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01 JANUARY 2005 |
| Yearender: Deficit target on track while tax collections improved in 2004 -- DoF |
The Department of Finance (DoF) has reported that the government’s deficit target for this year was on track and that revenue collections have improved, providing a good start for the national government to achieve its goal of balancing the budget possibly within the six-year term of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. In its Annual Accomplishment Report submitted to Malacanang, the DoF said that during the first 11 months of 2004, the national government performed better than programmed as a result of better revenue collections and prudent spending. The DoF said that as of the end of November, the deficit was contained at P160.2 billion, compared to P172.2 billion for the same period in 2003 while revenue collections reached a total of P637.5 billion, representing 94.2 percent of the full-year program and a 12.5 percent improvement compared to that of the same period in 2003. Intensified efforts to improve tax collections along with the continued tight spending policy would enable the national government to contain the 2004 deficit within the target of P197.8 billion, which is 4.2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), the DoF said. The DoF said that Republic Act No. 9334, which the President signed in Dec. 21, 2004, increasing the excise tax imposed on alcohol and tobacco products would also further improve government finances. The law, which takes effect on Jan. 1, 2005, is expected to raise an additional P15 billion annually. Aside from the increase in excise tax on alcohol and tobacco products, the House of Representatives has also passed the general tax amnesty, rationalization of fiscal incentives, and the lateral attrition and special incentive system for revenue generating agencies. The DoF said that a consolidated tax bill on the increase in the valued added tax (VAT) from the present 10 percent to 12 percent and the lifting of certain VAT exemptions has likewise been proposed and is now being deliberated by Congress. During the year, the DoF said that it has also implemented tax administration reforms designed to improve collection and curb corruption within the main revenue generating agencies, namely the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BoC). The BoC has made a great headway in combating smuggling, with a total of 385 apprehensions made with an estimated value of P1.044 billion while 16 Customs bonded warehouses found to be smuggling conduits were closed down. With the creation of the Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS) under Executive Order No. 259 issued last Dec. 17, 2003, the drive against graft and corruption in attached agencies, notably the BIR and BoC, has produced positive results. As a result of the lifestyle check, the RIPS has filed 14 graft cases with the Ombudsman involving 11 officials from the BIR and three from the BoC. Of the 11 BIR officials charged, one Regional Director has already been dismissed for perjury and dishonesty. Of the three BoC officials charged at the Ombudsman, one was already meted suspension while the two others are under preliminary investigation. The DoF said that the government’s privatization policy is geared towards reducing budget deficits, attracting private investments and reducing the government’s role in business. Total receipts from the government’s privatization program from January to November in 2004 amounted to P339 million, the DoF said. |
| Yearender: DOST reports strides in S&T applications and research and development program |
General public awareness and implementation of the science and technology (S&T) projects, which were identified as priority in the 2002–2004 National Science and Technology Plan (NSTP), were the main focus of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in 2004. In its yearend report to Malacanang, the DOST said that it had placed greater emphasis on making the general public fully aware of research results and innovations with significant commercial potentials. The DOST also continued to implement programs and projects aimed at improving the nation’s productivity and competitiveness, promoting S&T development, and the broadening access to quality S&T services for economic growth, job creation, and disaster preparedness, among others. The DOST said that all their efforts were designed to meet the goals of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s 10-point legacy agenda. For year 2004, the DOST has achieved major accomplishments they presented into three key result areas, namely: S&T services for economic growth, job creation and disaster mitigation; Research and Development (R&D) results used for productivity and new wealth creation; and science and technology capacity building. In S&T services, the DOST disseminated knowledge and technology to the poor through the Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP) and the Technology Transfer Program it developed for adoption by private entities. In 2004, the SETUP was able to assist 337 small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) and conducted 380 technology interventions that resulted in the creation of 7,129 additional jobs. Likewise, the average increase in gross revenues of client SMEs was reported at 30 percent in 2004. Moreover, a total of 353 SMEs were provided with packaging and labeling services. According to the DOST, these SMEs have developed capacity and confidence to export products to markets in the Unites States, Italy, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Norway, France, Germany, China and Australia, to name a few. Under its Technology Transfer Program, the DOST reported a total of 40 technology adoptors during the year. The technologies developed by the Forest Product R&D Institute, like kiln dryers and spray booths for the furniture industry, have had the most number of adoptors. Since the Philippines is prone to natural hazards the DOST had continued providing scientific and technological services through timely dissemination of accurate hydrological, meteorological, volcanological and seismological informations through its Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical & Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) and Philippine Institute of Volcanology & Seismology (PHIVOLCS). Other DOST accomplishments in the field of R&D are as follows:
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| Afable cites gains of Macapagal-Arroyo administration in 2004 |
Communications Director Secretary Silvestre Afable described the year 2004 as an extremely challenging year for the Arroyo administration because it was "reform and change driven." "When a leader starts to take bold steps to change the national landscape, there is bound to be resistance, frustration and disenchantment, but these will pass," Afable said. "The President exercised strong leadership in 2004 at the expense of her own popularity in order to commit the nation to a long-term vision of stability and growth," Afable noted. "People are hopeful and fully support the legitimacy of the Arroyo administration despite transient difficulties…destabilizers miscalculate the public mood when they think they can whip up revolutionary action," he added. "We are the past era of hate politics and people are settling down to doable community centered solutions and listening to sensible leadership; the opposition should read the writing on the wall," he stressed. Afable said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had set a clear agenda to fight poverty and turn the economy around during the early weeks of her presidency. "The final Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan was encoded by the President personally," Afable noted. It contains the President’s 10-point legacy agenda also known for its acronym, "Beat the Ods" for Balanced Budget, Education for All, Automated Elections, Transport Infrastructure, Terminate NPA and MILF Hostilities, Heal the Wounds of EDSA 1, 2 and 3, Electricity for All, Opportunities for Livelihood and Jobs, Decongestion of Metro Manila, and Subic-Clark Alliance. Within the first hundred days of the President’s term, she successfully resolved a hostage crisis in Iraq involving Filipino worker Angelo dela Cruz. His abductors freed Dela Cruz after the Philippine government withdrew its small humanitarian contingent two weeks in advance of its original schedule. The Department of Foreign Affairs, in partnership with the United Nations and Afghan government, was also successful in securing the safe release of UN volunteer worker Angelito Nayan who was abducted, together with two of his companions, by a bandit group in the said country. The President initially received flak from some quarters for announcing a fiscal crisis that caught several sectors, including businessmen and legislators, off guard. Her declaration, however, resulted in concrete action for government reforms ranging from severe austerity measures to congressional action on major tax measures. "Dissension over what constituted a fiscal crisis gave way to a convergence of action in support of the President’s fiscal roadmap to raise revenues while pruning public expenditures," Afable pointed out. He said more than 1,000 municipal mayors, coming from different political parties all over the archipelago, passed a unified resolution of support for the economic reform initiatives of the President aimed at bailing the country out of the fiscal crisis. "The march towards fiscal stability continues with our congressional leaders accepting the President’s call for a special session to pass additional revenue measures. This affirms the strong solidarity between the executive and legislative branches of government to move our country forward," Secretary Afable stressed. Before offering his own shortlist of the administration’s major accomplishments in 2004, he credits the Filipino people for its resilient and patriotic spirit that has contributed to a stable economy and relative political peace. "Despite several crisis in 2004, we have risen as one nation to meet and surmount these challenges guided by the national interest and strong faith in the Almighty," Afable said. Below is the Communications Director’s own shortlist of the Arroyo administration’s key accomplishments for 2004.
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