The Millennium Challenge Corporation’s $385 million compact in the Philippines supported reforms and infrastructure in the country through three projects. First, the compact modernized the Bureau of Internal Revenue by redesigning and computerizing business processes that sought to increase the efficiency and sustainability of revenue collection. Second, the compact expanded and improved community-driven development projects that strengthened community participation in development activities at the village and municipal levels. Third, it rehabilitated a critical secondary national road on Samar Island that is reducing transportation costs for the island’s people.
As a result of the compact, through reforms at the Philippine Bureau of Internal Revenue, MCC helped the Government of the Philippines strengthen tax administration and case management systems, which helped raise tax revenues, reduce tax evasion, and address agent-related corruption. The project helped generate more than $300 million in additional domestic tax revenue since 2013. In 2017, the project contributed to the collection of $600 million from a single taxpayer.[[Business World: PHL seeks US assistance for tax academy program]] In addition, 222 km of a national road serving as a lifeline for numerous towns and municipalities in one of the poorest and most typhoon-prone areas of the country was rehabilitated to new climate-resilient standards. And close to 4,000 small-scale community-driven development projects in basic infrastructure and social services were completed in rural, high-poverty areas based on needs identified and prioritized by residents across Filipino communities.
This report provides a summary of the outputs of the compact program, documentation of changes in compact activities and the reasons behind them, information on performance against targets in the monitoring plan, and the results of independent evaluations that have been completed. Further details of compact results will be shared in a forthcoming performance evaluation expected in 2024 (Secondary National Roads Development Project).