The Department of Finance (DOF) is planning to set up permanent campuses of the Philippine Tax Academy (PTA) in Tagaytay City in Cavite and New Clark City at the Clark Special Economic Zone in Pampanga.

Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said that for the Tagaytay campus, the PTA will join other government-run professional learning institutions such as the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), the Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA) and the Commission on Audit (COA) International Training Center in a lot donated by the city government.

“Tagaytay City is declared as a ‘city of character’ which can imbibe the culture of integrity being developed by the PTA,” Beltran said in his report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III during a recent DOF Executive Committee (ExeCom) meeting.

Beltran said a plan to set up another PTA campus in the New Clark City, which is now being developed as the country’s first smart, disaster-resilient and sustainable metropolis, will likewise push through.

He said a benchmarking study for the PTA was conducted recently by the DOF with the National Tax College, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Institute, the Japan Personnel Authority and the Doshisha University in Kyoto.

A senior-level International Seminar on Taxation, another on international taxation for Asian countries, and country-focused training courses on tax administration are available to personnel of the DOF and its attached agencies, Beltran said.

Beltran also reported that as a result of the ongoing information dissemination drive to inform concerned stakeholders about the PTA, the Regional Association of Treasurers and Assessors in the MIMAROPA (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) region has requested the Academy to offer courses on advanced competencies and specialized training for its members.

Earlier, Beltran said the PTA is planning to team up with the University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB) in offering a post-graduate program on finance and taxation to qualified employees of the DOF and its attached agencies.

The proposed joint program with the UPLB Graduate School on post-graduate education will be off-campus and will run for three semesters.

Beltran said the PTA plan is for DOF senior officials to join the teaching team as adjunct professors.

The PTA will conduct the prerequisite courses on journal writing skills and other minor courses, he said.

As directed by Dominguez, the PTA will be filming its lectures and uploading them online to make these available to personnel of the DOF and its attached agencies based in remote areas.

Under Republic Act 10143, the PTA “shall serve as a learning institution for tax collectors and administrators of the government and selected applicants from the private sector.”

This law provides that, “All existing officials and personnel of the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue), the BOC (Bureau of Customs) and the BLGF shall be required to undergo the re-tooling and enhancement seminars and training programs to be conducted by the Philippine Tax Academy.”

It also requires “all applicants to the said bureaus” “to pass the basic courses before they can be hired whether on contractual or permanent status.”

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