Executive Summary This paper transforms the rhetoric of human rights and public finance into an analytical framework that offers a set of human rights based guidelines different from the traditiona! approach to public finance. The framework is situated within Philippine fiscal and human rights realities. ln recent decades, fiscal performance was marked by insufficient revenues, economic fluctuations that impede revenue mobilization, huge interest payments on the debt, and a policy stance geared towards reducing the deficit. Amidst this fiscal backdrop, human rights remain largely unrealized in the country as may be gleaned from reports of treaty monitoring bodies and from the per{ormance of the Philippines in relation to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The human rights based approach to public finance is a framework to promote the mobilization and maximum use of the country's available resources to progressively realize human rights for all, especially those most vulnerable, under a regime of shared control over public financial resources. lt draws on norms, standards and principles found in Philippine law and in international human rights instruments that form part of Philippine law. Human rights provide guidance on the nature, roles, functions and actions of public finance. ln this framework, public finance refers to the mobilization and use of financial resources available to public institutions (duty bearers) for the progressive realization of human rights. As duty bearers, public institutions carry obligations that arise from human rights. HRBA to public finance has four essential elements: o Primacy of the human person. The human condition forms the basis for fiscal actions, and fiscal decisions are geared towards improving the quality of life, paying close attention to those most disadvantaged and excluded from enjoying their human rights. Filipino women, men and children are the claimholders: the owners, principal actors, central subjects and main participants, accorded full respect for their integrity as human persons. Claimholders must exercise their rights responsibly by fulfilling their fiscal responsibilities and participating in decision-making and related processes. . Support for the realization of human rights without discrimination. Public finance must be expressly linked to human rights to ensure that public goods, services and facilities satisfy entitlements which vary according to normative content, i.e. availability, physical and information accessibility, affordability, acceptability, and quality. HRBA to public finance promotes equal rights of all, ensuring bolh de jure and de facto equality, while guarding against discrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnic origin, religion and other social, economic or political considerations. To address discrimination, it urges the adoption of measures that grant special and differential treatment to those discriminated against so long as the treatment is reasonable, objective, Iegitimate and compatible with human rights, is undertaken solely to promote the general welfare in a democratic society. . Maximum available resour@s. HRBA to public finance stresses the obligation of the State to mobilize the ma<imum available resources and to make maximum use of these resources to progressively realize human rights. Available resources are not static and may change over time. There are no internationalthresholds and each country must set