A ranking official of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) was shot and killed while on his way to work by two gunmen on a motorcycle Monday morning in Quezon City.
Police said Jonas Amora, 55, the regional director of the Makati City BIR Revenue Region 8 was shot several times inside his car.
His driver, Angelito Pineda, 50, was wounded in the shooting and was being treated at a hospital.
Pineda was driving Amora to work in Amora’s white Toyota Innova (license plates EBZ 502) when a motorcycle cut into the car’s path on Katipunan Avenue.
The bike riders, who wore helmets and jackets, drew guns and began firing at the car, Senior Supt. Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar, the Quezon City police chief, said.
Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) found from the crime scene 10 spent 9mm cartridge cases, bullet slugs, and cash amounting to P366,750.
Eleazar said a special investigating team has been formed to focus on the killing of Amora.
“So far we are still determining if the killing has something to do with his job as BIR regional chief or if it was personal,” he said.
Amora’s death shocked BIR officials and employees.
The flag at the BIR main office was flown at half-staff during the Monday flag ceremony in honor of Amora.
BIR Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay said the bureau will not be deterred from doing its work, if the intention of Amora’s killers was to sow fear among BIR employees.
Revenue Deputy Commissioner for Operations Nestor S. Valeroso asked all bureau employees to work harder in the face of threats.
Co-workers described Amora as dedicated, strict and hardworking, with no known enemies.
A certified public accountant, Amora started as a revenue examiner in 1983 in Butuan City where his family migrated from Anda, Bohol.
In 1995, BIR Commissioner Liwayway Vinzons Chato transferred him to Metro Manila to head big district offices.
He closed down a number of businesses for Tax Code violations.
Amora was the Quezon City revenue regional director before he was transferred to Makati.
Sources in the bureau said Amora recently declined an offer to be promoted to assistant commissioner for large taxpayers service, a unit that investigates top corporations that contribute roughly 68 percent of the annual total take of the bureau.
Amora is the second high government official to be killed this month, and Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Ronald dela Rosa sees an emerging pattern in the killings.
Last Thursday, Customs Deputy Commissioner Arturo Lachica was shot dead in his car on España Boulevard in Manila.
“There appears to be a pattern. The other day, it was from (Bureau of) Customs, and now, it’s from BIR,” Dela Rosa said.
He noted the boldness of the killers in committing the crime in España and Katipunan, two of Metro Manila’s busiest streets.
On Monday, the Department of Finance (DOF) said there is a P1 million reward for anyone with information leading to the arrest of the killers of Amora and Lachica.
The department said in a statement a private individual who it did name is offering the reward.
It strongly condemned the killings, and said it was “in contact with the highest levels of the PNP to arrest the perpetrators of both murders.”
Those who have any information relevant to the killings can contact either DOF head executive assistant Marc Gregory Crisostomo or technical assistant Alddon Christner Ang at telephone nos. 5239215 and 5239219.
“The private individual who earlier offered the P1 million for information on Lachica’s murder has now upped the reward,” DOF said.
“It is now P1 million each for information leading to the arrests of the persons responsible for the murders of Deputy Commissioner Lachica and Regional Director Amora,” it added.
Lachica was on his way home to Caloocan City in his Toyota Altis with his driver Romulo Dumaua and bodyguard Ramon Hernandez.
The suspect, who was wearing a mask, came up from behind Lachica’s car and shot him several times with a handgun, police said.
He was a CPA who was appointed deputy commissioner for the Customs Internal Administration Group (IAG) in 2014.
He was named deputy commissioner for the Revenue Collection and Monitoring Group in July, 2015 where had been active in filing cases against alleged smugglers and those involved in illegal and misdeclared imports.
The post Gunmen on Motorbike Kill BIR Exec in Quezon City appeared first on Manila Bulletin.
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