Office of the President

of the Philippines

Malacañang

MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 67

REQUIRING ALL CONCERNED TO OBSERVE STRICTLY POLICY

PRONOUNCEMENTS AND GUIDELINES ON FOREIGN TRAVEL

This Office has been receiving requests for travel abroad of government personnel without sufficient justification. It has also been noted that many of these requests, particularly those that involve government funding, are not accompanied by itemized statements of expenditures and, in the case of heads of departments and government-owned or controlled corporations and local government units leaving for abroad, by the designation of the Acting Head/Officer-in-Charge of the office. Not infrequently, requests for travel authority are submitted barely a few days before, at times after, the scheduled date of departure. Finally, many offices have yet to substantially comply with the reportorial requirement for every foreign travel undertaken by their officials and employees.

The foregoing defects/deficiencies not only indicate lack of commitment on the part of some government officials to the government’s fiscal conservation program but also reflect their complacency in observing established rules, policies and procedures. Needless to state, non-compliance with the requirements results in unnecessary delays in the processing of requests for travel authorities, not to mention clogging of papers.

To effectively conserve government resources, monitor expenses incurred for foreign travels, and facilitate the processing of requests for travel authorities, strict compliance by all concerned with the following requirements is hereby reiterated:

1 All foreign travel proposals should be carefully reviewed and evaluated so that only trips which are urgent and extremely necessary are forwarded to this Office for consideration. A certification to that effect shall, henceforth, form part of the travel proposal. The same criteria shall apply to foreign travels authorized by heads of offices pursuant to Executive Order No. 6 dated March 12, 1986, as amended. These heads of offices shall be held responsible/accountable for travel authorities issued by them that do not conform to existing policy pronouncements.

2 All travel proposals with government funding should be accompanied by an itemized statement of expenses to be incurred for the purpose.

3 All travel proposals shall, henceforth, be submitted to this office at least 15 days prior to departure. In extremely unavoidable cases, the reasons for the delay in the submission of the travel proposal should be indicated.

4 In the case of heads of department, government-owned or controlled corporations, financial institutions and local government units traveling abroad, they should include in the travel proposal the name of the official to be designated as Acting Head or Officer-in-Charge of the office, as the case may be, for the duration of the trip.

5 Every head of office or agency concerned should see to it that the requirement for every official or employee authorized to travel abroad to submit a report on his travel, together with his recommendation/s for the benefit of the service, within thirty (30) days after his return is strictly complied with. Said reports should be compiled and forwarded to this Office every month in the form prescribed for the purpose, together with a summary of the recommendations which, although feasible, cannot be implemented at the office or agency level without prior evaluation or approval by other appropriate office/s or by higher authorities, and those that are being or will be implemented at the office or agency level.

In the case of participation in an international conference or convention in which the Philippines is represented by a delegation, a report of the delegation should be submitted to the President of the Philippines through the Secretary of Foreign Affairs not later than one month after the closing of the conference or convention. Any member of the delegation may also submit a supplementary report.

Non-compliance with any of the requirements mentioned above shall constitute sufficient ground for non-processing or outright disapproval of requests to travel abroad.

This Memorandum Circular shall take effect immediately

By authority of the President:

(Sgd.) TEOFISTO T. GUINGONA, JR.

Executive Secretary

Manila, August 30, 1993

Source: CDAsia