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Innovation involves implementing new or significantly improved goods and services, production processes, marketing, or organizational methods for adding value. The measurement of innovation provides a mechanism for benchmarking national performance, and for examining innovation and its relation to economic growth. Further, examining determinants and bottlenecks to innovation among firms provides inputs to mainstreaming of policies on innovation. In this paper, results of the 2015 Survey of Innovation Activities (SIA), conducted by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), are described and discussed. Survey results suggest that less than half of firms in the country are innovators, with larger-sized firms innovating more than micro, small, and medium establishments (MSMEs). The most innovative behavior among firms in process innovation. Effects of innovation are observed to be largely customer-driven. Firms suggest cost factors to be the most important barrier to innovation. Knowledge and cooperation networks for innovation need strengthening. Government support and its role on innovation is also limited. Firms hardly access technical assistance from government and research institutions. Cooperation of firms on innovation activities with academe is also limited. Firms cooperate more internally with establishments within their enterprise, their customers and suppliers. Government needs to have a champion for developing stronger policies and interventions to support and encourage innovation. It is also important to improve information dissemination on public programs available to assist firms in innovating. Networking, linkages, and collaboration among the government, industry associations, and universities and research institutions also require further enhancement.

As reflected in the Philippine Development Plan 2017–2022 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, poverty reduction is at the heart of the development agenda both nationally and globally. Since the measurement of poverty is ex post, public interventions are typically directed at helping those who have been identified as poor. The government, however, must consider the dynamics of poverty in public policymaking and broaden the scope of poverty assessments. A critical dimension to poverty dynamics is vulnerability, which conceptually pertains to the risk to future poverty. Some of the poor are likely to be poor in the future; some nonpoor may also become poor if idiosyncratic and covariate risks to future poverty are not addressed. Thus, risk resilience management strategies are critical. This study continues previous work on estimating the vulnerability level of households to income poverty using a modified probit model based on income and other poverty correlates data sourced from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey, as well as the country's official poverty lines. Past model specifications are improved by including data on price and climate shocks to welfare, as well as by generating individual assessments for urban and rural areas before combining the cross-section results, rather than using a common specification nationally as done previously. The vulnerability assessment in this study provides inputs to forward-looking interventions that build the resilience of households for preventing or reducing the likelihood of future poverty. The study emphasizes the importance of using both poverty and vulnerability estimates in programs and identifies differentiated actions for those highly vulnerable and relatively vulnerable to poverty.

The reduction of poverty is at the heart of the development agenda both nationally and globally. This is reflected in the Philippine Development Plan, and the worldwide commitment toward the Sustainable Development Goals. While the measurement of poverty is ex post and thus public interventions are directed at helping those who have been identified as poor, the government must broaden the scope of assessments and take account of the dynamics in poverty in public policy. A critical dimension to poverty dynamics is vulnerability which conceptually pertains to the risk to future poverty. Some of the poor are likely to be poor in the future; some non-poor may also become poor if idiosyncratic and covariate risks to future poverty are not addressed. Thus, risk resilience management strategies are critical. This study continued previous work that involves estimating the vulnerability level of households to income poverty using a modified probit model based on income and other poverty correlates data sourced from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey, as well as the country's official poverty lines. Past model specifications are improved on by including data on price and climate shocks to welfare, as well as generating the assessment for urban areas alone and for rural areas alone before combining the cross-section results, rather than using a common specification nationally as was done previously. The vulnerability assessment in this study provide inputs to forward-looking interventions that build the resilience of households for preventing or reducing the likelihood of future poverty. The study makes a case for the need to make use of both poverty and vulnerability estimates in programs, and come up with differentiated actions for those highly vulnerable and relatively vulnerable.

