27 December 2013

Taxman vs Pacquiao hits need for Philippines reform

Asia Times Online has included my commentary as one of the front-page features of their year-end edition, specifically under the sections 'Business in Asia Today', 'Southeast Asia', and 'Speaking Freely'. I'm republishing the text here.


Taxman vs Pacquiao hits need for Philippines reform
By Bonn Juego 
Asia Times Online, 23 December 2013
Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao's latest contest pitches him against the country's tax commissioner, Kim Henares, who has entered the ring with a US$50 million payment demand. The dispute sheds light on much deeper issues and the need for economic reform in the Philippines.
Something important is emerging from a high-profile battle between the Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and the country's prominent tax reformer, Kim Henares. With typical humor, the local press likes to present it as a fight between the Pacman and the Taxman. 

While their altercation has reached a kind of uneasy impasse for the time being - with each side blaming the other - it actually sheds light on much deeper issues of financial probity, transparency and accountability, and therefore the possibilities for much-needed economic reform in the Philippines.

The tax issue came to light when Pacquiao held a press conference on his return to the Philippines a few days after making a successful comeback in his latest fight in November. He made a popular (and populist) promise to help the victims of the catastrophic Super Typhoon Haiyan, but he could not immediately do so because his domestic bank accounts had been frozen by the tax authorities.

The allegations were serious: tax evasion on a huge scale - 2.2 billion pesos (almost US$50 million) according to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) - on income earned in lucrative fights in the United States in 2008 and 2009 when he was at the pinnacle of his career.

Pacquiao is no ordinary celebrity. Besides being considered the best pound-for-pound fighter of his generation, the only man to win world titles in eight weight divisions, the former street kid is also a very wealthy man. Even last year, Forbes magazine listed him as the 14th highest-paid athlete globally.

Pacquiao has also waded into the sometimes murky world of Philippine politics when he was elected member of the House of Representatives, with ambitions of eventually becoming president.

Despite being aligned (for the time being at least) with the ruling administration of Benigno Aquino III, Pacquiao says that the freeze order is "political harassment". In his defense, he says everything is above board.

"I have already paid my taxes in America. Had I not paid the correct taxes they [US authorities] would have come after me and I would not have been able to travel there". 

And in a well-aimed dig at the widespread corruption of the political class, Pacquiao asserts that his hard-earned assets come from the blood, sweat, and tears of the tough fight game and are not stolen from the public coffers or acquired through indecent businesses.

For her part, the tax commissioner Kim Henares denies any harassment. She says the tax authorities are simply doing their job in investigating Pacquiao's undocumented tax payments. She shrugs off the letter from Pacquiao's promoter, Top Rank, saying he has paid his taxes in the United States: "This is a mere scrap of paper. Anyone can write that," she says.

A former World Bank senior private sector development specialist and key economic adviser to Aquino's good governance reform agenda, Henares has gained a reputation as a strong-willed tax collector. She has spearheaded a name-and-shame campaign against tax evaders, including movie stars and rich businessmen who flaunt their wealth. Henares has been much lauded, even by credit ratings agencies, for the BIR's unprecedented tax collection efforts over the past three years.

Beyond the headlines the case has spawned, some much bigger issues about the state of the Philippine economy are beginning to resonate. These are essentially about the creation of a critical mass of opinion in favor of much-needed tax and economic reforms. 

Filipinos have dared to question the "rule of law" from the point of view of justice and to criticize the rhetoric of "good governance" from the perspective of democracy. If the moment can be seized then the possibilities for a deepening of political democratization and socioeconomic development may come just a step closer.

The current conflict brought about by the Pacquiao-Henares exchanges opens up significant issues for rethinking not only policy changes with regard to the tax regime but also the overall processes of social reform and economic development.

I sketch out here four interrelated problem areas that trace the points of conflict that will frame the struggle for substantive policy reform.

  • First, I unpack the "for whom" question in the political economy of the Philippine taxation structure.
  • Second, I draw attention to the significance of principles behind tax and fiscal policies.
  • Third, I propose that tax reforms and the goal of redistribution must be linked with strategies for the development of the economic mode of production.
  • Lastly, I point out the futility of the "pro- versus anti-Aquino" discursive framing in contemporary policy debates for the formation of a movement towards economic reforms and social change. 

    The tax structure
    A deeper political-economic logic underpins the tax woes of Pacquiao, beyond accusations of politicking, the incompetence of his accountants, or the belief in spiritual trials. It is about the very structure of the enduring tax and fiscal system of the Philippines. As is well known, this is patterned after the US system, which puts the tax burden on wage earners while cocooning extreme wealth, property, investments, and corporations. 

