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Monday / 16 NOVEMBER 2015
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IN FOCUS: Building Inclusive Economies, Building a Better World
A Look at the APEC 2015 Priority Areas (Volume 1)
 As host economy of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2015 Summit, the Philippines has the opportunity to shape the agenda and set the theme that would advance both national and regional interests. The Department of Foreign Affairs, as co-chair of the APEC 2015 National Organizing Council and as APEC 2015 National Secretariat, commissioned the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, through the Philippine APEC Study Center Network, to undertake research on the identified priority areas of APEC 2015 in order to gather expert analyses and insights that can serve as inputs to the various discussions during the summit as well as help advocate domestic reforms in the longer term.
This two-volume publication consists of the policy papers written under the Research Project APEC 2015. The project explores the four priority areas of APEC 2015, namely, enhancing regional economic integration, fostering small and medium enterprises’ participation in the regional and global economy, investing in human capital development, and building sustainable and resilient communities.
Volume I focuses on enhancing regional economic integration and investing in human capital development. It is made up of papers that tackle the pathways to the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific, the role of services, APEC-wide connectivity through infrastructure development, supply chain connectivity, and human capacity building.
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DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH NEWS
To celebrate the 13th Development Policy Research Month (DPRM), the PIDS chose the theme, “Effective Regulations for Sustainable Growth” or Tamang Regulasyon Para sa Patuloy na Pag-ahon. Two articles in this issue, one presenting the highlights of the policy dialogue on the DPRM theme and the other discussing bits of the press conferences held in various regions, show the initiatives and experiences of various regulatory agencies in reforming their regulations. Instituting a strong and coherent regulatory management system for the country—the message of this year’s DPRM—is deemed to facilitate more effective and sustainable regulatory reforms in the future. Completing this issue are the highlights of the 2015 Inaugural Public Policy Conference and of two policy forums organized by the Institute with its new development partners. The public policy conference, which will be held every DPRM from hereon, aims to flag to policymakers critical issues that must be addressed in the immediate term. For its initial offering, the theme was “Harnessing Our Institutions and Human Capital for Inclusive Growth”.
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PIDS' NEW OFFICE LOCATION
In November 2015, PIDS officially moved to a new office location in Quezon City. Our new office address is 18th Floor, Three Cyberpod Centris-North Tower, EDSA corner Quezon Avenue, Quezon City. VIEW LOCATION MAP
Our office numbers are: (+63 2) 372-1291 or 372-1292.
Should you have any questions on the relocation, please feel free to contact us. For more information, visit http://www.pids.gov.ph/
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05 NOVEMBER 2015
Senate Centennial Lecture Series Assessment of the Bottom-up Budgeting Process for FY 2015
Venue: Senator Padilla Room, Senate of the Philippines, Pasay City
10 NOVEMBER 2015
PIDS-CPBRD Forum Series: Assessment of the Bottom-up Budgeting Process for FY 2015
Venue: R.V. Mitra Hall, House of Representatives, Quezon City
25 NOVEMBER 2015
PIDS-CPBRD Forum Series: Rapid Appraisal of the Post-harvest Facilities Projects in the Philippines
Venue: House of Representatives, Quezon City
01 DECEMBER 2015
Pulong Saliksikan on Potential Economic Benefits of the Philippines from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership
18/F, Three Cyberpod Centris – North Tower, EDSA corner Quezon Avenue, Quezon City
02 DECEMBER 2015
PIDS-CPBRD Forum Series: A System-wide Study of the Logistics Industry in the Greater Capital Region
Venue: House of Representatives, Quezon City
09 DECEMBER 2015
PIDS-CPBRD Forum Series: Toward an Effective Regulatory Management System for the Philippines
Venue: House of Representatives, Quezon City
16 DECEMBER 2015
Policy Forum on Impact Evaluation
Venue: Marco Polo Ortigas
Ortigas Center, Pasig City |
POLICY NOTES
The Philippines is on track in the detection and cure of tuberculosis (TB) under the Directly Observed Treatment Short Course. However, it is still struggling to meet its target of reducing the incidence and deaths linked with the disease. This Policy Note discusses the barriers that hinder the early diagnosis of TB among the poor living in highly urbanized areas of Metro Manila, Davao, and Cebu. It also aims to develop specific strategies for effective case detection and early diagnosis among the urban poor population. The study reveals that cultural factors remain an important barrier. Specifically, the opportunity costs of going to a health facility induce them to forego or delay treatment. Private health facilities are also preferred over government health facilities for TB consultations and treatments.
