PIDS Book 2014-02: Higher Education in Agriculture: Trends, Prospects, and Policy Directions
Edited by Roehlano M. Briones and Melvin B. Carlos

The declining enrollment in agriculture, forestry, and natural resources (AFNR) courses is an alarming phenomenon given the unbridled expansion of state universities and colleges (SUCs) in the past few decades. Congress has had a propensity to convert rural high schools into agricultural and forestry colleges, and later, into full-fledged SUCs, as part of political legacy building. The changing dynamics of the higher education sector, however, puts into question the sustainability of their agriculture and related programs, if not the very existence of these institutions themselves. Moreover, the enrollment downtrend has dire consequences for the future human resource requirements of the AFNR sector.

This book examines each of these factors and points the way forward in transforming the educational sector to become more responsive to the new demands of the labor market. There is a need to rationalize AFNR higher educational and technical-vocational institutions while addressing skill shortages, degree requirements, and other crucial issues. Click here for the full article.

PIDS Book 2014-01: Innovative Behavior of Local Firms: Results of the 2009 Pilot Survey of Innovation Activities – Towards an Innovation-led Development Path in the Philippines
By Jose Ramon G. Albert, Rafaelita M. Aldaba, Francis Mark A. Quimba, Joan Arce Jaque, Bonifacio A. Gabales, Jr., and Donald B. Yasay

The 2009 Survey of Innovation Activities (SIA), the Philippines’ pilot survey on innovation and an outcome of the national innovation strategy called “FILIPINNOVATION”, aims to generate information on innovative behavior of establishments in selected areas and industries in the Philippines. The SIA sampled 474 establishments from a sampling frame of 1,824 firms across three major industries: (a) food manufacturing, (b) electronics manufacturing, and (c) information and communications technology in four study areas, namely, Quezon City, Metro Cebu, Davao City, and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority areas in Cavite and Laguna.

To give more information and understanding about the dynamics of innovation with economic growth as well as to benchmark national performance, the Department of Science and Technology, with funding support from the International Development Research Centre, launched the SIA with the help of the National Statistics Office to conduct the actual survey and the Philippine Institute for Development Studies to do the analysis of the survey results. Click here for the full article.

PN 2014-03: Toward Relaxing the Cabotage Restrictions in Maritime Transport
by Gilberto M. Llanto and Adoracion M. Navarro

The present cabotage law is considered one of the serious bottlenecks to Philippine economic growth. The perennial inefficiencies in the maritime industry are linked to lack of competition due to barriers to entry, arising from the law’s provision that allows only domestic shipping lines to serve domestic routes. The protection enjoyed by the domestic shipping industry through cabotage restrictions results in the lack of meaningful competition in the industry and weak incentives for operators to modernize and become competitive.

This Policy Note presents the most essential facts about the Philippines’ cabotage policy. Its argument for reform is tackled by discussing the specific impacts of the cabotage restrictions and comparing the national policy with those of other countries. A reform path is suggested in the end and how it can be rationally pursued. Click here for the full article.

DP 2014-14: The Role of Mineral Fertilizers in Transforming Philippine Agriculture
by Roehlano M. Briones

Fertilizer policy in the country has evolved from pervasive interventionism in the 1970s to today’s market-oriented regime. Government has abandoned price policies and subsidies, focusing rather on standard setting, quality regulation, and training. Over the same period domestic demand for fertilizer has continually been increasing, though recently, resurgent fertilizer prices have reduced total utilization. Evidence suggests that farmers are underapplying fertilizer, thereby forfeiting efficiency gains at the margin. On the supply side, imports have in the past few decades emerged as the main source of fertilizers, as domestic production has dwindled. With deregulation, numerous private sector players have taken over the distribution of fertilizers; analysis of the supply chain points to low marketing margins. Integration analysis fails to find systematic arbitrage opportunities between the domestic and world markets. Within the domestic market, however, there remain large disparities in prices across regions. Priorities for research and policy are therefore understanding the behavior of farmers in terms of fertilizer application and addressing internal price disparities, perhaps by improved transport infrastructure and logistics. Click here for the full article.

DP 2014-13: Funds Flow and Financial Control Analysis of the Student Financial Assistance Programs (StuFAP)
by Victoria Catibog

This study presents the scholarship, grant-in-aid, and student loans (SGIAL) funds flow and its financial flow analysis, and assesses the weaknesses and strengths of the SGIAL financial process. Some findings from the study show that the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) accounts and reports on SGIAL funds received from the General Appropriations Act (GAA) following standard government accounting rules and regulations deter scrupulous persons from misuse and misappropriation of the funds. However, administering scholarship funds has certain nuances that do not fit well with national procedures in the release of funds. For one, the fiscal year and the academic year do not jibe. DOST and CHED have to carefully consider this in their planning for the use of budgeted SGIAL funds from the GAA.

