BoholAnalysis

26 August 2013.  Netizens called for a million march against the Priority Development Assistance Fund in Manila.  Commentaries on the Manila march said that the crowd gathered there was short of the million it promised. Elsewhere in the country, similar activities were also held.  Video footages of the activities happening elsewhere, in Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, and other major cities and even in Australia and in the US were shown.  Maybe I missed it, but I did not see Bohol there. I was in the Bohol march, together with my family. Friends and acquaintances from different organizations, ideologies, profession were there - Marianito Luspo of HNU-CCAD, Jean Darunday of BONACONSO, Alvin Acuzar of BUSWACC, Emmie Roslinda of PROCESS, Engr. James Uy of HNU College of Engineering, artists like Ric Ramasola and Sandra dela Serna, women activists as Regina Estorba Macalandag and Doris Dinorog were among those gathered around 10 pm that day. Quite the usual suspects, I sho...

Very recently, business tax collection system in the municipality of Panglao has drastically changed that resort owners, maybe accustomed to a subjective tax assessment processes, reacted strongly.   The basis of the reaction is simple – tax assessments have significantly increased the amount of tax that they will have to pay, when compared to previous years - and like every taxpayer who is assessed a higher amount of tax, businessmen complained, alleging that the tax base is highly irregular and the system anomalous. The municipal government of Panglao implemented this year the Enhanced Tax Revenue Assessment and Collection System (E-TRACS), a system that automates the assessment and collection of taxes and puts subjective assessments aside and makes tax payment negotiations a thing of the past.   A primary highlight of the system is the elimination of subjective tax assessments because certain parameters are used, and in this case, the most objectionable to businessm...

It’s amazing why a few good things, though how phenomenal they are, do not get printed in our newspapers while all the mudslinging, dirty politics, and boxing matches do. It’s also quite spectacular why a public official who inaugurates a building gets full media treatment (read: words, sounds, and pictures) but not when a non-governmental organization was able to strengthen the livelihood of 536 rural poor households. Last Friday (15 February), I presented an independent evaluation report on a project implemented by the Soil and Water Conservation Foundation in four Eskaya communities in the towns of Duero, Guindulman, Sierra Bullones, and Pilar and in 8 other barangays within Sierra Bullones. The project was successful in increasing the income of around 345 rural households, from below 2,000 monthly gross income to 2,500 and more. It also made possible the strengthening of 12 community associations, most of which currently have more than P70,000 of capital build up (from almost nothi...