Philippine tax bureau chief aims higher in fight against corruption

Kim Henares began carrying a gun eight months after becoming the Philippines' chief tax collector. Her shooting instructor was the country's president.

Since she took over the Bureau of Internal Revenue three years ago, Henares has filed more than 180 tax-evasion complaints, investigated former world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao and boosted collection by 14.5 per cent last year - double the country's economic growth rate.

"I didn't take this job to become popular," said Henares, 53, who has a master's degree in law from Georgetown University in Washington and often carries a semi-automatic pistol.

"My job is to implement the tax code and collect revenue that must be collected. If people don't like me, that's fine."

Henares is among a coterie of senior women officials at the forefront of gun-toting President Benigno Aquino's crusade to erase a Philippine legacy of graft. Reversing decades of bribery and tax evasion would yield funds for public works that can spur growth to a target of as much as 8.5 per cent by 2016, as the government seeks to create jobs and lift millions from poverty.

Appointed by Aquino in 2010, Henares is pursuing every leak, from doctors and politicians who declare less income than they make to previously untaxed earnings at casinos and banks.