Facilitating Public Investment Monthly Newsletter January 2018 Philippines leads Asia in Budget IN THIS ISSUE Transparency Ranking With a score of 67 out of 100, Philippines the 2017 OBS, ranking first in Asian countries nabs the first spot on budget transparency ac- followed by Indonesia (64), Jordan (63), Japan cording to the latest Open Budget Survey. (60), and South Korea (60). OBS is conducted every two years and uses “We’re very proud of what we’ve accom- 109 equally weighted indicators to evaluate plished to date. In surpassing our Asian neigh- budget transparency based on the amount and bors, we have further cemented our position timeliness of budget information governments as a global leader in Open Government. It make available to the public in a comprehensive encourages us to persevere, to do even bet- USAID supports Philippines’ Open Government and useful way, and whether the public is given ter, in the years ahead,” Budget Secretary initiatives (Page 3) opportunities "to participate in the budget pro- Benjamin Diokno said in an official statement. cess at the national level." Worldwide, the Philippines ranks 19th Each country receives a composite score with an OBI score of 42 for 2017. (out of 100) that determines its ranking on the Open Budget Index (OBI), the world’s only inde- IBP, however, underscores that pendent and comparative measure of budget “transparency alone is insufficient in improving transparency. governance.” The level of public participation is another crucial indicator as it relates to From 64 out of 100 in 2015, Philippines government’s accountability to realize positive scored 67 out of 100 in budget transparency in outcomes on (continue reading on page 2…) FPI conducts communications workshop for DOF submits CTRP Package 2 at BIR’s TRAIN implementation (Page 3) the Lower House The Department of Finance (DOF) has incentives aiming to make the Government’s formally submitted its version of the Duterte incentive scheme performance-based, targeted, Administration’s Comprehensive Tax Reform time-bound, and transparent. Program (CTRP) Package 2 at the Lower House in time for its resumption of second regular Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua sessions on January 15, 2018. said that this package will enable the Philippine Government “to ensure that incentives granted CTRP Package 2 centers on lowering the to businesses generate jobs, stimulate economy corporate income tax (CIT) from 30 percent to in the countryside, and promote research and Strengthening MSG Participation in Benguet 25 percent, and modernizing the investment tax development.” (continue reading on page 2…) small-scale mining sector (Page 5) USAID Facilitating Public Investment | Monthly Newsletter 1 PH leads Asia cont’d been the Government’s platform in espousing lion in forgone revenues; and local VAT at PhP budget transparency. good governance through the principles of trans- 36.96 billion, although part of this tax will even- parency, accountability, and civic participation tually be refunded for these were imposed on OBS measures public participation by as- since Philippines became one of its founding exporters. sessing the degree to which the government members in 2013. PH-OGP is currently imple- provides opportunities for the public to engage menting its 4th National Action Plan (2017-2019) Chua adds that the PhP 300-billion worth in budget processes and budget oversight by the which includes the legislation on access to infor- of incentives does not yet include the exemp- legislature and the Supreme Audit Institution mation with FOI as its benchmark program. tions from the payment of local business taxes (SAI). and the additional estimates on tax leakages. DBM’s participation on the FOI agenda The Philippines scored 41 out of 100 in widened through OGP’s regional dialogues and On the average, the DoF estimates that Public Participation and is over three times the multi-stakeholder consultations engaging civil about 2% of the Philippines’ GDP are forgone in global average of 12. Philippines is the lone society organizations, local government units, income tax and custom duties exemptions. ASEAN country to achieve a moderate score in national government agencies and other private Even with TIMTA in place, GPH needs to the category, sharing this distinction with New sector associations. These OGP activities aim to institutionalize a mechanism that will operation- Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom. engage various sectors in the discussion of the alize the findings that might emerge in monitor- national budget as well as the budget reforms ing ITI grants. For instance, the current practice Meanwhile, the Philippines holds a score of that are underway to improve public expendi- still does not allow the Government to access 65 