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SWP to Senator Angara: Senator Ejercito has done his part to raise tobacco tax; now it’s your turn | SWP PR 2 Oct 2018
SOCIALWATCH PHILS·TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2018

SWP to Senator Angara: Senator Ejercito has done his part to raise tobacco tax; now it’s your turn

Social Watch Philippines (SWP) has once again challenged Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sonny Angara to do his job and start holding meetings on the proposed legislation on increased tobacco tax or Senate Bill 1605.

Senator Joseph Victor JV Ejercito, the proponent of Senate Bill 1605 which raises tobacco tax to P90/pack says that the measure is meant to ensure that there will be less new smokers. Furthermore, it is a source of additional funding for Senate Bill 1896 or the Universal Health Care bill (UHC).

Meanwhile, SWP continues to express its disappointment on the inaction of Senator Angara as the bill has been pending for almost a year without public hearings and consultations, despite citizens’ clamor for tobacco tax increase.

Social Watch questions
gov’t poverty stats

A CIVIL SOCIETY GROUP advocating citizens’ participation in public finance has challenged the Aquino administration’s latest poverty statistics that tend to show a significant cut in poverty rates.

Ex-treasurer scores P282.2-billion presidential ‘pork’ for ‘Yolanda’

Former National Treasurer and Social Watch Philippines Convenor Prof. Leonor Magtolis-Briones questioned the P282.5-billion “presidential pork,” which is way higher than the P33-billion rehabilitation funds for Yolanda victims. She said a huge portion of the P2.264-trillion national budget for 2014 included the Special Purpose Funds (SPF) worth P282.5 billion, or the “lump-sum appropriations.” She said these funds replaced the controversial P25.6-billion pork-barrel funds that were realigned in key line agencies. Briones said it is not surprising that these funds are now the so-called presidential pork, since the disbursements will only be upon approval of President Aquino.

Features

Random Reflections on Day One of the UN Summit

Security was tight during the Papal address at the Opening Plenary of the UN Summit, so I missed these events as only a few civil society representatives could be accommodated, but certainly this was better than Addis Ababa during the 3rd Financing for Conference. The UN General Assembly formally adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the opening session without further debate as the document had gone through months of debates ad revisions before Member States agreed on the final text.

Programs

Social Development and MDGS

Healing the World and
Making it a Better Place

The world free of poverty is yet to be. What we are seeing now is a World that is hurting, and so deeply that there seems to be no relief or end in sight. It is now 20 years from Rio when and where most everyone agreed humanity was at a defining moment. Back then, we thought we had the answer. Now, we are not sure anymore. The human race and the planet are ailing and the present is not the future we wanted 20 years ago.

Alternative Budget Initiative

Reclaiming the People’s Purse

Public funds came from the people and should therefore be utilized primarily to ensure better quality of life for the people. But dowe hear actual voices of slum dwellers, indigenous people, farmers, fishers and persons with disabilities when the local and national budgets are being formulated and planned? Peoples’ money should improve people’s lives. Government invested billions of public funds to end poverty; but global and national economic growth left 1.9 billion people poorer and hungrier and with less opportunity for shelter, healthcare and education.

People's Public Finance Institute (PPFI)

SWP spearheads the ceation of People's Public Finance Institute, a learning center for both state and non-state actors towards making public fiance a major concern of every citizen; not just of a very small group of experts. The institute set-ups local learning hubs based in unversities and operated by pool of cadres from the academe committed to share expertise and engage the public finance processes.

Regional and Global Initiatives

Social Watch Asia and
Social Watch International

At the global level, Social Watch engages governments, the UN system, and international organizations for the fulfillment of national, regional and international commitments to eradicate poverty and achieve social progress. It regularly monitors progress and shortfall in social development based on the government’s commitment to various international conferences and agreements as consolidated in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).