RP in danger of missing all UN development goals—NGO

THE PHILIPPINES will miss all eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) if lawmakers will fail to pass laws in aid of fiscal reforms, which had been languishing in Congress for several years, according to a non-government organization.

The group Code:RED (Reforms for Economic Development) said in a statement that the passage of such laws would be crucial in financing the effort toward realizing the Millennium Development Goals, especially when the government could not rely on improving tax administration as a measure to beef up revenue collection.

Code:RED is referring to pending bills on the rationalization of fiscal incentives, fiscal responsibility and excise tax on tobacco and alcohol, apart from the simplified net income taxation scheme (SNITS).

“The first two reforms do not entail new tax impositions [following President Benigno Aquino III’s campaign promise], but only a streamlining of the already available resources,” the group said.

“The other two are tax reforms that involve restructuring of the existing excise tax on tobacco and alcohol, while the SNITS will be more of a correction in the present deduction from the self-employed and compensation earners.”

According to Code:RED, the MDGs serve as a gauge of progress in how the government is addressing the poverty. It is therefore vital for the government to prioritize financing of development goals through fiscal reforms and other means.

Several countries have committed to the millennium goals drawn up by the United Nations, which include the eradication of poverty, attainment of universal primary education, promotion of gender equality in education, reduction of child mortality, improvement of maternal health, reduction of HIV/AIDS incidence, and environmental sustainability by 2015.

Last week, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano W. Paderanga Jr. said the Philippines would likely meet the targets on food poverty, gender equality in education, child mortality, malaria morbidity, detection and treatment success and cure rates of TB cases and access to sanitary facilities.

However, Paderanga said the country’s chances were slim in meeting the targets on income poverty, nutrition, dietary energy requirement, access to safe drinking water, maternal mortality and access to reproductive services.

He said that with only five years left, the government would need to accelerate progress in three major areas – poverty, education and maternal health.

He added that efforts would have to be focused on boys to achieve gender equality in basic education, as well as on reducing the prevalence of HIV/AIDS.

Paderanga said that to ensure progress in meeting the development goals, there should be sustained economic growth, better population management, greater focus on underserved areas such as those in the Visayas and Mindanao, improved governance and transparency, and improved peace and security. –Ronnel Domingo, Philippine Daily Inquirer