Romeo Lumagui Jr.

Named as the new head of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Nov. 15, Romeo Lumagui Jr. replaced tax commissioner Lilia Guillermo. A tax lawyer by profession and previously a BIR deputy commissioner, Lumagui has performed different tasks in the agency, including as technical assistant to the Commissioner’s Office and as tax fraud unit chief for Revenue Region No. 6 in Manila, No. 4 in Pampanga and No. 7B in East National Capital Region. Lumagui also headed several task forces to boost collections, such as the Assets Recovery Task Force whose total collections reached P833.69 million, and the Task Force on Direct Selling/Multi-Level Marketing and Investment Scams, where assessments totaled P792.56 million in just a span of one year. Much is expected from Lumagui, especially since his promotion inevitably raised questions as to how he would deal with the P203-billion estate tax debt of the Marcos heirs, who include his appointing authority, the President himself.