Locations
In 2024 the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) officially launched Equanomics in the Philippines. With the support of the Governments of the Republic of Korea and Luxembourg, Equanomics is UNDP’s key initiative targeting to dismantle economic systems that perpetuate gender inequality and power imbalances through gender-responsive taxation reforms.
For the rollout of Equanomics in the Philippines, UNDP has partnered with the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF), the arm of the Department of Finance (DOF) which is responsible for, amongst others, assisting in formulating and implementing policies on local revenue administration and fund management. In particular, UNDP is supporting BLGF through a program called Gender Equality Seal for Public Institutions (or GE Seal). The GE Seal is a methodological proposal to support and acknowledge the efforts of public institutions towards achieving substantive equality between women and men within the framework of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Currently, the BLGF is at the “learn-and-improvement” stage where gaps identified in the self-assessment stage are being implemented and improved.
As part of the learning process, UNDP has facilitated the integration of gender equality perspective in BLGF’s budget by conducting an in-depth capacity building on gender budgeting. The event was held in February and was attended by technical, budget, and administrative officers. This is to ensure that BLGF’s programmatic budget (oriented towards policies) and the functional (or institutional) operating budget will generate a positive impact in the lives of communities (both women and men taxpayers) through the local government units they serve, without leaving anyone behind.
The gender budget training provided the opportunity to enhance BLGF skills on the use of Harmonized Gender and Development Guidelines (HGDG), a tool used by government agencies to mainstream gender considerations into their programs and projects, ensuring they are gender-responsive. The review of the budget from a gender perspective provided clarity to BLGF to have a joint vision on where to allocate their resources in different areas and institutional programs.
Women empowerment isn't just about breaking barriers-it's about opening new doors, especially in the digital age. By embracing technology, we afford women the tools to lead, innovate, and make real impact in governance. At BLGF, we're committed to ensuring women are also at the forefront of fiscal innovation and transformation."Consolacion Q. Agcaoili, BLGF Executive Director.
Using gender equality as a lens in budgeting encourages reflection not only on what and how much is invested, but also on how the investment in gender itself is being understood. For fiscal year 2025, BLGF allocated USD 3,771,125, which is 5% of their General Appropriations Act. The gender budget will be used, amongst others, to support the review of the electronic Statement of Receipt and Expenditures under the LGU Integrated Financial Tool (LIFT) system to capture disaggregated data in the reporting of LGU financial transactions, and to implement a package of gender capacity building activities that will focus on building the knowledge, skills, and abilities of BLGF to effectively address gender equality and achieve sustainable, transformative outcome. A further support of UNDP to BLGF was the crafting of their 5-year Strategic Plan for 2025-2030, which led to dedicating a stand-alone strategic output on gender equality and women’s empowerment where the primary focus of the gender-related actions are outlined.
With the recent signing of the Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act or RA 12001, the BLGF, as the primary agency to implement the law, can now expand functions and responsibilities through the reorganization and creation of the Real Property and Valuation Service (RPVS) within their organizational structure. The law created the Central Consultative Committee that will serve as a forum on matters pertaining to the setting and adoption of international valuation standards and other related concerns on real property valuation. Also, the RPVARA seeks to promote just, equitable, and nationally consistent real property valuation based on international standards, adopting market value as a single base for real property valuation for tax assessment and other transactions. It also aims to promote fiscal autonomy by enhancing the local government units’ (LGUs) capacity to generate revenue from real property and foster transparency and innovation through the provision of a comprehensive and up-to-date electronic database of all real property transactions.
From a gender perspective, Section 60 of the Act calls for ensuring gender equity, inclusivity, and fairness. The law mandates the DOF, the LGUs and agencies concerned to employ gender sensitive and gender responsive mechanisms in all aspects of the implementation of the Act and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR). With this gender equality provision, the BLGF can play a critical role in reducing gender gaps, supporting economic growth and inclusion, and in doing so, generating real property tax revenue to finance critical public expenditure. As per the World Bank’s estimates, 60% to 75% of a country’s wealth consists of real property; However, it also noted the passive performance of real property tax in the country, which accounts for only 0.37% of the gross domestic product with an overall collection efficiency of 71%.
Going forward, UNDP and BLGF will explore real property tax at the local level through a gender lens by examining how tax policies can disproportionately impact women in property ownership and what possible inadvertent biases that tax systems may perpetuate in policy design and implementation affecting women’s access to resources and opportunities. They will also examine current LGU practices regarding tax benefits and exemptions for women property owners, if tax payer education and outreach programmes are accessible to women’s needs and circumstances, and if data collection and analysis on gender and property ownership is used to inform policy decisions. The municipality of Bacoor, Cavite and the Province of La Union were the chosen sites of the study.
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