The current and incoming heads of the Department of Finance (DOF)—the agency in-charge of the country’s fiscal affairs—met last Friday and agreed to a smooth transition on June 30.
Sources said Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima and Carlos “Sonny” Dominguez III met at a golf club in Makati City to discuss the transition process.
Dominguez requested that some of Purisima’s staff as well as key officials of a number of DOF-attached agencies be retained for at least a month to assist him, sources said.
In a statement Monday, Purisima said the DOF has been preparing a transition document that would detail “the state of progress across its various clusters and results areas, including revenue, liability management, privatization, government-owned and -controlled corporations, and corporate affairs.”
“The transition document will serve to keep the new leadership abreast on where things are with the DOF’s priorities and projects,” Purisima said, adding that it would allow incoming President Rodrigo Duterte’s economic team to hit the ground running on day one.
Purisima will also turn over to Dominguez a “DOF Manual of Institutional Knowledge,” which the department is set to finish by end-June. “It will contain four volumes of documented learnings in the DOF over the past six years of the Aquino administration—best practices from the DOF Institute, learnings on what could have gone better and recommendations moving forward. The manual also codifies 200 processes and approval protocols, with templates of completed staff work and style guides,” the finance chief said.
“Following a rationalization process on the DOF’s issuances including 4,300 department orders since 1958, the DOF will also pass on a simplified body of issuances for improved institutional coherence and ease of enforcement,” he added.
The incoming DOF leadership will also get to enjoy upgraded and renovated offices on the fifth and sixth floors as well as the building’s roofdeck.
“We take transitioning seriously and view it as an integral part of organizational development. We want to ensure the new team has all the means and resources to succeed on day one. My team is coordinating with him in order to work with depth over the next month on a smooth transition,” Purisima said.