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.
Under Republic Act No. 10143, or the Philippine Tax Academy Act, 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 officials and personnel of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bureau of Customs and Bureau of Local Government Finance to “undergo the re-tooling and enhancement seminars and training programs to be conducted by the Philippine Tax Academy.”
All applicants to these bureaus are required to “pass the basic courses before they can be hired whether on contractual or permanent status.”
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, Philippine Judicial Academy, and Commission on Audit International Training Center on a lot donated by the city government.
Beltran said another PTA campus is planned in New Clark City, which is now being developed as the country’s first smart, disaster-resilient, and sustainable metropolis.
He said a benchmarking study for the PTA was conducted recently by the DOF with the National Tax College, Japan International Cooperation Agency Institute, Japan Personnel Authority, and Doshisha University in Kyoto.
A senior-level international seminar on taxation, another on 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.
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 Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, the PTA will be filming its lectures and uploading them online for access by personnel of the DOF and its attached agencies based in remote areas.