    The structural logic of taxation has been institutionalized through the country's tax code, which legally accords tremendous powers to the BIR, particularly its commissioner. Thus, if the BIR had really pursued its legal mandate with integrity, it would do the same as Henares is doing now in her pursuit of Pacquiao to come clean (or perhaps be even tougher), no matter who sits in the president's Malacanang Palace. After all, the effective introduction and enforcement of tax rules only require political will on the part of the state. 

    The objective of tax reforms should not be limited to meeting and increasing target and collected revenues. It must, in essence, be about altering the prevailing tax structure that has only reinforced injustice, inequality, and poverty in the country. 

    The political economy of resource mobilization in the taxation system, which has been brokered by the power elites and sanctioned by the state without the countervailing opposition of labor unions, is effectively disciplining and, to a large extent, punishing rather than rewarding the following identifiable social groups:
  • The poor and middle classes through the expanded value-added tax law (E-VAT), which pushes up consumer prices;
  • The productive workers from contractual and regular employees to freelancers, professionals, and celebrities who pay taxes between 25% and 32% - virtually at the level of income taxes in developed countries including Scandinavian welfare states that have universal state provision of free and decent health care, education, infrastructure, and other public services;
  • The creative enterprises from small and medium-sized enterprises and online entrepreneurs to the hard-working street vendors of the "informal" economy and other wage laborers; and
  • The working class in general, from the service sector to the entertainment profession, who have no "job security" and are subject to exploitation by those who pay them wages and talent fees and by the state which imposes on them onerous taxes. 

    If this is the reality, then why does the fiscal policy not impose heavier taxes on other obvious targets:
  • The "useless rich" - the non-creative and non-innovative - among the country's landowning oligarchs, many of whom are elected to Congress and executive offices, whose power and wealth are derived from land and the real estate economy; 
  • The FIRE sector - finance, insurance, and real estate - whose wealth comes more from capital gains and not from productive labor; and 
  • The rentier capitalists among the rent-seeking monopolists and oligopolists who are regarded as "takers" - rather than "makers" - of the nation's economic wealth, and who extract substantial rents from state resources and institutions? 

    In a word, why place the principal burden of mobilizing state resources onto labor but off capital? 

    Principles of taxation
    In one of her media interviews, Henares exhorted Pacquiao not to ruin the image of the BIR. In reality, however, it is not the "legally" delinquent Pacquiao who has been eroding the credibility of the reforming BIR under Henares's leadership. It has always been the government and its functionaries themselves that make the bureau and the system of taxation that it enforces look bad.

    Popular public support for Pacquiao's grievances is just a symptom of the fundamental causes of people's historical distrust in the BIR and the taxation system. A crucial cause of civil disobedience is the felt and perceived corruption, ineffectiveness, unprofessionalism, inefficiency, and lack of creativity of state agencies - at every level from the central to local government, and notoriously the corrupt pork barrel system enjoyed by elected officials.

    The dedicated reformer Henares should therefore join the critical multitude in pressing her colleagues in the bureaucracy, her counterparts in all government agencies, and the elected leaders to work together towards a socioeconomic and political reform agenda to encourage responsible citizenship.

    It is opportune, then, to use the current Pacquiao-Henares spat to raise awareness and consciousness about the very principles, purposes and practices of taxation, and not merely its narrowly defined rules.

    A core principle of taxation is that it must be viewed in "relational" terms - that is, it is a social contract and relationship between the state and citizen taxpayer. As such, both the state and the citizen have rights and obligations. But there is a problem if the state only asserts its rights to tax citizens without fulfilling its obligations to provide for social welfare, infrastructure, and other programs for development and redistributive justice.

    Based on the logic of taxation, the Philippine state - and thus, the Filipino people - has an interest in the successful boxing career of Pacquiao because the state gets balato (a share) from his earnings in the form of income taxes, which are then used for government expenditure.

  • The same goes for the US government which taxes Pacquiao's earnings from work done within its territory. In principle, the state, in return for citizens' payment of taxes, provides rents in the form of incentives, protection, or other social provisions. The US government, for instance, goes as far as militarily protecting the local and global interests of its taxpaying corporations. To maintain a harmonious relationship between the state and citizen taxpayers, both of them must be engaged in a mutual give-and-take relationship.

    In this so-called "reform" process - or what others call a process of "nation building" - the existing unjust rules of taxation need to be seriously questioned, examined, and reformed. This is to be done by coming up with new principles as the bases for "rules" of state taxation that embody the collective interest and welfare of the Filipino people's existence in pursuit of the good life. 

    Economic mode of production as base for tax, redistribution
    Policy coordination of each and every government agency is a must to effectively attain the social and developmental goals of taxation. Otherwise, there will be a conflict between the overly enthusiastic tax collector and the disgruntled citizen taxpayers. 

    Basically, the fundamental principle applies: the people must feel and see how and where taxes are spent. It is the task of the government to make people appreciate and realize that taxation is a collective social development process in which the conduct of business - the producing, selling, and buying of goods and services - is a social activity that has socio-economic consequences and implicates the entire society.

