Human Rights and Public Finance in the Philippines The mobilization, allocation and utilization of the country's financial resources are relevant to both human rights and public finance. Both human rights and public finance are concerned with issues of income distribution and social equity; both human rights and public finance emphasize the central role of government; both human rights and public finance seek the creation of conditions leading to an improved quality of life. Public finance impacts on human rights: fiscal policies such as inflation tarEeting, controlling money supply, setting interest rates, etc. affect price stability and employment, and could promote or negate the rights to an adequate standard of living and to work; taxation could combat or exacerbate discrimination and inequality in society; public spending could advance or relegate the rights to life, food, health, housing, education, water and sanitation, social security, etc. Human rights, too, impacts on public finance: it places considerable demands on the country's financial resources; it influences the direction of fiscal poiicy; it sets standards for public spending; and it guides the mobilization of public revenues and the solicitation of public debt. The synergy and reciprocal relationship between human rights and public finance are reflected in recent trends in both fields in the Philippines. Recent Trends in Public Finance in the Philippines Revenues Figure 1 presents trends in total, tax, and non-tax revenue relative to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the period 1994-2011. There has been a big drop in total revenues, driven by a fall in tax revenues since the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. Tax revenue relative to GDP declined from 1 5.3o/o of GDP in 1997 to a low of 11.8o/o in 2004. It recovered in the next four years, but fell to 12.3o/o in 2009 and has since remained in that vicinity. Tax revenue broadly reflects movements in economic growth, falling in 1998-2004 with weak GDP groMh in the aftermath of the Asian Crisis, rising slightly in 2O04-2008 as GDP growth was buoyed by a strong global economy, and has been down since 2009 as the economy felt the impact of the globalfinancial crisis. 2