The study recommends the creation of a scholarship trust fund to which releases from the GAA will be transferred. This will solve the problems caused by a nonsynchronized fiscal and academic year. It will also insure the availability of actual cash to pay entitlements of scholars on time. This also enables the agency implementing the scholarship program to have a better basis for planning and budgeting the funds allocated. Click here for the full article.

DP 2014-12: Millennium Development Goals Scenarios to 2015 and Beyond: An Integrated Micro-Macro Modelling Approach
by Roehlano M. Briones

The Philippines has made considerable progress in attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, achieving all the targets remains a daunting challenge, with goals for poverty, education, and maternal mortality unlikely to be attained by 2015. Focus has now shifted to informing the post-2015 development agenda, based on future scenarios for the macroeconomy and the MDGs. In this study, such assessment is done using an integrated macro-micro modelling approach, using the Maquette for MDG Simulation (MAMS), calibrated to Philippine data, over the period 2009-2025.

Findings for the scenario analysis are as follows: In the Base or business-as-usual scenario, MDG targets for household water and sanitation, as well as child health, will be met (or approximated) by 2015. However, those for education and maternal health will be attained in 2025 and 2021, respectively. The goal for poverty will not be achieved even by 2025. The national debt follows a downward trajectory over the simulation period. Click here for the full article.

DP 2014-11: Schooling Outcomes in the Philippines, 1988–2008: Impacts of Changes in Household Income and the Implementation of the Free Public Secondary Education Act (RA 6655)
by Ma. Laarni D. Revilla

In the Philippines, no assessment has been done yet on the impacts of changes in household income and the free public secondary education act (Republic Act 6655) on the outcomes of education. Thus, this paper inquires on the impacts of these two factors on schooling outcomes, namely, net participation rates, cohort survival rates, proportion of population at each educational attainment level, average years of schooling, and education inequality. Using descriptive statistics and regression analyses, this study found that RA 6655 had exerted positive impacts on schooling outcomes by relaxing household resource constraints in schooling investments. This finding suggests that there is a need to strengthen education reforms and create jobs that can be sources of income to households. Click here for the full article.

Regional industry roadmaps sought

More regionally tailored industry roadmaps need to be put in place to strengthen the viability of local businesses and industries in light of the impending economic integration of the ASEAN economies by 2015.

This was revealed in the regional workshop and consultations on the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) held at the cities of Cebu, Davao, and Butuan in 2013 and in the early part of 2014, with research fellows from state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) as resource speakers. The AEC forums were organized by the National Economic and Development Authority's Regional Offices 7, 11, and Caraga, in cooperation with the regional development councils and PIDS. The Institute's participation in these regional forums is part of its outreach and extension program. Read more

Key government programs to undergo process assessment and impact evaluation

State think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) has been tapped by the Aquino administration, through the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), to lead a PHP300-million research project that will conduct process assessments and impact evaluations of key government programs.

The project, funded by the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2014, seeks to strengthen the Aquino administration's reform agenda by promoting accountability in government, under a new initiative led by Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan, NEDA director-general, and Secretary Florencio B. Abad of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). Read more

Phl GDP growth not enough for poverty reduction

The poverty situation in the country did not significantly improve despite of the six-percent economic growth posted from 2003 to 2006.

This was revealed by Supervising Research Specialist Danileen Parel of state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) in her analysis of the 2003 and 2006 rounds of the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) where 12,500 households were surveyed to determine poverty reduction at the household level. Read more

Low consumer awareness hampers adoption of Cheaper Medicines Law and Generics Act in PH

It has been twenty-five years since the passage of the Generic Drugs Act and five years since the Cheaper Medicines Act, but majority of Filipinos, particularly the poor, have not fully taken advantage of the laws` benefits.

Separate evaluations of the Generics Act of 1988 (Republic Act 6675) and the Cheaper Medicines Act of 2008 (Republic Act 9502) by state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) and the Department of Health (DOH) confirmed that low consumer awareness was among the reasons for the low take-up. This is compounded by the perception that generics are of poorer quality compared with branded medicines. Read more

New book looks into the declining enrollment in agriculture courses

A new book by state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies and the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) examines the declining enrollment in agriculture, forestry, and natural resources (AFNR) courses in the country.

Titled "Higher Education in Agriculture: Trends, Prospects, and Policy Directions", it looks into the need to rationalize AFNR higher educational and technical-vocational institutions. It will be a development gain for the country if the agricultural sector, which represents a third of the country's workforce, gets a much-needed boost. Read more