When the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII) invited President Benigno S. Aquino III to grace the opening ceremony of its 29th Biennial Convention, little did its members expect that his speech would be a reminder to pay taxes.
President Aquino started his speech with praise for outgoing president FFCCCII President Tan Ching and delighted his audience with some Chinese phrases. Nice warm-up. Then he warned that he was going to speak on a sensitive topic. Proceeding thus, he cited statistics that Filipino-Chinese businessmen were lacking in the fulfillment of civic duties by evading or underpaying taxes due the government. He also gently reminded them that BIR Chief Kim Henares is very much on the job. That after April 15, she will start hounding tax evaders.
I cannot speak for the Filipino-Chinese business community. Nor am I in any way condoning or rationalizing the non-payment or underpayment of taxes. But the truth is, I think the willingness to pay taxes is influenced by the extent to which we see how our taxes are spent. And I suspect that quite a few other Filipinos think so too.
Civic servants, notably our rank-and-file public school teachers, policemen, soldiers and other public employees, continue to receive a pittance even while they perform duties vital to the state. They frequently have to supplement their meager incomes in order to make ends meet.
Some public schools lack classrooms, which forces classes to be held elsewhere or on staggered schedules. And we wonder why the quality of our education is falling apart.
Go down to public hospitals like PGH, and you will see thousands of our countrymen desperately seeking medical care which they cannot afford, serviced by limited facilities and resources.
Look at housing conditions which average-income families must contend with, and you are reminded that there is a great lack of decent dwellings, which of course many cannot afford.
As for the paucity of infrastructure, the agony of the rush-hour commute for hundreds of thousands of Metro Manila residents on EDSA and other main thoroughfares is only one facet of this sad reality.
Poverty remains a way of life among the majority of our countrymen. Often, you only have to walk on a downtown sidewalk to see it for yourself.
Yet from the taxes we pay, we know so much is wasted. For instance, public money in the form of Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) and Countryside Development Funds (CDF) continues to be allocated to legislators, Php 200 million per senator and Php 70 million per congressman. In 2012 these funds totaled over Php 24 billion, a hefty increase from Php 6.9 billion in 2010. Planned allocations for 2013 will balloon further to Php 30 billion. We are told that to ensure the lawmakers do not have total control of these funds, the executive agencies implement the bidding out of projects. But there is difficulty verifying the authenticity of beneficiaries of the pork barrel. One example: the COA’s recent findings that the allocation of P206 million from the pork barrel funds of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Senator Jinggoy Estrada, Senator Ramon Revilla Jr. and former Buhay party list Representative Rene Velarde benefited a fake non-government organization through the Department of Agriculture. When questioned by the media, the senators criticized the timing of the report, or feigned innocence and outrage. So where is the accountability in all this?
Like so many other citizens, I oppose the existence of the pork barrel because, apart from opportunities for malfeasance, it promotes political patronage which hinders true political reform. I am hardly the first to have made such an observation, but the pork barrel is perhaps the most blatant example of how tax revenue should not be spent. Our lawmakers defend the pork barrel because they say it benefits the poor. In effect, the pork barrel provides dole-outs, some of which may reach the poorest of the poor. But obviously, it creates a cycle of dependency. The poor go to politicians so that some of their basic needs at least may be served. They say that poverty demands the continued existence of the pork barrel. But wouldn’t it be more forward-looking if the President used the money directly for initiatives to drive economic development, such as putting more resources into education and ensuring a healthy business climate to provide more jobs for people? That direction would be more fitting for the son of the two most prominent political icons of our society. Instead, he substantially increased the pork barrel which, like it or not, offers cause for corruption and the perpetuation of political patronage.
Although the government has the mandate and responsibility to ensure proper collection of taxes, taxpayers should have every right to a meaningful accounting of how their money is spent. Addressing poverty alleviation and the reduction of socio-economic inequality are a fundamental challenge that have stared Filipinos in the face for the longest time. The public sector with its powers is necessarily the best driver of social, political and economic change, particularly because it controls policymaking as well as the single biggest collection of resources in the country.
So a fundamental change should not only be the significant improvement of revenue collection. Just as importantly - and this is hardly a novel thought – perhaps it’s high time we revisit the idea of overhauling the system by which government allocates and spends revenue. But it is a relevant thought, if we are to be reminded to pay taxes and to pay them correctly, as Pres. Aquino did at the FFCCCII.
The more responsible spending of public revenue by all branches and sectors of government calls for strong political will on the part of our president, who is known for his rallying cry of “matuwid na daan.” The appropriate payment of taxes, and not only by certain segments of the business community, must come with the public sector spending tax revenue efficiently and with greater transparency. If such a balance were to be achieved, it would be one of our most important political and institutional reforms. Maybe then Juan de la Cruz might start to feel the benefits of the growth in GDP that our government is so proud of.