    Recently, the BIR has expressed an intention to pursue taxing of "online sellers" and the "informal sector". This is not an easy job. The informal sector, which comprises the overwhelming majority of the country's workforce, belongs to the so-called "informal economy" precisely because those taking part in it are out of government's taxation circuit.

    For sure, there will be conflicts, especially in a situation where the government only enforces its right to tax people without fulfilling its responsibility to create conditions for "full" employment, let alone "formal" employment. The immediate and long-term strategy and goal for an effective taxation scheme - thus, an active and socially responsible citizenry in a sustainable economy - is to get people into formal employment.

    Further, the Philippine state has to assert that it is the only authority that has the monopoly power to tax people, incomes, properties, and business activities within its territory and sovereignty. The government has to seriously address those known illegal taxation operations by organized criminal groups and syndicates such as so-called "revolutionary taxes" and protection money, which are reportedly collected by armed groups in the countryside or crooks in the cities.

    State taxation essentially requires political will and scrupulous enforcement. These are necessary but insufficient conditions for change. Alongside political will, there must also be the material means for a viable taxation system - which, in reality, only an industrialized or industrializing economy can provide.

    Tax and fiscal policies can be strategically utilized to jump-start and strengthen the country's production system. In other words, the Philippines needs to develop an ecologically sustainable national production system built on the synergy between technologically intensive manufacturing industries, modern agriculture, high skilled services, and innovative SMEs.

    If this could be achieved, it would produce two sources of long-term tax revenues: (a) goods, services, and enterprises; and (b) fully employed workers. This would then provide the government with the means to efficiently and conscientiously spend taxes for social welfare and infrastructural development.

    In doing so, the Philippines would be establishing an economy with huge division of skilled labor and with highly diversified professions, while respecting life choices of individuals and groups to live and work alternatively such as in sustainable communities.

    Something is terribly wrong in an economy where celebrities are the country's biggest taxpayers. Development common sense tells us that a country of entertainers, boxers, and unskilled manual workers won't be as economically advanced as a country of scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and skilled workers. The Philippines has to produce things and ideas with value. It has to stop specializing in being poor and in doing poor economic activities.

    The idea is to build a production system that creates wealth for the nation in the form of higher incomes for the workers, bigger earnings for businesses, and larger tax bases for the government. The creation of this mode of production should be the first order development agenda, one that serves as the foundation and lifeblood of the redistributive goals of taxation. 

    A movement for socioeconomic reforms
    The BIR's emphasis on the fear factor and civic duty needs to be challenged, not for purposes of civil disobedience but for the objective of deepening real policy reforms that are founded on, among other things, the principles of a democratic state's obligations in tax relations and the state's central role in the realization of social justice and the building of a mode of production for long-term socioeconomic development.

    The critical mass must continue to be stimulated and sustained, and be supported by principled and far-sighted policymakers, organized labor and social movements.

    What appears to be especially disappointing at this moment is the kind of political discourse in the Philippines where the dominant analyses and solutions offered fall into the "pro- versus anti-Aquino" trap. The deeper, structural issues get frozen out in the name of personality politics.

    Labor and left groups who fall into this trap end up insisting on taxation rules based on the principles of anti-labor economics and anti-democratic development policy. "Liberals" who also fall into this trap would find themselves, either latently or manifestly, defending institutions and practices that undermine their anti-rentier agenda for the modernization of Philippine capitalism through the promotion of free markets and competitiveness. 

    Framing contemporary sociopolitical issues along this debate - where the heart of the sentiments and arguments are tied in with personalities rather than principles and practices - is an added problem and not helpful at all. It is not bringing out the best in people and it often harms relationships even among (social media) friends.

    Doing away with the bankrupt pro- versus anti-Aquino discursive framing - and rediscovering the importance of analyzing specific historical and structural contexts of problems - would allow us to understand clearly the real conditions of the society and be able to propose and advance progressive reforms for social change in compelling ways. The fight has only just begun. 


    Bonn Juego is guest researcher at the Department of Political Science, Aalborg University, Denmark, where he also earned his PhD degree in the political economy of development. Currently involved as a postdoctoral researcher in a project studying the Asian Development Bank at the City University of Hong Kong, he is an alumnus of the Cambridge Advanced Programme on Rethinking Development Economics, Cambridge University, UK.

    15 December 2013

    Japan, China, and ASEAN

    Reference to Inquirer.net news

    Don't make a hasty conclusion that Japan is winning and China is losing the ties with ASEAN. Japan indeed scored on this occasion, but China has not lost ASEAN entirely. Japan may have the first-mover advantage in the region especially since the Plaza Accord in the mid-1980s which dramatically increased Japanese investments in East and Southeast Asia, but China is fast becoming the biggest investor in and trade partner of the ASEAN and its respective member economies. 