Since 2011, the government, through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), has implemented the Social Pension (SocPen) Program which gives a noncontributory monthly pension of Php500 to qualified seniors, i.e., indigent Filipinos aged 60 and above. Initially, the DSWD had sought to provide assistance to 1.2 million indigent senior citizens identified by the Listahanan, on a Php 8.71B budget allocation. Insufficient funds had prompted the department to realistically target only 138,960 seniors at program inception, though the actual served were 140,576 senior citizens with an actual budget of Php 843.5M. Budget allocation for the SocPen has increased exponentially since program inception to over Php 23.4B in 2021. With this 2,540% jump of a budget in a span of 10 years, the 2021 physical target has also increased to 3,835,066 senior citizens, a 2,634% increase. The 2020 physical target for SocPen is nearly two-fifths (37.8%) of senior citizens. This study describes the SocPen's design and current implementation processes, especially in the wake of Covid-19 and attempts to increase the financial assistance and coverage of beneficiaries. The examination will also look into the recent experience of DSWD with the Social Amelioration program, which included cash transfers for SocPen beneficiaries and other vulnerable populations. While overall the program is well-intentioned and is welcomed by seniors, and the SocPen has undergone some changes in response to criticisms of several external evaluations, implementation deficits persist. These need to be addressed, especially as the SocPen is currently one of the largest social protection programs of the government, and has potential to significantly impact on the lives of elderly indigent beneficiaries.

The global goal to attain gender equality, including ending all forms of discrimination against women and girls, and ensuring their safety, is central to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Its attainment means that every person, regardless of sex, is empowered to reach his or her full potential. This entails both men and women being given equal opportunities to education, paid employment, and real decision-making power, whether in the private or public sector. This paper discusses how the country fares in several gender and gender-related indicators that can be used to monitor progress toward gender equality and women empowerment. It provides an overview of the current situation in areas such as equality of human capabilities, equality of economic opportunity, equality in political voice and leadership, and the safety of women and girls. The paper also identifies priorities for public policy while seeking new directions in a number of transformational issues to attain gender equality and women's empowerment in the country.

Guided by the principle of "leaving no one behind", the world targets to achieve gender equality as part of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Through the said SDG, United Nations member-states, like the Philippines, have committed to ensure that the rights and privileges afforded to all citizens are the same regardless of sex. This Policy Note presents current statistics on female representation in key leadership positions in the Philippine government and industry. It reveals a dearth of female representation in senior or lead positions and discusses some recommendations to address this systemic underrepresentation of Filipino women.

The global goal to attain gender equality, including ending all forms of discrimination against women and girls, and ensuring their safety, is central to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Its attainment means that every person, regardless of sex, is empowered to reach their full potential. This entails having both men and women being given equal opportunities to education, paid employment, and real decision-making power whether in private, or public sectors. This paper discusses how the country fares in several gender and gender-related indicators that can be used to monitor progress toward gender equality and women's empowerment. It provides an overview of the current situation in areas such as equality of human capabilities, equality of economic opportunity, equality in political voice and leadership, and the safety of women and girls. The paper also identifies priorities for public policy while seeking new directions in a number of transformational issues to attain gender equality and women's empowerment in the country.

This study assessed the Philippines' readiness for regional digital trade integration with the Asia-Pacific by using the Regional Digital Trade Integration Index (RDTII) framework to provide an analytical overview of the Philippines' digital trade policy and regulatory environment. Using the RDTII framework, the Philippines reported an overall RDTII score of 0.342 in 2020, which rates the country as having a relatively open digital trade environment. In the same year, the Philippines performed best in three pillars, particularly: pillar 1 (tariffs and trade defense measures); pillar 6 (cross-border data policies); and, pillar 8 (intermediary liability and content access). All of these three pillars scored less than 0.200, thus, indicating a non-restrictive policy and regulatory environment. In contrast, the Philippines performed worst in three pillars, namely: pillar 2 (public procurement); pillar 3 (foreign direct investment); and, pillar 5 (telecommunications infrastructure and competition). These three pillars reported a score of above 0.610, so these pillars were characterized with having a strongly restrictive policy and regulatory environment. Meanwhile, the Philippines was found to be slightly restrictive in intellectual property rights (pillar 4), domestic policies on the use of data (pillar 7), quantitative trade restrictions (pillar 9), standards (pillar 10), and online sales and transactions (pillar 11), which all received a score ranging from 0.210-0.400. This study finds that the Philippines generally has an open policy environment for digital trade, which suggests that it is ready for digital trade integration with the region. However, the proper implementation of some of these policies has not been fully achieved, and this could be a great obstacle or challenge to regional integration.

