MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Tax Academy (PTA), in partnership with the University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB), is planning to offer a free post-graduate program on finance and taxation to qualified employees of the Department of Finance (DOF) and its attached agencies.
Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said the joint program with the UPLB Graduate School on post-graduate education would be off-campus and would run for three semesters.
“Under this plan, the DOF will cover the tuition expenses of qualified employees. The class will be held at the DOF either after office hours or the whole of every Friday,” Beltran said in a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez.
Employees of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Bureau of Customs (BOC), and Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) may also apply for the post-graduate program, he said.
Beltran said the PTA is also planning to include DOF senior officials as adjunct professors for the program.
Aside from finance and taxation, he said the academy will also conduct prerequisite courses on journal writing skills and other minor courses.
He said the school’s program, curriculum and syllabus were developed based on ASEAN University Network Standards.
The undersecretary said the PTA is also studying the possibility of using UPLB’s College of Public Affairs and Development (CPAD) facilities near the Local Government Academy in Los Baños to help set up a training center.
Launched in February, the PTA aims to provide continuing training to the country’s revenue collectors and administrators to improve their competitiveness, and also sharpen their commitment to their profession and raise their ethical standards.