The launching of the Philippine Tax Academy (PTA) on Feb. 27 will start with an orientation workshop for 52 local treasurers and 130 newly hired employees of the Department of Finance (DOF) and its attached agencies to familiarize themselves with the revenue generation functions of the government.
Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said the participants in the inaugural workshop comprise 30 new hires from the DOF, 30 from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), 31 from the Bureau of Customs (BOC), 39 from the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF), along with 52 local treasurers.
In his report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, Beltran said the PTA’s initial offering will cover the DOF’s role in government resource mobilization, which he will lecture on, followed by a briefing on the importance of building the capacity of tax administrators to help boost tax collection efficiency, which will be discussed by economist Roberto Toso, the chief of party of the United States Agency for International Development’s Facilitating Public Investments (FPI) Project in Manila.
Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) will discuss the Philippine Development Plan for 2017-2022 and the Ambisyon Natin 2040, which represents the collective long-term vision and aspirations of the Filipino people for themselves and for the country in the next 25 years.
An overview of the country’s tax policies and administration and the challenges and opportunities facing tax administrators will be discussed by Executive Director Trinidad Rodriguez of the National Tax Research Center.
Dr. Rufo Mendoza, a consultant for the PTA, will discuss the curriculum development framework for the Academy, while Director Alvin Diaz will brief the new employees on the DOF’s travel guidelines
A discussion on the other details of the orientation program to be led by Dr. Chil Soriano will cap the PTA’s first day.
The second day will be devoted to discussions on Gender and Development by Marichu Buergo of the Philippine Commission on Women; Public Service Ethics and Accountability by a representative from the Office of the Ombudsman; and briefings on Civil Service Commission rules, and employee benefits.
On the third to the fifth and final day of the workshop, the participants will be farmed out to their respective bureaus to familiarize themselves with their new positions and the daily operations of their respective agencies.
Beltran had reported during a recent DOF Executive Committee (Execom) meeting that the Governance Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations (GCG) has already approved 14 executive positions for the PTA from the President down to the Academy’s Business Development Specialist.
The PTA has also applied for accreditation with the Professional Regulation Commission as a Continuing Professional Development provider for Certified Public Accountants, he said.
A Technical Working Group (TWG) for the PTA was also created to recommend programs, projects, and activities for the Academy this year.
The PTA’s Implementing Rules and Regulations (PTA-IRR) are now being reviewed by the DOF-Legal Group, according to Beltran.
Beltran said that a planning workshop will also be conducted to draft the interim business strategy of the PTA. “This will also supplement the preparation of the launching program, and roll out,” he said.
The DOF, meanwhile, in partnership with the University of the Philippines School of Economics (DOF-UPSE) is offering a public finance postgraduate scholarship program to “produce high quality graduates, and provide DOF its next generation of public finance managers,” Beltran said.
This DOF-UPSE Scholarship is a new program under the PTA.
The eligible DOF employees for the program will undertake Master in Economics or Master in Development Economics studies for four semesters of full time-study-leave with pay.
Screening and selection, admission and processing will be from May to June 2018.
Classes will start in August to December 2018 for the first semester, while the second semester will commence in January 2019 and is scheduled to end in May 2019.
The third semester will be from August to December 2019, and the last semester from January to May 2020, Beltran said.
Refresher courses, assessment, research seminars, comprehensive examinations, and field reviews will also be offered over the spread of the academic year until completion of the course.
“The next batch will cover bureaus and attached agencies to undertake graduate programs withinthe UP system such as NCPAG (University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance),” said Beltran.
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