Often development focus has been on measuring and analyzing poverty in order to reduce poverty. While the poor face future prospects of being perpetually trapped in poverty, the nonpoor also are vulnerable to poverty. Vulnerability has been particularly recognized in the wake of the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) that is likely to yield declines in incomes because of reduced economic activities. In this study, we provide an updated profile of the poor in the Philippines, as well as various segments of the income distribution, based on the 2018 Family Income and Expenditure Survey. We follow the typology of the low, middle and high income classes proposed in previous research reports, and simulate the likely effects of contractions in per capita income on poverty and the entire income distribution amid the coronavirus pandemic. In estimating the impact of COVID-19 on poverty, and the income distribution, data are not available at this time. The study makes use of simulation scenarios and assumptions. We find that in a (medium case) scenario of declines of incomes by 10 percent across the entire income distribution, the number of poor Filipinos can increase by 5.5 million, but with the emergency financial subsidies (i.e., the social amelioration program and the small business wage subsidy in. place) that targeted 90 percent of households, the worsening of poverty conditions has been managed so that only 1.5 million would fall into poverty, i.e., 4 million less than expected number of Filipinos falling into poverty. These simulation results are consistent with nowcasting exercises of IFPRI and the World Bank on poverty amid COVID-19 that assume a global GDP contraction of 3 percent. Further, low-income classes would, on average, transition only a quarter year more than the baseline of 21.25 years for this (medium-case) scenario if after the pandemic (and an assumed V-shaped economic recovery), their incomes would have a constant annual growth of 2.5 percent. However, under tougher conditions of income contractions of 20 percent with social protection cash assistance, we simulate that the average time for low income Filipinos to move up into middle income class would increase by three years from baseline figures. Under a protracted recovery, we would thus expect a longer period to transition. These results, though relying on simulation scenarios and simplistic assumptions, are helpful in illustrating the importance of government efforts to provide social protection not only for the poor but also for segments of the income distribution that could likely to fall into poverty given income contractions from reduced economic activities during this COVID-19 pandemic. The study also discusses various policy and data issues, recommending that the Philippine Statistics Authority start reviewing its official poverty measurement system, including the current use of income over expenditure as the poverty metric, as well as the poverty line setting methodology given the changes in income and expenditure patterns in the past decade (prior to the onset of COVID-19) that improved living conditions.

In 2008, about 12 percent of five- to fifteen-year-old children were not in school, five years later this had gone down to about 5 percent. Adjusted net primary school attendance rates have increased from 90.8 percent in 2008 to 96.45 percent in 2013. In this paper, we examine this decline in the proportion of out-of-school children and improved primary school participation in the country and attribute them to three key government interventions. First is the passage and full implementation of mandatory kindergarten and the K-12 Law, which aims to enhance basic education through key reforms in the curricula and addition of kindergarten and two years to basic education. Second is the increasing budget that the Department of Education has obtained from the national government. And third is the expansion of the government`s conditional cash transfer program that requires families under the program to send their children to school. These three broad public programs to invest in our human capital changed the way basic education is implemented in the country, and have helped bring the country closer to its goal of universal primary education. Ways forward include continued making full use of information systems especially the learner information system, improving school participation in the secondary education level, monitoring and evaluating the alternative learning system and alternative delivery modes of schooling, addressing gender disparities in basic education, and improving the quality of basic education.

The Philippine government established the Performance-Based Bonus (PBB) in 2012 to reward exemplary employee performance, align individual- and team-level efforts with agency-wide targets, and improve public service delivery in the executive department. At the time, the PBB was meant to augment salaries while the government was preparing to increase public sector wages in phases. With the implementation of the last phase of salary increases in 2019, it is important to assess the effects of the PBB on the country's bureaucracy. The Department of Budget and Management, together with the Development Academy of the Philippines and other oversight agencies, administers the PBB using the Results-Based Performance Management System framework. In light of the incentive scheme's budgetary implications, the agencies deem it critical to study how the PBB affects government efforts to push reforms and boost the individual- and team-level motivation and productivity of employees. This study, a follow-up of a process evaluation of the PBB conducted in 2019, employs a mixed-method research drawn on primary and secondary data. It undertook a perception-based survey on the effects of the PBB with more than 1,200 respondents and focus group discussions with PBB focal persons and members of the performance management teams of selected agencies, including oversight agencies. Empirical findings suggest that while the PBB has had design issues and implementation challenges (e.g., changes in eligibility requirements across the years and gaming and dysfunctional behavior of employees), it is generally welcomed across the bureaucracy. There is evidence that the PBB has helped boost the motivation and productivity of employees, which can lead to individual and agency-wide improvements. The results show that the PBB can be redesigned to hone its effects on public sector reforms.