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The prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) in diabetic patients and of diabetes mellitus (DM) in TB patients is an area of concern. With the Philippines being endemic for TB and compounded by an upward trend for DM, there is a need to jointly address this tandem disease interaction. This Policy Note provides additional information to support an integrated approach to the considerable double burden of TB and DM. Among the key concerns raised by the study include the cost of bidirectional screening, the time required in busy outpatient services to carry out the screening tests, the need to build awareness of the tandem disease interaction among patients, and the creation of an integrated management system for TB-DM surveillance, control, and management.
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Catastrophic illnesses can impoverish a household due to unmanageable expenditures that arise from their treatment or management. The Z Benefits program of PhilHealth aims to protect Filipinos from financial catastrophe due to certain medical conditions. The cases included in the Z benefits program, however, are few, and only selected government hospitals provide the Z benefits. Using the private sector to address the limitations of the current Z benefits packages will enable the government to provide financial protection to more Filipinos.
This Policy Note finds that a supplemental fund from the private sector for catastrophic illness financing is currently not feasible. One of the recommendations in this Note to further involve the private sector is to enhance the current situation. The private sector provides supplemental insurance through health maintenance organizations (HMOs), insurance companies, and self-insured companies by providing Z benefits in private hospitals. This can be a common ground for PhilHealth, HMOs, and self-insured companies to serve their clients or employees for catastrophic illnesses.
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By design, the PhilHealth Customer Assistance, Relations and Empowerment Staff (CARES) project provides a member/patient-focused service that mediates between the individual and the huge government machinery as well as with stakeholders such as hospitals and health-care providers. This Policy Note describes the overall goals and objectives of the program and how these are understood by the program managers and staff in selected areas in the National Capital Region. It evaluates the extent to which these goals and objectives were met, as well as the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats as perceived by the CARES managers and staff. Helping patients obtain benefits and hospitals process their claims were some of the strengths and opportunities of CARES. The challenges posed by poor technical and logistical support, lack of efficient monitoring and evaluation systems, and the absence of job tenure were among the weaknesses and threats that PhilHealth has to contend with.
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Losses from postharvest are one of the most common problems in agriculture. This Policy Note summarizes the key findings of an evaluation of postharvest facilities (PHFs) in the Philippines. The study looked into the effectiveness of PHFs to generate the needed evidence if these are worthy of further investments and to have a basis in upgrading value chains and improving the economic outcomes for small farmers. Overall, the PHFs assessed were found to have a positive impact in addressing postharvest losses and improving the marketing system for rice and high-value crops. They helped increase farmers’ income through the production of good-quality milled rice and the reduction of postharvest losses. However, more benefits can be realized if capital for paddy procurement can be increased and if issues related to the PHFs’ management, operation, viability, and sustainability can be addressed.
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DISCUSSION PAPERS
Proposals to reform the personal income tax has gained prominence in recent months. This paper aims to evaluate the various proposals in both houses of Congress to amend the existing personal income legislation. Proposals to amend the personal income tax schedule appear to be well-justified from the perspective of (i) the need to eliminate the bracket creep and (ii) easing the tax burden on Filipino personal income taxpayers relative to their ASEAN neighbors. The projected revenue loss from proposals to restructure the personal income tax is best seen in the context of the government’s overall revenue and tax effort. Fiscal prudence dictates that new revenue measures be found to compensate for the projected revenue loss that will arise as a result of the implementation of any one of the various proposals to restructure the personal income tax. Thus, the questions that beg to be asked is: What new revenue measure or combination of measures will allow government to recover the revenue loss from the new personal income tax structure? Possibilities include increasing the VAT rate, excise tax on petroleum products, and road user’s tax.
