Manila, Philippines – A group of good governance advocates gave the Aquino administration a grade of 4.78 out of 10 points for its first year in office even as it sought the need to address challenges in raising state revenues, improving health services, and providing infrastructure.
In its 36-page assessment released three days before Aquino’s second State of the Nation Address (SONA), the Movement for Good Governance (MGG) said the score means that the government has to do more despite its gains.
“The rating of 4.78 means that there have been accomplishments, but more need to be done,” MGG said in a report released last Friday.
MGG, composed of former government officials, academicians and civil society leaders, used a 10-point scorecard in assessing whether Aquino kept his promises during his campaign.
A score of zero means the President has broken his promise while 2.5 means there has been “very slow or little progress” on his promise.
A score of 5 means “something has been accomplished but is lower than expected” while 7.5 means “the administration is on track and is expected to achieve the target as scheduled.” On the other hand, a score of 10 means the target has been achieved as scheduled.
MGG evaluated the administration in the areas of corruption, public finance, governance, environment, education, health, and economy.
“We used as hard or objective data as possible and analysis for you to see that the grading is transparent,” said Solita Monsod, MGG chairperson and former socioeconomic planning secretary.
“Through this exercise, we hope the Filipino people would follow this methodology rather than rely on buzz word or emotional assessments,” she said.
Lowest score in health, highest score in education
Of the seven areas evaluated, the Aquino administration got the lowest grade in health with a score of 3 while its highest score was in the area of education at 6.25.
The government scored 4.4 in the area of economy, 4.5 in governance, 4.7 in environment, 4.8 in corruption, and 5.8 in public finance. The average of the scores for the seven areas stood at 4.78
MGG said the Aquino administration has provided health insurance to an additional two million Filipinos but majority of them are still outside the health insurance system.
“About 42 percent of Filipinos are covered by health insurance but the health insurance protection in many provinces is below the national average,” it said.
MGG said not one local government unit has provided 100 percent coverage for its constituents despite efforts to increase enrolment to PhilHealth.
“Limitations in health financing have resulted in out-of-pocket expenses as the primary source of health expenditures,” MGG said.
“Since there are no zero co-payment schemes in hospitals, the poor are still afraid to go to health care facilities for fear of incurring large medical debt,” it added.
MGG also cited the lack of access to affordable health programs, neglected facilities, and the absence of a definitive and concerted action to reduce child mortality.
‘Economy improved’
As regards the economy, MGG noted that during the first three quarters of the Aquino administration, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 6.2 percent while investment ratio was at 22.6 percent. GDP is the sum of all goods and services produced by the economy in a given period.
MGG said employment rose by 536,000 jobs between July 2010 and April 2011 while unemployment stood at 7.2 percent in April.
MGG said increased business confidence arising from expectations that the government would curb corruption and improve its efficiency largely influenced the economic improvements.
But it said the sustainability of growth might be adversely affected by the government’s decision to rein in consumption and investment expenditures to meet its deficit goal.
“What jeopardized inclusive growth is the very little infrastructure expenditure and infrastructure expenditure is connected to the revenue efforts of government,” Monsod said.
MGG said the government reduced the infrastructure budget for this year in favor of higher outlays for social and human development spending. It said this was due to expectations that the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program would make up for the difference.
“The PPP rollout, however, has been delayed – four projects that were scheduled to be bid out by the beginning of July did not push though,” MGG said.
MGG said Aquino’s “no new taxes” policy is populist and inconsistent with his “tuwid na daan (straight path)” policy, which chooses “the welfare of the people of the greater number over political considerations.”
MGG said Aquino had to depend on improved tax administration to keep this promise but this has resulted in lower-than-expected revenues leading to reduced expenditure and slower growth.
MGG also said it did not find any record of any review of the programs in agriculture as promised by the President. It added that while there has been a 15 percent increase in rice production, this was caused by increase in hectarage planted than in yield.
“If he mentioned during his (Aquino) SONA that we would achieve rice self-sufficiency by 2013, he would be reducing his credibility. The probability of that happening is like snow balls’ chance in hell,” Monsod said.
In terms of public finance, MGG said the increase in tax collection was due to economic growth and not due to an improvement in tax effort.
“Whatever increase we get in tax collection is brought by the normal growth in economy, income and prices. You can attribute very little to the efficiency of tax administration,” said MGG convenor Milwida Guevara.
“If you can’t control the deficit or raise revenues, you’ll not get over or address the debt problem,” she said.
MGG noted that the 2010 tax effort – the ratio of tax revenues to the country’s GDP – hit 12.1 percent, lower than the 13 percent target. It said smuggling continues to hamper the efforts of the Customs bureau, which missed its 2010 goal by P21.4 billion. MGG said the weak revenues forced the government to rely on borrowings, which in turn raised the debt stock. The national government’s debt stood at P4.72 trillion last year, higher by 7.3 percent compared to 2009.
“Debt service continues to claim a hefty sum of the budget, 36 percent in 2010 compared to 35.3 percent in 2009. About 57.1 percent of the revenues of government are spent to pay-off interest and maturing debts,” MGG said.