for Budget Oversight, with the legislature and ture management. ### the Commission on Audit providing adequate substantial information on specific socioeconom- oversight over the budget. DOF submits cont’d ic benefits from these ITI grants. The DOF proposes amendments to TIM- With these notable achievements under Laying foundations for more effective and TA to make it a more efficient complementary the new Administration, Budget Secretary Di- efficient fiscal reforms okno emphasized that “the Department of Budg- law to the proposed CTRP Package 2 which aims et and Management (DBM) will continue to work To make the Philippines an “investment- to rationalize ITIs making these performance- with the legislature, [our] constitutional bodies, friendly country,” there have been laws institut- based, targeted, time-bound, and transparent. and [our] citizens to further enhance budget ed to provide significant fiscal incentives to at- DOF specifically seeks to include all tax openness in the public sector.” tract both domestic and international private incentives in the reporting, whether investment investors. Fiscal incentives include income tax or non-investment incentives; include in report- The Open Budget Survey uses internation- holiday, 5% tax gross income, VAT and customs ing all types of taxpayers, particularly coopera- ally-accepted criteria developed by multilateral duty exemptions. These incentives are granted tives; mandate the inclusion of all taxes in the organizations from sources such as the Interna- to registered business entities for specific activi- computation of tax expenditure, including value tional Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for ties and are managed or regulated by at least 12 added tax and local taxes; mandate the submis- Economic Co-operation and Development investment promotion agencies (IPAs) that oper- sion of a more benefits data such as investments (OECD), the International Organisation of Su- ate independently from one another. Examples (both approved and actual), jobs created, export preme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) and the are the Board of Investments (BOI), Philippine sales, and research and development (R&D) at Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency (GIFT).. Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), and about 10 firm level; and mandate the Fiscal Incentives Re- other economic and free-port zone authorities. DBM, exemplifying transparency and ac- view Board (FIRB) to conduct cost-benefit analy- countability In 2015, the Tax Incentives Management sis in the future using all the comprehensive data gathered. Apart from ranking first in Asia for budget and Transparency Act (TIMTA) authored by then 3rd District Camarines Sur Representative, transparency, the DBM has also been recognized Anchored in transparency & accountability as the sole FOI Champion Department for its and now Vice President Leni Robredo was outstanding commitment in ensuring transparen- signed into law to institutionalize fiscal transpar- DOF eyes to expand the function of the cy in public service on December 4, 2017 during ency and accountability in the grant and manage- FIRB to ensure that all the conditions are met by the 2017 Freedom of Information (FOI) Annual ment of tax incentives to business entities. TIM- business entities seeking to avail fiscal incentives. Awards. TA has put in place necessary measures to allow According to the proposed CTRP Package 2, a transparent flow of information for the Gov- FIRB will serve as the overall administrator of all The FOI program was launched on No- ernment to closely monitor and review inves- IPAs and incentives, giving FIRB the authority to vember 25, 2016, pursuant to Executive Order tors’ economic impact and certain that the ex- review IPA policy decisions and approve all IPA No. 2 which operationalizes the people’s consti- pected social benefits are met. grants of investment tax incentives. tutional right to public information. DBM is one of the 15 pilot agencies when the FOI program The Department of Finance (DoF) esti- An independent body or FIRB will be as- was launched, following the implementation of mates that the Government forgoes roughly PhP signed to measure business entities’ performance the eFOI platform. 300 billion annually through incentives enjoyed or track record in fulfilling the socio-economic by big businesses. This is a significant amount benefits that their businesses ought to bring to DBM’s FOI Team is composed of 58 FOI that the Government gives out for the sake of the country in exchange of the incentives they officers led by Undersecretary Lilia Guillermo. ostensibly “greater economic benefits.” enjoy. This performance-based assessment will Since the eFOI’s launch, DBM was among the be evaluated based on the actual