Officials face graft charges in Philippines

They lived in mansions and drove BMWs while earning US$500 a month

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday sacked three tax officials and a customs warehousing chief as she ordered corruption charges to be filed against them - a first in recent history.

The four officials had 'unexplained wealth' running into millions of pesos that included posh mansions in the most exclusive villages in Manila despite monthly salaries of less than US$500 each, the finance department which filed the charges said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo vowed yesterday: 'We shall crack down on corruption in the same degree we are cracking down on terror and drugs.'

One of the accused, Lucien Sayuno, was particularly blatant about his wealth. Sayuno, 53, lives in Ayala Alabang Village alongside the country's richest families whose corporations fall under his jurisdiction as Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) regional director for the main business district, Makati City.

In the garage of his mansion is a fleet of luxury vehicles including a blue BMW with the vanity plate 'AMS 101' (his wife Amelita's initials). Investigators said it was registered under his company, Limtra Development Corporation, and was worth more than 1.5 million pesos - a sum he could ill afford on a monthly salary of 22,521 pesos (HK$3,400) and declared net worth of 3.3 million pesos.

Sayuno has denied owning the mansion and vehicles. Technically, he is correct: the property is officially registered to, among others, his corporate partner and his wife's younger sister. Neither live there. But it was the address Sayuno wrote on an immigration form when he went abroad in 1998