Phl set to implement $434-M Millenium Challenge grant

Manila, Philippines – The Philippines is now preparing to implement the $434-million grant from the United States Government’s Millennium Challenge Corp.

Finance Secretary and Millennium Challenge Account-Philippines (MCA-P) vice chairman Cesar Purisima and MCA-P managing director and Chief Executive Officer, Ma. Victoria Añonuevo jointly announced the “entry into force of the $434-million grant from the MCC.”

Under the agreement, the government would use part of the grant for its Revenue Administration Reform Project (RARP) amounting to $54.30 million. The project would be used to reduce “tax evasion and corruption” through reforms at the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the government’s main revenue agency, and modernization of the revenue collection system.

Another project to be funded by the grant, the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services which is worth $120 million, would be implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

This, the Department of Finance (DOF) said would improve community-level infrastructure and social services for the poor and strengthen the capacity of local communities to lift themselves out of poverty.

The third project is the Secondary National Roads Development Project worth $214.44 million which would be implemented together with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

“This will reduce transportation costs and improve access to markets and social services through the rehabilitation of an existing 220-kilometer road segment on Samar Island,” the DOF said.

The grants entry into force or EIF follows the completion by the government, through MCA-P, of project preparation and documentation conditions involving the Department of Finance, Department of Justice, and compact implementing entities: DSWD, DPWH, BIR and the DOF’s Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS).

“This is a milestone that signifies the determination by the two countries to rapidly initiate the implementation of poverty-reduction projects which eventually will help the Philippines and the Filipinos for many years ahead,” Añonuevo said. –Iris C. Gonzales (The Philippine Star)