The group, nevertheless, commended the government for its zero-based budgeting, which aims to enhance transparency and efficiency. It also cited the government’s move to phase out inefficient operations like the “food for school” programs.
Mixed reviews on anti-corruption efforts
On addressing corruption, MGG said Aquino has a mixed record in appointing public officials.
The group viewed positively the appointment of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson, and Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo.
The group, however, scored the appointment of Vice President Jejomar Binay as housing czar even if he has no record in delivering social housing.
It also criticized the President’s decision to retain his shooting buddies – Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno and Land Transportation Office chief Virginia Torres – despite the allegations thrown against them.
“Unfortunately, being a shooting or drinking buddy and/or classmate of the President seems to have been added as a requirement on some posts after his election,” MGG said.
MGG praised the Budget and Interior departments for their efforts to tap the citizens’ participation in the drive against corruption. It noted that the budget department has drafted principles of “constructive engagement” with the civil society while the interior department website provides data on the funds received by the agency, how these are spent and the contracts entered into.
‘Broken promises’
MGG also said the President broke his promise when the freedom of information bill was not included in the list of priority measures.
It cited the government’s move to put more resources to witness protection and to create more than a thousand positions in the prosecutorial service. The hiring process, however, remains unclear, the report said.
The group said difficulties in obtaining officials’ statement of assets, liabilities and net worth even if these are public documents also continue under the Aquino administration.
MGG also chided the government for undermining De Lima’s authority by weakening or reversing her recommendations in incidents where administration allies are involved like the Manila hostage crisis.
MGG, however, lauded the administration for getting rid of Merceditas Gutierrez as ombudsman, for allegedly sitting down on cases involving former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The group also raised concerns over reports that Aquino has already chosen retired Supreme Court Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales to be the next ombudsman as this could render inutile the processes of the Judicial and Bar Council.
On governance, MGG said there were appointments made on a “payback system” such as those of people who helped Aquino during the election campaign.
“There are appointed undersecretaries or assistant secretaries who are not even familiar with the fundamentals of planning and budgeting and it is taking some time before the operationalization and rollout of programs against poverty takeoff,” it said.
MGG, however, said Aquino has sent a strong signal that he would ensure the rule of law. The group said the “no wang wang” policy was a message that double standard has no place in his government.
MGG also lauded the Interior department for signing agreements to make transparency and accountability a joint effort between government and civil society.
‘K-12 program reasonable’
On education, MGG said plans for the 12-year basic education cycle are reasonable. It noted that the administration allotted P7.2 billion this year to build 10,724 classrooms and P3.8 billion for the repair of 4,364 classrooms, 14,925 water and sanitation facilities.
The group said the emphasis on universal pre-schooling by 2016 is “a step in the right direction” but is being rolled out too quickly.
“There are not enough trained early childhood development teachers to handle such an immediate rollout of universal kindergarten,” it said.
The Department of Education (DepEd) has said it would require five-year-olds to attend pre-school as a prerequisite before entering Grade 1 by school year 2012-2013.
MGG noted that government assistance to students and teachers in private education has increased to P5.8 billion this year from P3.9 billion.
On the environment, MGG cited the need to address the killings of environment activists and the country’s worsening ecological state due to population pressures.
MGG said Aquino has not certified any bill intended to address the rising population, which is said to have an impact on sustainable development.
It also cited the non-implementation of the Ecological Solid Waster Management Act, which barred the operation of any dump by local governments by February 2006.
MGG said Aquino has a mixed record in enforcing the Clean Air Act for praising a mining firm in Cebu that has been suspended by local officials for producing coal ash residues.
It also noted that environmental targets were not yet reflected in the Medium Term Development Plan for 2011 to 2016.
‘Stop criticizing GMA’
The President should stop criticizing the previous administration and start focusing on strengthening sectors that could bring money into the country like tourism, Ivan Henares, vice president of the Heritage Conservation Society, said.
Henares’ group is a non-profit organization advocating the protection and preservation of the country’s heritage, cultural and historical sites and settings.
He said the Aquino administration has so far been just trying to make public irregularities during the Arroyo administration.
“I don’t want to hear GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) anymore. Start focusing on his term. He should already stop lambasting the previous administration,” he said during a forum at Miriam College.
“Does he have problems with the past administration? Let the courts deal with that. He should be rallying the Philippines toward a better country,” he said.
He said the Aquino administration has yet to make concrete accomplishments, citing the bungled “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” tourism campaign under Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim.
The campaign, crafted to replace “WOW Philippines,” was scrapped due to public outrage since it was allegedly copied from the tourism campaign of Poland.
But he also raised optimism that the DOT’s efforts to promote cultural tourism could turn things around for the sector.
“(For us) it’s always beaches and shopping… But when you visit other countries, it’s their culture they use to promote tourism,” he said, adding that he hopes the President would elaborate about it in his SONA. –-Alexis Romero (The Philippine Star) with Reinir Padua
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