Salceda urges new lawyers to join BIR
HOUSE Committee on Ways and Means Chairman and Albay 2nd District Representative Joey Sarte Salceda on Friday urged new lawyers to help fill 10,000 vacant Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) plantilla positions.
“I particularly call on them to work for the BIR, where as much as 10,000 plantilla positions remain unfilled,” Salceda said.
Salceda said new lawyers should help “infuse young blood and perspective” in fiscal and economic management.
“I congratulate the 2022 Bar Passers for the job well done. The passing rate this year, when the exam difficulty is noted to have ‘returned to normal’ is still quite high at 44%. That speaks to the competence of this batch of test-takers – who have had to study partly under lockdown conditions,” Salceda said.
“I call on the 3,992 new lawyers to consider working for the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Fiscal Incentives Review Board, the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel, and other agencies of fiscal and economic affairs where legal expertise is needed,” he said.
“Moving forward, I will work with the agency to move up the minimum salary level for lawyers in the agency from Salary Grade 18 to something closer to the education level new lawyers possess,” he said.
“I am also working on reforms in the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) so that we can attract a pool of competent lawyers to counsel a sector that accounts for P11 trillion in government assets. I am [the] Technical Working Group chair for the OGCC charter reforms, and I am working to cure the defects pointed out in PBBM’s (President Bongbong Marcos) veto of the initial version of the reforms in the sector,” Salceda said.
“Our government agencies need new blood and new perspectives as they seek to modernize. I am confident that this crop of new lawyers – forced to rapidly adapt to more digital and crisis conditions – will be a valuable addition to the civil service,” Salceda said.
