THE Department of Finance (DOF) is planning to open a regional Philippine Tax Academy (PTA) Training Center in Cagayan de Oro City in 2018, the DOF undersecretary said.
According to Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran, the DOF will put up regional campuses of the PTA in the Visayas and Mindanao with the main site in Northern Mindanao following a request by the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) for the renovation of its regional office in Cagayan de Oro City to a PTA Center.
Beltran said the BLGF has requested a budget of P33 million to build the PTA Training Center and its offices in the bureau's 1,064 square meter property in the city.
According to the DOF, the agency said the planned PTA Training Center "will provide provincial employees of the BLGF, Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), and Bureau of Customs (BOC) continuing professional education and training on improving tax collection competence and efficiency.
The PTA will "serve as a learning institution for tax collectors and administrators of the government and selected applicants from the private sector," the Republic Act 10143 or the Philippine Tax Academy Act stated.
RA 10143 added that the PTA is also tasked to "conduct lectures, seminars, workshops and other training programs designed to mold, develop, and enhance the skills and knowledge, moral fitness, efficiency and capability of tax collectors and administrators."
The Board of Trustees of the PTA shall include representatives from the DOF, BIR, BOC, BLGF and three representatives from the academe with at least five years of teaching experience in reputable school.
The main campus of the PTA will be at the University of Makati in Makati City while the University of the Philippines College of Economics in Diliman is being eyed to offer Executive Program certificate courses to interested DOF employees.