helping us make sure our people do their job by helping us monitor them by providing us with actionable information. To our people, we would like to remind them that we should perform our work efficiently and diligently as this is what we have sworn to do, and we are all accountable to doing so.”
In defense, San Juan said he was “dizzy” and “not feeling well” that day.
Investigations are currently ongoing and even the CCTV camera footage from the said BIR office is being reviewed for that purpose. Government offices have a “No Noon Break” policy across the country and so San Juan is facing a possible termination if he is found guilty.