    With the exception of the Philippines and Vietnam with whom China has intense territorial disputes, every member-state (as well as ASEAN itself as a regional bloc) now has important political and economic bilateral relations with China. The interplay between the 'politics of business' and the 'business of politics' has always been important in understanding the political economy of Southeast Asia. 

    Still, the solutions to underdevelopment and poverty of the developing economies in the ASEAN cannot be depended on Japan and/or China. Given the current regional and global instability, self-reliance and self-sufficiency are never old-fashioned, stupid ideas for development strategies.

    14 December 2013

    Neoliberalism in the Philippine Energy Sector: Outlining the Cause of Electricity Rates Hike

    Reference on Rappler's: 


    Source: The Manila Times
    These are useful notes — "13 things Meralco consumers should know about the hike" — written by friends regarding the ongoing electricity rates hike in Metro Manila.

    I outline here some points for reflection and action on these notes and the broader issue of reforms in the Philippine energy sector.

    Wouldn't it be more strategic for raising public consciousness and more appropriate for analysis and offering solutions to the country's complicated energy problem if we brought back our fundamental critique on neoliberalism — specifically, the market-driven structure of the energy sector?

    There's a marked difference between:

    • a critique of "market abuse" based on the violations of the injunctions of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA); and 
    • a critique of "market abuse" as central to the structural logic of a neoliberalist (market-oriented) EPIRA law.
    By doing the former, we analyze the problem essentially in neoliberal 'economics' terms (i.e., law of supply and demand) as if perfect markets — free from any political distortions — should make the energy sector efficient and cost-effective.

    But if we anchored the critique on the neoliberalist framework of the country's energy sector as institutionalized by EPIRA, we would be able to critique the political economy of the current energy sector, particularly the political/politicized nature of markets and the realpolitik (vested interests) behind the energy market. At the same time, we could propose solutions for alternative sources, production, generation, and distribution of energy outside the bounds of the EPIRA law, which in itself has been designed for:

    • market abuse (collusion, anti-competitive behaviour, predation, greed of the power producers/suppliers and their distributor Meralco, etc.); and
    • state regulatory capture (delimiting policy space of the government especially in pricing, an inutile Energy Regulatory Commission [ERC] / Department of Energy [DOE] which at the very basic function cannot even regulate schedule of plant outages and maintenance, the danger of misuse of Malampaya funds on the President's plan to subsidise market greed instead of funding R&D for innovative ecological energy solutions, the logic of neoliberal regulation for market profits rather than state regulation for the common good, etc.).
    We are precisely experiencing the neoliberalization process itself being implemented in the context of the Philippine socio-economic structure. Recall that Ramos's first experiment of neoliberalism in the early 1990s was in the privatisation, liberalisation, and deregulation of the energy sector.

    The problem really is neoliberalism—and the strategic usurpation by it in the interest of the economic elites—as the overarching framework of the institutionalised EPIRA law where market failures and state failures are systematically absorbed by the people — specifically, by the market's consumers and the state's citizens. A key neoliberal strategy: privatising profits and ownership of public utilities, while socialising the risks and costs of doing business. Neoliberalism is not about perfect markets; at its core are the conflicts and contradictions entailing the use of the state for the preservation of the power of the capitalist class (local and transnational) in the market's drive for the appropriation of the basic needs and assets of the commons.


    I think that our task now as consumers and citizens is to reflect and act upon creative and viable solutions beyond the limits of neoliberalism, which simplifies the problem to correcting 'market imperfections' and its attendant goal of perfecting markets. Alternatives to the prevailing neoliberal discourse and policy on the energy sector are most urgently needed.


    * * *
    P.S. Some historical context here, excerpted from my PhD thesis, pp. 93-95:

