Marcos names Romeo Lumagui Jr. as BIR chief
MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has appointed Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Deputy Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. as the new BIR chief.
Marcos made the appointment just months after he tapped Lumagui as BIR deputy commissioner.
Malacañang announced Lumagui’s appointment on Tuesday, November 15, and took his oath the same day.
Malacañang said that Lumagui, a tax lawyer, had served the BIR in various capacities: as technical assistant to the commissioner, and tax fraud head for Revenue Region No. 6, Manila, Revenue Region No. 4, Pampanga, and Revenue Region No. 7B, East NCR.
He was also head of task forces created to boost tax collections.
Lumagui has close ties to the President.
He is the husband of fellow lawyer Carmela Esquivas-Lumagui, a trusted aide of First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos. Esquivas-Lumagui is a lawyer at Araneta-Marcos’ law firm M & Associates. She was also an associate at MOST Law, the firm Araneta-Marcos was once a part of.
The Lumaguis were part of Marcos’ 2022 campaign – Esquivas-Lumagui as executive assistant to Araneta-Marcos and a proxy campaigner herself. She often accompanied Marcos’ two younger children to campaign across the Philippines.
The new BIR chief reportedly headed the campaign policy team, according to sources.
Esquivas-Lumagui is the daughter of former BIR commissioner Sixto S. Esquivias IV. The older Esquivas headed the tax collection agency under former president and current Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. – Rappler.com