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BY Chino S. Leyco, Reporter
CLARK FIELD, Pampanga: The
foreign donors committee wants a uniform procurement system for the
Philippines to help lessen rampant corruption in the government,
economic official said Thursday.
On the sidelines of the
Philippines Development Forum, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr.
said the government and its partners agreed there is now a need to
institutionalize the harmonization of procurement system and manuals
with ODA partners through Implementing Rules and Regulations-B (IRR-B).
“It’s about time we came up
with uniform rules, [and] the World Bank is pace-setting the
benchmark on this,” Andaya told reporters.
He also said the government is
seeking a committee composed of all donors that can speak with one
goal and draft the guidelines within one year. The guidelines will
include bid ceiling and how funds will be used.
Participants in the PDF
identified deepening procurement reform as a priority in improving
efficiency and accountability in the use of public funds. The
government earlier implemented the procurement law, which includes
the use of electronic procurement and consistent application of open
competitive bidding methods.
Spend more than balance budget
In the same forum, the
international financial community expressed support for a programmed
balanced budget, and proposed that the Philippines spend more on
priority sectors amid possible US economic recession rather than aim
for zero budget gap scenarios at the end of the year.
Bert Hofman, World Bank’s
country director, said the government has to keep its revenue
efforts on track if it wants to raise its revenue collections. He
added the country should be prepared for increased spending in the
face of looming global economic slowdown this year.
“There was a broad consensus at
the meeting that it would be best to have extra spending only if
there are extra revenues at this point in time. Strengthen the
revenue-based remains very important,” Hofman.
Finance Secretary Margarito Teves
said the government has to work with the Bureaus of Internal Revenue
and Customs to support the expenditure program of the government.
“What is definite is we will not sacrifice spending for priority
expenditures such as rice for the poor, social services and
infrastructure,” Teves told reporters.
Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya
Jr. said it is more acceptable to have a deficit this year than to
see people suffering from hunger, adding the government will
maintain its commitment to increase revenue collections amid higher
expenditure.
Standard Chartered Bank earlier
said balancing the budget this year becomes more challenging as a
result of an expected slowdown in the Philippine economy and a
“moderation” in remittances of overseas Filipino workers.
Standard Chartered added that the
target may be impossible to meet because the dollar is expected to
correct itself in the second and third quarters as a result of
deterioration of trade balance in the near term.
The multilateral lender, however,
said poor capacity and weak incentives in the revenue agencies
remain a severe constraint to implementing tax administration
improvements.
“The rationalization of
fiscal incentives and excise taxes would be an important step. These
reforms will raise tax effort on a sustainable basis,” Hofman
said.
The Department of Finance earlier
expressed apprehension over the programmed balanced budget amid the
slowdown in the US economy, but clarified it would stick to the
original plan of zero budget gaps.
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