    The Ramos Administration’s Intensified Neoliberalization 
    Aquino’s term ended in 1992 and her anointed candidate, Fidel Ramos, won the controversial presidential elections. Without the political baggage á la Marcos’ cronyism and Aquino’s oligarchic affiliations, Ramos took a more—albeit not purely—orthodox path to capitalist development in line with the neoliberal, free-market doctrine: that is, a growth-obsessed economy spearheaded by the private sector and supported with policies which liberalize trade, deregulate the domestic market, and privatize state assets and services. ‘Philippines 2000’ was the strategic development framework of the Ramos administration to ‘put the house in order’ through the accomplishment of three things: restore ‘political and civic stability’; open the economy by ‘dismantling monopolies and cartels injurious to the public interest, and leveling the playing field of enterprise’; and address the ‘problem of corruption and criminality’ (Ramos 1993; see also Habito 1993). Central to Ramos’ Social Reform Agenda (SRA), within the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan for 1993-1998, was the focus on economic reform along the neoliberal discipline that meant the further empowerment of the private sector through the transfer of rights, assets, and social responsibilities traditionally enjoyed, owned, and done by the state (see NEDA 1993). These were to be realized through key reforms in the institutionalization of ‘sound’ macroeconomic policies of privatization, liberalization, and deregulation. 
    Rhetorically, Ramos espoused the ideology of capitalism and envisioned to ‘modernize Philippine capitalism’ which ‘not only emphasizes efficiency and individual creativeness but also cares for those whom development leaves behind’ (Ramos 1998: xiii). He claimed that rapid growth in capitalism would be achieved by ‘unleash[ing] the energy of self-interest, the drive for individual profit’, that ‘[t]hough wealth is best owned privately, its owner should use it for the public good’ (Ramos 1998: 72). 
    The Ramos administration had its first experiment of a state-orchestrated neoliberalization as the President was given special emergency powers by Congress, together with the reestablishment of the Department of Energy and the enactment of the Emergency Electric Power Law, to resolve the worsening electric power crisis when Metro Manila had to suffer from 8- to 12-hour brownouts a day in Metro Manila. Acting by virtue of this Congress-mandated emergency power, Ramos liberalized, privatized, and deregulated the energy sector by encouraging private investment in electricity generation through an expedited approval of contracts and licenses to independent power producers (IPPs). In effect, this can be construed as the state giving out rents not only to those supporters and benefactors of the incumbent government from the old established elites but to new elite economic players as well—in the spirit of competition and competitiveness. Though the first contract for independent generation was signed in 1988 under the Aquino administration, Ramos’ brisk neoliberal reform made more than 40 other IPPs to operate in the country. A World Bank study noted that by 1994 the Philippines had more IPP contracts than the rest of the developing world combined and then warned of the adverse consequences of overcapacity (World Bank 1994). Yet, despite this warning from a global neoliberal Bank, Ramos fast-tracked the signing of 12 more IPP contracts from 1995 to 1998 and initiated a 30-year Philippine Energy Plan (1996-2025). The unpropitious results of this rapid introduction of private generation into the electricity sector included overpricing as price determination was left to a deregulated, non-transparent market; an oversupply as demand was lower than expected; and, as such, deeper indebtedness as the Philippine government continued to honour to its disadvantage basic offtake obligations in IPP contracts as well as the burdensome provisions in the power purchase agreements—provisions for cost guarantees offered by a desperate state with a high risk economy to attract investors—that made take-or-pay or capacity payments unsustainable (see Woodhouse 2005; see also Corral 2003). A recent study of the World Bank (2009b) actually acknowledges the corruption risks involved in IPP contracts in developing countries, including the abuses and excesses in the Philippine procurement experience which has financially burdened the government because it has to continuously make payments even for unused capacity.
    On May 1994, shortly after Ramos’ emergency powers expired, amendments to the implementation rules of ‘build, operate, and transfer’ (BOT) schemes were enacted. Privatization of the management of public services were done through these BOT schemes where contracts to the private sector were paid in the form of rights to manage finished facilities as well as the right to have a substantial share of the generated incomes. Though it was in 1990 during Aquino’s presidency when the government’s Public-Private Partnership – Build-Operate-and-Transfer (PPP-BOT) programme was institutionalized with the enactment of Republic Act 6957—‘An Act Authorizing the Financing, Construction, Operation and Maintenance of Infrastructure Projects by the Private Sector, and for other Purposes’ (Philippines 1990), the Ramos administration not only amended the implementing rules but seriously executed the plan to make the economy more attractive to private sector participation and investment. The amendment made a provision on ‘unsolicited proposals’ for the state to liberally accept prospective projects from private sector investments other than those in government priorities—as such, non-prioritized projects are not supposed to receive special concessions from the government, whether in the form of equities, subsidies, or guarantees. The new scheme was by all means neoliberal in which market-based principles were affirmed and market interests guaranteed, but it compromised a democratic state’s requirements for transparency, accountability, and social responsibility. Within this scheme, markets were virtually exonerated from loss or bankruptcy since the state had to absorb risks. A four-part series research by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) unearths several anomalies and corruption issues involved in BOT projects, particularly IPP contracts, during the Ramos administration. The PCIJ report found ‘that former president Fidel V. Ramos personally pushed for the speedy approval of some of the most expensive power deals and justified signing more power contracts despite warnings from within the government and the World Bank that an impending oversupply of electricity could push up prices’ and ‘that individuals linked to Ramos lobbied for the approval of some of the more costly IPP contracts, which came with numerous other deals, including lucrative legal, technical and financial consultancies that were given to individuals and companies close to the former president’ (see Rimban and Samonte-Pesayco 2002a, 2002b; Samonte-Pesayco and Rimban 2002; Rimban 2002). The report thus manifests a conflictual and negotiated nature of neoliberalization in the Philippines, in which at least a couple of important tendencies can be noted: one is that neoliberalization is not totally dominated by global neoliberal institutions like the World Bank or by international market forces like transnational corporations, but local political elites and government functionaries have the capabilities to negotiate how the process is shaped; and the other is that market reform projects like the liberalization and privatization of an economic sector are not immune from inefficiencies, corruption, and bribery involving both state and market elites at the local and international levels in their common drive for accumulation. 