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Massive Open Online Courses and their advent and rising popularity have had a profound impact on the sphere of education. Whether they are seen as an opportunity or a potentially disruptive threat to current pedagogies, their promise of offering low-cost quality education to all has certainly captured the imagination of everyone, especially those in higher education institutions, causing them to rethink their policies. Faced with shrinking budgets and rising costs, in a country where the price of quality education is high and access to it remains a serious concern, stakeholders in Philippine state universities and colleges ask: Does this new model present an opportunity to re-envision how they deliver instruction, giving greater accessibility to all students, or does it merely represent a fad, providing little or no assurance of improving student learning outcomes? This paper attempts to answer these questions by summarizing and analyzing the issues, challenges, threats, opportunities, and implications brought about by the phenomenon. It is intended to give these stakeholders a better understanding of the new paradigm that may guide them in formulating policies and specific strategies to address the continuing movement toward openness in education, and in so doing, they may ultimately fulfill the promise embodied in our Constitution—to provide affordable quality education accessible to all.
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Under the World Trade Organization, the Philippines has maintained special treatment for rice, which expires in July 2017. Tariffication will involve greater competition from imports and the decline of domestic paddy prices, thereby reducing income of rice farmers. This study evaluates various payment schemes to serve as safety nets for rice farmers after tariffication. Evaluation considers international experience with such schemes based on cost, efficiency, and coverage of farmers. A decoupled payment scheme linked to above-baseline imports emerges as the most favorable option. Financial viability of the payment scheme is further subjected to scenario analysis using a supply-demand model. Results suggest that significant financial support can be provided to the average rice farmer, with cost below the projected revenues from the rice tariff.
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This paper has two parts. The first part presents and discusses the 2011 Philippine National Transfer Accounts (NTA) estimates for selected flow accounts components, the most recent estimates available for the country, and compares the 2011 to the 1991 and 1999 estimates. The second part, also covering the years 1991, 1999, and 2011, examines change in Philippine population age structure, discusses economic gains from population change and the implications of economic lifecycle change on the economic gain. In the first part, more recent information about the economic lifecycle of Filipinos is provided from the 2011 NTA. The 2011 Philippine NTA national level estimates for per capita consumption and labor income age profiles are compared to corresponding components of the 1991 and 1999 NTA estimates to determine the general directions and relative sizes of change over time.
In the second part of the paper, findings about the per capita age profiles from the first part are used. The changes in the age structure of the Philippine population over the three years are also examined. The effects of change in the population age structure and change in the economic lifecycle on economic gain are examined in the second part of the paper in two ways: using aggregate flows estimates of the NTA for the three years and using economic support ratios as defined in the NTA also computed for the three years.
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 Health Facilities Enhancement Program needs serious improvement, study says
A study by state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies urges the Department of Health (DOH) to address serious flaws and challenges in the implementation of its Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP).
The research team of Oscar F. Picazo, Ida Marie T. Pantig, and Nina Ashley O. dela Cruz released their findings in a policy note titled, "More than infrastructure and equipment: Process evaluation of the Health Facilities Enhancement Program". Their evaluation of the DOH program revealed gaps in implementing practices in medical infrastructure.
The problematic areas they identified included service delivery, commissioned contracting, funding for building facilities, coordination, and facility licensing. Addressing the problems in these areas, urged the authors, will help improve the management of the HFEP.
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 PHOTO RELEASE: Assessment of BUB program presented in Congress
Dr. Rosario Manasan, senior research fellow at state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), presents the key findings of an assessment of the government's bottom-up budgeting (BUB) program. The BUB program was launched with a twin objective of promoting participatory budgeting processes at the national and local levels, and of helping the poorest local government units (LGUs) work their way out of poverty by providing additional funding for the most critical poverty-alleviating programs identified by the LGUs and civil society organizations (CSOs).
Now on its fourth year, the program has performed well in accomplishing its first objective. The PIDS research team led by Manasan conducted focused group discussions and key informant interviews with the LGU officials, CSO leaders and members, and other parties involved in the BUB. They learned that the CSO participants were generally pleased with the BUB.
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 PHOTO RELEASE: MMDA urged to improve on regulatory foundations
In response to the invitation of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Philippine Institute for Development Studies President Dr. Gilberto Llanto delivered a lecture on the regulatory management system (RMS) on October 26 before its officials and staff. RMS was this year's Development Policy Research Month theme.
