Karl Kendrick Chua

Chua was born to a Chinese Filipino family on July 14, 1978. He was raised in Manila where he attended Xavier School in San Juan and graduated high school in 1996. While in high school, he participated in outreach programs in the Correctional Institution for Women, Payatas and Barasoain in San Juan where he also taught Catechism, English and mathematics to urban poor children. He later enrolled at the University of the Philippines Diliman, graduating from the U.P. School of Economics in 2003 with a Master of Economics. In 2011, Chua received Doctor of Philosophy in the same discipline also from U.P. where he served as research assistant to professors Solita Monsod, Felipe Medalla and Benjamin Diokno for a study on the country's slowing economy in 2005 which resulted in the implementation of an expanded value-added tax in the country. ==Career==

Chua started his career as a system analyst with Accenture (Andersen Consulting) from 2000 to 2002. In 2017, Chua was frequently seen participating in congressional deliberations on the administration's comprehensive tax reform bill which aimed to decrease personal income taxes and introduce higher consumption taxes to support the government's Build! Build! Build program. He was described as the "poster boy of tax reform" by several media outlets and was instrumental in the passage of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN Act) in December 2017. He is also credited for the passage of legislations increasing the sin tax on tobacco and alcohol products and introducing a sugary drink tax and excise taxes on electronic cigarettes and vapes to fund the universal health care program signed into law in February 2019. On April 17, 2020, following President Duterte's acceptance of National Economic and Development Authority secretary Ernesto Pernia's resignation due to "personal reasons" and "differences in development philosophy" with some Cabinet members as the country battled the COVID-19 pandemic, Chua was appointed as the agency's acting secretary. In May 2020, he reintroduced a modified corporate tax reform bill as one such measure under the post-COVID-19 Philippine Program for Recovery with Equity. Under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act (CREATE) which replaced the earlier CITIRA, corporate income taxes will be reduced to 25 percent in the short term to spur economic activity in the aftermath of the pandemic. Chua also announced that the Balik Probinsya program or relocation of businesses and workers to provinces outside Metro Manila is included in the new tax incentives package, and that the government was considering levying taxes on digital goods and introducing a new sin tax as new revenue sources. President Duterte appointed Chua as the official Secretary of Socioeconomic Planning and the Director-General of NEDA on April 22, 2021. His nomination was confirmed by the Commission on Appointments on June 2, making him the youngest secretary in the Duterte Cabinet. ==Personal life==

Chua is married to Alanna Chua, whom he met in 2001 through the Ateneo Christian Life Community, of which they were both members. They wed on November 28, 2009. They have one son together, Keid Ashby, born in 2015. ==Awards==

Chua is a recipient of the 2018 Outstanding Young Men and Women of the Philippines (TOYM) Award in the field of Economic Development. ==References==