    10 December 2013

    On the 'Romualdez/Aquino' Viral Video

    That 'Romualdez/Aquino' viral video is, of course, politically motivated and obviously edited to serve a particular interest group. It's an in-your-face shot right on the turf of Malacanañg's spin doctor, Ricky Carandang.

    Mar Roxas's framing of "you're a Romualdez and the President is an Aquino" is not at all advisable, but the intention is not always perceived as it is. Though Mar meant the avoidance of accusations of 'politicking' against the Aquino administration if the central government takes over an LGU without due process, such kind of language framing reflects not only the mentality of the country's political elites but also the persistence of intra- and inter-elite conflicts and the permanent social crisis in the Philippines.

    Source: The EQualizer Post
    The kabuki theatre played by these elites — Marcoses, Aquinos, Roxases, et al. — only serves to sustain and increase the suffering and desperation level of the poor victims of the typhoon and the marginalised in the country's elitist social relations.

    Again, the solutions to our country's convoluted socio-economic ills do not rest on 'pro-/anti-Marcos and pro-/anti-Aquino' conflict and struggle.

    Sing:
    "Hindi pula't dilaw tunay na magkalaban
    Ang kulay at tatak ay di syang dahilan
    Hangga't marami ang lugmok sa kahirapan
    At ang hustisya ay para lang sa mayaman
    Habang may tatsulok at sila ang nasa tuktok
    Di matatapos itong gulo"

    05 December 2013

    Farewell and Thank You, Nelson Mandela

    A moment of silence to pay our respects to the great Nelson Mandela.... 
    Source: PETA
    Farewell and thank you so much, Mr. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. 

    We shall carry on!


    * * *
    Update 10 December 2013, with reference to Politiken's "Thorning tager selfie med Obama"
    Source: Politiken
    Ironically, Nelson Mandela was very much critical of the foreign policies of these 'selfie' state leaders of the Atlantic alliance, particularly their bountiful and active support for imperialist wars in Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Asia....

    Mandela was a subversive, a rebel, a square-peg-in-a-round-hole, a true moral force, and hated double standards and hypocrisy. He knew and lived by heart the virtuous spirit of ubuntu — the dearest and noblest sense of humanity and solidarity (the 'you in I' and the 'I in you').

    Let's get our facts and history written, declared, and promoted as objectively as possible. Reclaim Madiba's progressive legacy!


    * * *
    Some insightful and rare video clips here from Democracy Now! (10 December 2013):

    (1) "Remembering Nelson Mandela: From Freedom Fighter to Political Prisoner to South African President"




    (2) "Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro: A Video You Won't See on the Evening News"



    04 December 2013

    Disaster Capitalism: It's Business As Usual

    Reference to Inquirer news

    Well, good luck, Ping! Good luck to us all! 

    Source: Inquirer
    I could sense the danger of this neoliberal, private sector-led rehabilitation and reconstruction program in typhoon-hit areas. If this is not contested through people's vigilance and collective action, nasty aspects of 'disaster capitalism' might be unleashed. Central to this are massive 'land-grabs' by the wealthy with the support of canny lawyers, leading to more displacements and dispossessions of people from their lands and from their rights.

    Lacson's planned team composition of 'an executive director ..., a lawyer, a financial expert, a civil engineer and an architect', combined with his desire to be given free rein to work independently immune from people's active involvement (meaning, real democratisation not just 'participation' or 'consultation') and public scrutiny (meaning, democratic accountability which is not simply the 'right to air criticism'), is telling of the agenda for disaster capitalism.

    The job, of course, won't be easy. Even from the point of view of business, post-disaster reconstruction is too risky. Key issues to factor in are the costly geographical location and the depressed market. No jobs, no incomes, no purchasing power, no money circulation. No consumption, thus no production. Here comes the classic 'problem of capital formation'! Basically, how to start and jump-start business activities and economic relations in a post-disaster condition?

    In this situation, to reduce risks and avoid transaction costs, the clever strategy of the private sector will be to make the state (read: the Filipino people) the absorber and guarantor of business risks and market failures. 

    With people's recent victory in the Supreme Court's final ruling of the unconstitutionality of the Priority Development Assistance Program (PDAF) which is expected to curb corruption in/of the government, we should not to be complacent to ignore the other side of corruption in/of the private sector's business and political dealings. 

