Services demandable

“Rody had given notice that there should be no exception in demanding what’s due the public in terms of services paid for with hard-earned money.

Truly enraging was finding out that hard-earned money paid to the government in terms of taxes is going down the drain, which was the curse in the previous regime and is now being remedied with the tax to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio rising to somewhere between 15.8 percent to 16 percent this year.

The equation provides a good view on how efficiently the government collects the citizenry’s share in national development which was not the case in the previous regime.

Commonly heard from former President Noynoy Aquino’s speeches was that his administration had spent public money well and that Filipinos got their due in terms of government services.

Not so, based on the reckoning of the rendering of services compared to taxes collected done by the University of the Philippines School of Economics.

The computation showed the tax effort was only at 13.68 percent in 2016, and government spending net of interest payments as percent of GDP was 13.2 percent indicating that the government took more taxes from Filipinos than what it gave back to them in terms of public goods, services, and setting up of infrastructure.

“Put differently, the average Filipino paid more taxes to the government than what he received from it in terms of public goods and services,” the study noted.

It also analyzed the impact of low government spending on the economic development which found that as a percent of GDP, government spending net of interest payments actually fell then.

Thus the impact of the Aquino administration’s policy actions on the economy was negative, debunking the claim that government spending has stimulated the economy.

Stimulating the economy was also the excuse of Noynoy and his Budget Secretary Abad in creating the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), which the Supreme Court in a 2004 ruling said its creation was against the Constitution.

DAP funding which reached a total of P140 billion was proven to have been a huge slush fund for political allies of Noynoy and the Liberal Party.

The productive part of the budget which is government spending less interest payments even shrank during Noynoy’s watch.

It was 13.6 percent of GDP in 2010 when President Gloria Arroyo exited and Noynoy took over from 14.2 percent in 2009. It was 13.2 percent of GDP under Noynoy.

The report said that the numbers indicated how small government spending for goods and services was during the period making incredulous the administration’s claim that the Aquino government is responsible for the growth of economy.

The share of government spending shot up to 21.77 percent in 2018 under Rody mainly as a result of the “Build, Build, Build” push.

Lower deficits and even a surplus in the budget has been recorded under Noynoy, not because of fiscal management but because of underspending which means less government services are being delivered.

The report also showed the Philippines did not attract as much foreign direct investments (FDI) compared to its ASEAN-6 peers (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam). The flow of FDI hitting a bump during Noynoy’s term also contributed to the lack of jobs then.

The study also noted that low agricultural output because of policy neglect in the previous regime led to the high unemployment rate.

Reduced farm activities means more labor released from the agricultural sector to join the work force in the industry and the services sectors, resulting to higher overall unemployment and lower real wages.

The efficient use of public money meant services are rendered to the last centavo that Filipinos shell out, which was the basis of government efforts in running after the water concessionaires that failed to render their obligations under their contracts.

Rody had given notice that there should be no exception in demanding what’s due the public in terms of services paid for with hard-earned money.