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About the Roberto F. de Ocampo (RFO) Center for Public Finance and Regional Economic Cooperation Institute

In cognizance of former Philippine Secretary of Finance Roberto F. de Ocampo's outstanding career in public service as well as his internationally recognized merit as a public finance practitioner, the establishment of a Center for Public Finance and Regional Economic Cooperation was initiated by friends and associates on the occasion of his 60th birthday in January 2006. The Center, named after him, was subsequently established on May 9, 2006 and, on November 17, 2006, a Memorandum of Understanding between the Center for Research and Communication (CRC) and the RFO Center was signed formalizing the Center as a CRC Institute.

On December 6, 2006, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) identified the RFO Center as its ADB Regional Knowledge Hub on Public Finance under RETA 6295. The said RETA, which was approved in December 2005, was specifically designed to establish Regional Knowledge Hubs in the priority areas identified in ADB’s Medium Term Strategy and those areas which have ADB’s operational relevance. In 2006, five (5) Regional Knowledge Hubs were established, including the RFO Center for Public Finance. The other Hubs are:

  • Renewable Energy with TERI

  • Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (3R) with the Asian Institute of Technology, UNEP and UNESCAP

  • Climate Change with Tsinghua University, Environment Economics Institute and

  • Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in Infrastructure with the Emerging Markets Forum.

These hubs are envisioned to deal with emerging development concepts and technologies as well as management techniques. They will also deal with common development concerns as well as establish linkages with other agencies and organizations to enhance access and dissemination of the latest international development concepts and lessons learned.


Institute Director

Dr. Victor Abola is the Vice President for Advocacy of CRC. He is also an assistant professor at the School of Economics of UAP, Program Director of the Strategic Business Economics Program, and Executive Director of the UAP-FMIC Capital Market Research Center. Dr. Abola is an expert on fiscal policies. He was Chief of Party of the Fiscal Policy Analysis Activity of the Department of Finance. Dr. Abola obtained his bachelor’s degree in commerce (accounting) from De La Salle University; MS in Industrial Economics and PhD. in Development Management from UAP. He has written and co-authored several textbooks on Economics, Money and Banking, and Finance.



Board of Advisers

  • Roberto F. De Ocampo, Chairman - Former Philippine Finance Secretary

  • Bernardo M. Villegas, Member - Chairman of the Center for Research and Communication

  • Harinder Kohli, Member - President and CEO of Centennial Group and former World Bank Director

  • Romeo L. Bernardo, Member - President of Lazaro Bernardo, Tiu and Associates and former Philippine Finance Undersecretary

  • Yoshihiro Iwasaki, Member - Former Director General of the South Asia Regional Department, ADB


Activities

The RFO Center seeks to provide a strategic mechanism for linkages between the CRC and important international partners such as the ADB, the IMF, and the World Bank as well as other strategic International Fora like the Emerging Markets forum, BOAO Forum, World Economic Forum, and the Trilateral Commission.

The Center aims to achieve its objectives through the following activities:

  • Development of analytical papers;

  • Organization of various fora including conferences, roundtable discussions, distance learning symposia, lecture series and;

  • Networking with both local and international think tanks, the academe, business, professional organizations and the government. The RFO Center has a wide and ever growing network which includes the other institutes of the Center for Research and Communication, Public Finance Institute of the Philippines, Foundation for Economic Freedom, Philippine Institute for Development Studies, the Makati Business Club, management and finance associations, local and foreign business chambers, and Centennial Group Holdings, among others.

Conference coordination of ADB Asian Equity Markets Conference with Centennial Group Holdings


Research Studies

  • The Asian Financial Crisis: On Hindsight and Beyond

  • Incentives

  • Taxation and Tariff Policy and Practice

  • Going Beyond ASEAN

    • The ASEAN–Central Asia link

    • The ASEAN-South Asia link

    • The ASEAN-India link

  • Looking Inward: Asian Trade and Domestic Public Finance

  • Regional and Domestic Capital Markets

  • Regional Financial Cooperation

  • Local Government Finance


Events

  • IMF Regional Economic Outlook Conference

  • Asia Tax Forum

  • Asian Financial Crisis Seminar Series

  • Conduct of research on:

    • Improving Internal Business Processes to Stem Corruption in the Public Sector;

    • Philippine Policies on Local Government Finance and its Impact on the Readiness of LGUs to Access the Capital Markets; and

    • Access to Private Capital and Regulation

  • Philippine local government public finance training through the Public Finance institute of Philippines

  • Public Finance Management in Asia Conference

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