    Rehab czar Ping Lacson is straightforward in his vision: the state will be an 'enabler' of private sector-led accumulation drive by tolerating and favouring businessmen's rent-seeking behaviour and activities. But, remember, he never promised it won't be business as usual!

    01 December 2013

    A Pro-Labour, Anti-Rentier Tax Reform Agenda

    Comment on Rappler's news

    Source: Inquirer

    Why is there no 'labour' or 'left', or even 'liberal', perspective calling for tax and economic reforms at this point??? Not necessarily in defence of Solenn, Manny, or other wage-earning celebrities, but essentially the urgently needed reforms that target the unjust and anti-labour economics (or anti-modern capitalist economics, if one is a true 'liberal') basis of the enduring Philippine taxation system.

    Patterned after the principles of the US tax structure, the state-sanctioned political economy of Philippine taxation system is disciplining: 
    • the poor and middle classes through the E-VAT; 
    • the productive workers from contractual and regular ones to professionals and celebrities who pay taxes at developed country-, Scandinavian-, welfare state-level income tax; and
    • the creative enterprises from the SMEs and online entrepreneurs to the hardworking street vendors of the 'informal' economy and other wage-earners.
    Source: Rappler

    Why does the state not tax heavily: 
    • the 'useless rich' — the non-creative, non-innovative — among the country's landowning oligarchs whose power and wealth are derived from land and the real estate economy; 
    • the FIRE sector — finance, insurance, and real estate — whose wealth comes more from capital gains and not from hard labour; and 
    • the rentier capitalists among the monopolists and oligopolists in the Philippines like Lucio Tan and his ilk??? 

    Why put the burden onto labour and off capital?!?!

    BIR's emphasis on the 'fear factor' and 'civic duty' must be challenged not for the agenda of civil disobedience but for the objective of deepening real policy reforms that are founded, inter alia, on the principles of a democratic state's obligations in tax relations and the state's important role for the realisation of social justice and socio-economic development. The critical mass must continue to be stimulated and sustained and hopefully be supported by some well-meaning and principled organised political forces and labour and social movements.

    Here's a friendly advice: Do away with the bankrupt framing of socio-political issues along "pro- versus anti-PNoy" lines, and we will understand clearly the real conditions of our society and be able to propose and advance progressive reform agenda for social change!

    27 November 2013

    'Principles' of Taxation: Drawing Lessons from the Pacquiao-Henares Exchanges

    Reference to ANC Yahoo News

    No! It's not the 'legally' delinquent Manny Pacquiao that has been ruining the credibility of the reforming BIR under the leadership of the very professional reformer Kim Henares. Historically, it has always been the government and its functionaries that make the Bureau and the system of taxation that it enforces look bad.

    Source: ANC Yahoo! News

    The popular public support on Pacquiao's grievances is just a symptom of the fundamental causes of people's historical distrust in the BIR. A critical cause of civil disobedience has always been the felt and perceived ineffectiveness, unprofessionalism, inefficiency, and lack of creativity of government agencies from the DPWH to DOTC to DOH to LGUs and the corrupt pork barrel system of the elected officials.

    If ever Henares fails at this point, I won't blame her. I'd rather call on the people to press on her colleagues in the bureaucracy, counterparts in all government agencies, and the elected officials who have failed her creative and committed reform agenda at the BIR.

    Since I'm not a tax lawyer/accountant and not a paid institutionalist analyst, I'd like to emphasise the importance of this current public issue to raise awareness and consciousness about the "principles" of taxation. At this stage of our development process, it's important that the BIR led by Henares also educate the public regarding the "principles" of taxation, and not just the "rules" of taxation.

    A core principle in taxation is that it must be viewed in "relational" terms — that is, it is a social contract and relationship between the state and citizen taxpayer. As such, both the state and the citizen have rights and obligations. But there's a problem if the state only asserts its rights to tax citizens without fulfilling its obligations to provide for social welfare, infrastructure, and other programmes for development and redistributive justice.

    Why am I not much into "rules" of taxation in the Philippine context? Based on my academic understanding, the enduring Philippine tax code, including the E-VAT law, has historically been capitalist and essentially elitist that is technocratically designed to protect bourgeois class interests and the preservation of the system of private property relations by putting a heavy tax burden on the poor and the hardworking middle class without sense of equity and social justice.

    In this so-called 'reform' process — or, what others call process of 'nation-building' — the existing unjust 'rules' of taxation need to be seriously questioned, examined, and reformed. This is to be done by coming up with new 'principles' as the bases for 'rules' of state taxation that embody the collective interest and welfare of the Filipino people's existence in pursuit of the good life.

