| Summary: | Background and challenges to implementation
The Sin Tax Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Framework was developed
in compliance with the Philippine Sin Tax Reform Law that was enacted to reform
the existing law which has allowed the tobacco industry in the country to
flourish. The reform law revised the multi-tiered taxation to a unitary scheme
with adjusted rates and inflationary increase from 2018 onwards. The Sin Tax
M&E follows a logical framework tracking the input of the budget earmarked
for health, output or the commensurate product of the investment, intermediate
outcomes which is decreased smoking prevalence and the final health outcomes
which are decreased morbidity and mortality and financial risk protection.
Intervention or response
The challenge was to ensure an accurate data per results chain. The Department
of Health and the Department of Budget and Management agreed on the manner by
which input additions were tagged as contributed by STL. This results to
tagging of new and expanded health services as Sin Tax contributed outputs correlated
the intermediate outcomes of the Sin Tax Law. However, special studies on
decreased morbidity and mortality are still needed to support its association
to STL.
Results and lessons learnt
The
DOH was able to publish on an annual basis the results of the M&E as basis
for reporting to the Philippine Congress which ensured stakeholders that the
intention of the STL for health were attained with the following effects: (1)
increased health budget, (2) increased health service coverage, (3)
availability of new health services, and (4) decreased smoking prevalence.
Conclusions and key recommendations
In a highly political environment with a strong tobacco lobby, having a
clear M&E framework guides the government in tracking the law's health
interest. We recommend countries who will pursue FCTC Article VI (Price and Tax
Measures to Reduce the Demand for Tobacco) to come up with an M&E framework
using a logical framework for easier understanding.
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