Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto has revamped his team responsible for developing the Marcos administration’s tax reform proposals and fiscal policy recommendations.
Finance Assistant Secretary Karlo Fermin Adriano (left) and Finance Undersecretary Renato Reside Jr. (right).
In department orders dated June 14, 2024, Recto appointed Finance Assistant Secretary Karlo Fermin S. Adriano as the new head of the Fiscal Policy and Monitoring Group (FPMG), replacing Finance Undersecretary Renato E. Reside Jr., who assumed the role in late April.
Under the new directive seen by Manila Bulletin, Reside will assume a new role at the state-run think tank National Tax Research Center (NTRC), specifically as the Undersecretary for Tax Research and Expenditure Monitoring (TREM).
Recto said that Reside's reassignment aims to improve the coordination and effectiveness of tax research efforts and the monitoring and analysis of tax expenditure and revenue-related processes.
The two Department of Finance (DOF) department orders, numbered 056-2024 and 057-2024, are “effective immediately.”
Before Reside's appointment last April, Adriano had served as the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of FPMG during the term of former Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno.
In addition to driving tax reforms, the FPMG is responsible for forecasting and managing national government revenues, cash programming, and monitoring financial activities.
As the head of the FPMG, Adriano will push for the implementation of key tax reform measures that President Marcos inherited from the previous administration.
Among these are the introduction of a value-added tax on nonresident digital service providers, the enforcement of an excise tax on single-use plastics, the enactment of Package 4 of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program, the restructuring of the mining fiscal regime, and the revision of the motor vehicle users’ charge system.
To recall, the DOF chose not to propose new tax measures. Instead, Recto said that they want to concentrate on enhancing the government’s tax administration.