    Pacquiao, Celebrities, and Taxes

    Here's my initial take on Pacquiao's recent scuffle with Philippine tax authorities....
    Source: Inquirer

    I'm a fan of both the boxing legend Manny Pacquiao and the professional tax reformer Kim Henares. I think that they both excel in their respective professions with shared interest in realising a better Philippine society.

    So far, it seems that Pacquiao is not fit as a 'lawmaker'. But let's admit it that, given the sad realities of our social system, as a 'public servant' and a public figure, Pacquiao has touched and inspired much more lives — psychologically as well as materially — than any Filipino politician or celebrity that I/we know. Compared with other politicians, at least we all know the whereabouts and activities of Pacquiao. Given current social circumstances and his life's history of privation, Pacquiao has done a lot of good things to the Filipino people. Based on the logic of taxation, the Philippine state — as such, the Filipino people — has an interest in a successful boxing career of Pacquiao because the state gets balato from his earnings in the form of income taxes, which are then used for public services. Through taxation, this, in a way, gives credence to Pacquiao's monicker as the 'People's Champ' or the Pambansang Kamao. In principle, the state, in return for citizens' payment of taxes, provides rents in the form of incentives, protection, or other social provisions. (The US government, for instance, goes as far as militarily protecting the local and global interests of US-based corporations.) To maintain a harmonious relationship between the state and taxpayers, both of them must be engaged with a mutual give-and-take relations.

    Wish Pacquiao were surrounded by competent, trustworthy, well-meaning, and professional circle of advisers, friends, and partners. As a young public servant (almost my age), I regard him as a work-in-progress, but one who is very receptive to ideas and learning. I believe that Pacquiao's heart is in the right place and that's a very good foundation for sharpening his mental faculties in making political decisions.

    To those who are uneasy with a multi-tasker boxer-politician-businessman-celebrity Pacquiao, please note that in some developed countries like in Scandinavia many professional athletes have day jobs. An indicator of a progressive country is that being an elected government official is considered as just one of those professions, one of those day jobs. This remains my dream for the Philippines to attain a certain level of economic development with huge division of labour and a multitude of professions where people are no longer hypnotised by the lives and ways of the rich and famous simply because they have their own decent source of income, reliable state support mechanisms, and a personal sense of a meaningful life. Unfortunately, ours is a star-struck society with vicious patronage politics, poverty, inequality, and unemployment so the tendency is that the people depend and demand too much from, and are captivated by the lifestyle and affairs of, their patron-politicians and idol-celebrities.

    In socio-economic developmental terms, there's really something seriously wrong if our country's biggest individual taxpayers are the celebrities. Among other things, this tells us about our backward economic mode of production which substantially determines the wealth-creating capacity — and thereby the scope of redistribution — of our nation. Here's a development common sense: A nation of boxers and celebrities won't be as rich and progressive as a nation of engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs.

    Come on, truth be told, Filipino celebrities have been working so hard, busting their asses. They have delivered, honing their crafts and giving honour to the country. They are also part of the working class — with no 'job security' and subject to exploitation of those who pay them talent fees and those who tax their earnings. They, too, have all the right to voice out their legitimate grievances.

    For the purpose of lesson-drawing, I highlight these notes from a blog entry last year entitled 'Taxation, Production, and Redistribution: Challenges for Philippine Development':

    In taxation, policy coordination of all government agencies is a must. Otherwise, there will be a conflict between the overly enthusiastic tax collector and the disgruntled citizen taxpayers. In a word, the fundamental principle applies, the people must pleasantly feel and see how and where taxes are spent. It is the task of the government to make people appreciate and realize that taxation is a collective social development process in which the conduct of business — the producing, selling, and buying of goods and services — is a social activity that has socio-economic consequences and implicates the entire society. 
    ...[T]here will be conflicts especially in a situation where the government only enforces its right to tax people without fulfilling its responsibility to create conditions for 'full' employment, let alone 'formal' employment.

    17 November 2013

    NGOs and Disaster Response

    Here are some important pointers for relief and reconstruction efforts of NGOs and other volunteers now in the Visayas: '10 tips for NGOs responding to Philippine typhoon'.

    It's also good info for others concerned and interested to make them realise that relief operations are not that easy. Aside from the complexity and urgency of the problems to be addressed, there are a lot of other actors and interests involved in the operations. This is, of course, not an excuse for government's slow response to disasters. The ability to respond to disasters is a central indicator of government effectiveness.
    Source: Rappler

    NGOs have gotten a bad reputation in the Philippines these days due to the reported fake NGOs made up by Janet Napoles and the pork barrel scandal. But, this essay from ReliefWeb shall give the uninitiated an idea of what 'real' NGOs actually do.

    Relief operations is a profession. For the academically-inclined, it's an area covered in our 'development studies' program.

    To be well-meaning and voluntarist is not enough, there's art and science in disaster response, relief operations, and reconstruction efforts.