Customs law’s IRR up to next admin – Purisima
The implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the newly-enacted Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CTMA) is now up to the incoming officials Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III and Customs Commissioner Nicanor E. Faeldon, outgoing Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima said. He has already instructed all DOF officials to let the incoming administration to review in advance and approve, once in office, the issuance of IRR for the CMTA.
“In the interest of ensuring a smooth transition, Purisima has instructed all DOF officials to clear all policy actions with the transition team of the incoming finance secretary,” the finance department said in a statement Thursday.
According to the DOF, the transition teams of Purisima and Dominguez are also in “close coordination” to ensure a smooth transfer of authority.
Purisima’s move is seen to allay fears that the outgoing administration may rush the crafting of the IRR. It could be recalled that Dominguez raised his concern that the outgoing administration may rush the crafting of the CMTA’s IRR before President-elect Rodrigo R. Duterte takes oath on June 30. He then warned that there will be “hell to pay” if their hands were tied on the IRR of the incumbent officials.
Aside from CMTA, Purisima also said that the next administration will have the prerogative to craft the IRRs of Tax Incentives Monitoring and Transparency Act (TIMTA) and the Microfinance NGOs Act.
“Purisima believes that Dominguez, who will be at the helm of implementing these laws as the next finance chief, ought to have a say on the concerned IRRs being finalized,” the DOF said.
The outgoing finance chief likewise added that discussions of Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC) executive technical board (ETB) on the deficit and other programmed amounts will be on the next administration.
Purisima’s directive was likewise extended to the ongoing work on comprehensive tax reform studies, asking all concerned officials to complete the staff work for Dominguez to review, revise, and finalize according to his policy priorities.
Dominguez earlier blasted the outgoing official’s Comprehensive Tax Reform Package, saying he was “appalled” by the proposal and described it a “joke.”
"When we in the DOF say public service is a relay race, we mean it: we don’t drop the baton when our time is up only for the next team to start over,” Purisima said.
“Operationalizing professionalism means that our job until the end of June is to make life as easy as possible for the incoming team to hit the ground running on day one,” he added.
Purisima, meanwhile, hopes the DOF can set a gold standard in institutional professionalism in the midst of leadership changes.
After their one-on-one meeting last May 20, DOF said Purisima's team has met with Dominguez' transition group a number of times, with many more planned throughout June, sorted per management cluster and attached agency.
To date, DOF’s Administration, Revenue, Liability Management & Capital Markets Development group has already met with Dominguez’s transition team, along with government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCC), Privatization, and Corporate Affairs Clusters.
Purisima's team has also handed to Dominguez' team a comprehensive manual of key information about the DOF as well as an updated fiscal and economic data book for their perusal.
The incumbent finance chief also instructed his team to accommodate all other information or data requests, and to align all pending policy actions with Dominguez' priorities.
"We hope to give the incoming economic team all the information and resources they need to have an even more successful six-years than we had. Their success is our success,” Purisima concluded. (CSL)