CALBAYOG CITY -- Just as people here continue to ask who was behind the killing of Mayor Reynaldo Uy two months ago, so they are still wondering how it is that the city treasury effectively owes PhP 56 million (USD 1.3 million) to the national government after failing to remit tax revenues from 2007 to 2010.

But it seems discrepancies in remitting claimed taxes appear to date back even further.

The collection scandal has reportedly been an open secret among many of the 1,000 plus employees of the local government unit here who maintain deductions payable and due to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the likes of the Pag-Ibig Fund were neither properly collected nor passed on.

Launched last August in a fanfare of publicity as part of the new administration’s campaign to combat corruption, the crowd-sourcing Pera ng Bayan (Money of the People) website set up by the Department of Finance (DOF) generated an initial and immediate flood of reports filed by concerned citizens.

The initiative was largely billed at the time by the media as a vehicle designed to help reduce corruption in government departments -- specifically erring public officials from the DOF and its affiliated agencies, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).