The Philippine government established the Performance-Based Bonus (PBB) in 2012 to reward exemplary employee performance, align individual- and team-level efforts with agency-wide targets, and improve public service delivery in the executive department. At the time, the PBB was meant to augment salaries while the government was preparing to increase public sector wages in phases. With the implementation of the last phase of salary increases in 2019, it is important to assess the effects of the PBB on the country's bureaucracy. The Department of Budget and Management, together with the Development Academy of the Philippines and other oversight agencies, administers the PBB using the Results-Based Performance Management System framework. In light of the incentive scheme's budgetary implications, the agencies deem it critical to study how the PBB affects government efforts to push reforms and boost the individual- and team-level motivation and productivity of employees. This study, a follow-up of a process evaluation of the PBB conducted in 2019, employs a mixed-method research drawn on primary and secondary data. It undertook a perception-based survey on the effects of the PBB with more than 1,200 respondents and focus group discussions with PBB focal persons and members of the performance management teams of selected agencies, including oversight agencies. Empirical findings suggest that while the PBB has had design issues and implementation challenges (e.g., changes in eligibility requirements across the years and gaming and dysfunctional behavior of employees), it is generally welcomed across the bureaucracy. There is evidence that the PBB has helped boost the motivation and productivity of employees, which can lead to individual and agency-wide improvements. The results show that the PBB can be redesigned to hone its effects on public sector reforms.

In 2012, the government established a Performance-Based Bonus (PBB) scheme to reward performance, align individual personnel and team-level efforts with agency-wide targets, and improve public service delivery in the Executive Department. The Department of Budget and Management, together with other oversight agencies and the Development Academy of the Philippines, manage the implementation of the PBB using the framework of the Results-Based Performance Management System. They deem it critical to study the effect of the PBB on government efforts to boost productivity and push reforms, as well as government employees' individual and team-level motivations and productivity, especially given the budgetary implications of the incentive scheme. Prior to this study, a process evaluation of the PBB was conducted to clarify whether and to what extent the PBB worked as planned. This follow-up study examines the possible impact of the PBB by employing mixed methods research drawing on primary and secondary data, undertaking not only a perception-based survey on effects of the PBB on over 1,200 respondents, but also seven focus group discussions with PBB focal points and members of the performance management teams of selected agencies, as well as representatives of oversight agencies. The findings suggest while the PBB has had some design issues and implementation challenges (e.g. changes in eligibility requirements across the years, gaming and dysfunctional behavior), the PBB is generally welcomed across the bureaucracy. Further, there is evidence that the PBB has contributed to boosting individual, team-level and agency-wide improvements in motivation and productivity. Results of the study suggest that PBB could be further re-designed to sharpen its effects on public sector reform.

The Philippine Statistical System (PSS), the government-wide system of providing statistical information and services, consists of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and other data producers in the public sector across all administrative levels; the Philippine Statistical Research and Training Institute (PSRTI), the research and training arm of the PSS; and the PSA Board (a policy-making body on statistical matters). Data producers release official statistics, i.e. data aggregates, sourced from primary data collections (such as surveys, censuses, administrative reporting systems), and compilations of secondary data. The current PSS structure is a result of Republic Act (RA) 10625, also called the Philippine Statistical Act of 2013, which envisions the PSS to be more responsive to requirements for national development planning. In the wake of the many disruptions from various technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the concomitant digitization and data revolution, this study looks into how the PSS fares in the production and communication of (official) statistics required for development planning. It also examines how governance and other issues, such as open data and confidentiality, influence various dimensions of data quality (relevance, accuracy, timeliness, accessibility, interpretability, and coherence), as well as trust in data, the data ecosystem and the enabling environment of the PSS. The report points out that RA 10625 defined an inter-agency PSA Board rather than an expert committee as the country's Statistics Policy Council, as was recommended by the Valdepeñas Committee. This effectively eliminated a mechanism for external review of the PSA and the PSS. The conversion of Technical Committees into Inter-Agency Committees further weakened outside expert input to PSA and the PSS. Agriculture and industry statistics remain very weak with PSA still relying on faulty procedures carried out by the former Bureau of Agricultural Statistics. Industry statistics weaknesses have been with the former National Statistics Office (NSO) from the beginning on account of defective sampling frames that do not readily track and deaths of firms. [.]