The 10th issue of TPA Now! looks into the accountability system in health fiscal reforms, particularly in the spending of health budget from the Sin Tax. Reflecting on the result of G-Watch’s pilot multi-level health budget monitoring in 2019-2020 before the pandemic, the paper underscores that the increase in health budget spending due to Sin Tax is “not accompanied by strengthened anti-corruption safeguards,” with weak “government’s systems for monitoring, oversight and public disclosure of where that increased spending actually goes.” The paper recommends three ways that the gaps in health fiscal reform through Sin Tax can be filled up: enabling community-level monitoring, making patients participate in fighting fraud in PhilHealth, and complementing tax enforcement.
TPA Now! A Paper Series on Transparency, Participation and Accountability is a platform for practitioners, researchers and action strategists to present evidence and reflect on the practice and research on strategic TPA and to broaden awareness on the importance of accountability in governance. It is an initiative of Government Watch (G-Watch), in partnership with Accountability Research Center (ARC), to advance the discourse and practice of ‘strategic TPA.’
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