Directing government subsidies to social services such as health care is expected to bring about positive external/social benefits and improve equity in access to health services. In general, government spending on health is envisioned to improve the well-being of beneficiaries and enhance their...

The progress made by the national government in consolidating its fiscal position between 2002 and 2006 proved unsustainable as its revenue effort started to go down once again in 2007 after a brief improvement in 2005-2007. With the more expansionary stance taken by the government in 2009 as...

Basic public education is still largely the responsibility of the central government, delivered through the Department of Education (DepEd), notwithstanding the devolution of many basic services to local government units (LGUs). However, LGUs do provide supplementary funding support to public...

The 2011 and 2012 fiscal program appears to score high in terms of contributing to the speed of fiscal consolidation despite limited gains in revenue generation. This came about largely because of fairly serious underspending during the first nine months of 2011. The slow utilization of spending...

Highly unequal access to health services and the large share of household out-of-pocket spending in total health expenditures underscore the importance of attaining universal health coverage. This study evaluates the major challenges involved in moving toward universal coverage of the Philippine...

This study aims to review and assess (i) the sources and uses of funds of state universities and colleges (SUCs); (ii) the impact of the application normative funding formula (NFF) for SUCs; and (iii) the utilization of the Higher Education Development Fund (HEDF) with the end in view of...

The amendment of the existing excise tax law on tobacco and alcoholic products is the only revenue measure that the Aquino administration has certified as urgent to date. This paper reviews and evaluates the different versions of both houses of the sin tax reform measure. Republic Act (RA)...

This study presents an evaluation of the National Expenditure Program for 2013. First, this paper projects that the fiscal targets set out in the Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing (BESF) for 2013 are likely to be met. Specifically, fiscal deficit is projected to be PHP 9.6 billion...