OP Memorandum on Foreign Travels

November 17, 1999 REVENUE MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 81-99 SUBJECT : OP Memorandum on Foreign Travels TO : All Internal Revenue Officers, Employees and Others Concerned For the information and guidance of revenue officials and employees, quoted hereunder is the Memorandum from the Office of the President dated October 20, 1999: "In view of the country's growing budgetary deficit and the need to conserve our foreign exchange reserves, it is necessary to secure strict and faithful compliance by all government officials and employees with the various policy pronouncements on austerity and fiscal conservation, including the expenditure of public funds for foreign travels. cdll The following guidelines on foreign travels are hereby promulgated to reiterate/supplement earlier policy pronouncements: 1. No official travel abroad of government officials and employees shall be allowed .except when the trip is for the purpose of complying with an international commitment/contractual obligation, or is in connection with trainings, scholarships, fellowships and other activities fully covered by grants or funded from sources other than the government. 2. In no case shall an official or employee accept any invitation for speaking engagement, meeting, conference and similar activities from any foreign institution or make any commitment to participate in any such undertaking with the use of government funds, without prior clearance from the Office of the President through the Executive Secretary. Any travel proposal for trips under .this category where the invitation has not been forwarded to this Office for prior determination of its acceptance or non-acceptance, shall not be processed or entertained. 3. To ensure utmost impartiality and objectivity in the award of contracts for the purchase and delivery of goods, equipment and services and in line with the State policy to promote a high standard of ethics in the public service, all concerned officials and employees are likewise enjoined not to accept invitations to travel, funded directly or indirectly, fully or partially, by contractors or suppliers of goods, equipment and services purportedly to undertake study or assessment of their capabilities as such contractors or suppliers. This injunction, however, does not apply to trips which are clearly provided in or are component of duly perfected contracts between government agencies concerned and the contractor or supplier. 4. In case of trips involving delegations, the head of department or lead/coordinating agency, as the case may be, shall see to it that the number of participants is kept to the barest minimum, without sacrificing effective representation, and with the role of each member in the delegation clearly specified and justified in the travel proposal. 5. Trips which, by their very nature, are obviously for personal reasons but are nevertheless presented as official in the guise of so-called "observation, goodwill or study tour" or "workshop/seminar" shall not be allowed, unless such trips are to be undertaken while on leave of absence. All heads of offices and instrumentalities are enjoined to review very carefully all travel proposals to ensure that only those that are urgent and necessary and will entail minimum expenditure of government funds are forwarded to the Office of the President for consideration. Approval by this Office of a request for travel authority, however, does not necessarily follow from the circumstance that the proposed trip appears to fall under any of the exceptions mentioned above. No government official or employee shall, therefore, leave for abroad without the appropriate travel authorization having been duly issued. It shall be the responsibility of the heads of offices and instrumentalities to see to it that this particular regulation is strictly observed in their respective agencies. Violation of this provision shall be a basis for taking administrative/disciplinary action against both the superior and subordinate officials concerned. prcd The requirement for submission of travel proposals with complete documentation, including the justification therefor and itemized statement of expenditures, not later than ten(10) working days prior to scheduled date of departure should be strictly complied with. The prohibition against the piecemeal system of submitting requests for the grant of additional entitlements, inclusion of additional officials/personnel, proposed side-trips, and/or confirmation of one already undertaken but which is not covered by the original travel authority, is also reiterated. Non-observance of the above-mentioned guidelines and requirements shall be sufficient ground for this Office not to receive the travel request for processing, or for the outright denial of such request. For strict compliance. (SGD.) JOSEPH EJERCITO ESTRADA President" All revenue officials and employees are enjoined to give this circular as wide a publicity as possible. (SGD.) BEETHOVEN L. RUALO Commissioner of Internal Revenue