Llanto emphasized that it is critical to talk about regulation reforms and regulatory quality measures in anticipation of the upcoming integration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
He encouraged the MMDA's leaders to consider applying regulatory tools like regulatory impact statement and regulatory impact assessment to improve their planning and regulatory designs. A genuine answer to public criticisms would be to improve MMDA's policies and regulations by relying on evidence-based research, he said.
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 PHOTO RELEASE: PIDS assessment of the bottom-up budgeting presented in Senate
Dr. Rosario G. Manasan, senior research fellow at state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), receives a Certificate of Appreciation from Senate Secretary Atty. Oscar Yabes for presenting the results of an assessment done by PIDS of the bottom-up budgeting (BUB) process, at the opening of the Senate Centennial Lecture Series on November 5, 2015. Also in the photo (L-R) are Senate Economic and Planning Office (SEPO) Director-General Ronald Golding, Senate Sergeant-at-Arms M/Gen. Jose Balajadia Jr., and PIDS President Gilberto Llanto.
Started in March 2012, the BUB aims to promote the participation of grassroots organizations in the planning and budgeting processes and to enhance the identification of poverty reduction projects. The assessment done by PIDS focused mainly on the BUB process such as how the key steps in the planning and prioritization of projects under the BUB for the FY 2016 and previous cycles were implemented on the ground. Specifically, it looks at the extent of civil society organizations' (CSOs) participation in the BUB, the quality of their participation, and the engagement between local government units and CSOs. The PIDS report identified several bottlenecks affecting the participation of CSOs in the BUB, such as lack of inclusiveness in issuing invitations, overrepresentation of some CSOs, political interference of the local chief executive in the prioritization of projects, and lack of social preparation of the CSOs.
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 Development Policy Research Month calls for coherent regulatory management system
"There is a need to institutionalize good regulatory practice as we move to the ASEAN Economic Community."
Deputy Director-General Emmanuel Esguerra of the National Economic and Development Authority maintained that ensuring the quality of regulations through the building of a coherent regulatory system is crucial for the Philippines not only to keep up with its regional neighbors but also to build a sustainable and inclusive society--one where growth is felt at all levels.
In his keynote remarks at the Policy Dialogue on Effective Regulations for Sustainable Growth organized by state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies last September in Makati City to celebrate the 13th Development Policy Research Month, Esguerra emphasized the need to review the country's regulatory system to address barriers to trade and boost investments.
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TOTAL EXTERNAL DEBT
 The total external debt stood at USD 74.99 we do not use the dollar symbol billion as of end of June 2015. This marks a slide from first quarter's USD 75.32 billion.
Source: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
VIEW TABLE for the time-series data on total external debt. |
GROSS INTERNATIONAL RESERVES
 The gross international reserves (GIR) based on preliminary data rose to USD 81.14 billion by end of October 2015. This is slightly higher by USD 0.59 billion from end of September. The GIR remains ample as it can cover 10.4 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and income.
Source: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
VIEW TABLE for the time-series data on gross international reserves. |
INFLATION RATE
 The year-on-year headline inflation rate in October 2015 remained at 0.4 percent, which is the same as that of last month. As noted in the press release of the Philippine Statistics Authority, higher annual rates for the indices for alcoholic beverages and tobacco, clothing and footwear, health, and transport were observed. On the other hand, rates for the following indices decelerated: food and non-alcoholic beverages; furnishing, household equipment, and routine maintenance of the house; and recreation and culture. Meanwhile, the core inflation rate slightly went up to 1.5 percent in October from 1.4 percent in September 2015.
Source: Philippine Statistics Authority - National Statistics Office
VIEW TABLE for the time-series data on year-on-year inflation rate. |
PESO-DOLLAR EXCHANGE RATE
 The average peso-dollar exchange rate went down to 46.3609 in October, from 46.7504 in September. It shows that the peso had become relatively stronger compared to the US dollar. However, this figure is still higher compared to 44.798 in the same period last year.
Source: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
VIEW TABLE for the time-series data on monthly average peso-dollar exchange rate. |
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