DAVAO CITY -- Tany, a resident of Barangay Tibungco, has spent the past 17 years working as a porter at Sasa Wharf - one of the country’s top-earning sea ports that is the main gateway for traffic in and out of Southern Mindanao. Despite this, Tany (not his real name) says he barely manages to earn enough to put food on the table for his family.

The Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP) watched as Tany, weathering stiff competition from his colleagues, finally managed to pocket a PhP 100 (about USD 2) payment for carrying two bags for a Super Ferry passenger heading to Zamboanga City. “Now I can buy rice,” the 48-year old stocky worker says.

CALBAYOG CITY -- Just as people here continue to ask who was behind the killing of Mayor Reynaldo Uy two months ago, so they are still wondering how it is that the city treasury effectively owes PhP 56 million (USD 1.3 million) to the national government after failing to remit tax revenues from 2007 to 2010.

But it seems discrepancies in remitting claimed taxes appear to date back even further.

The collection scandal has reportedly been an open secret among many of the 1,000 plus employees of the local government unit here who maintain deductions payable and due to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the likes of the Pag-Ibig Fund were neither properly collected nor passed on.

Launched last August in a fanfare of publicity as part of the new administration’s campaign to combat corruption, the crowd-sourcing Pera ng Bayan (Money of the People) website set up by the Department of Finance (DOF) generated an initial and immediate flood of reports filed by concerned citizens.

The initiative was largely billed at the time by the media as a vehicle designed to help reduce corruption in government departments -- specifically erring public officials from the DOF and its affiliated agencies, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

When Secretary Cesar Purisima took over the helm of the Department of Finance (DOF) in July last year, he conceded right away that it would not be an easy task.

It was like stepping on a treadmill, he said during his first days in office.

Now, one year on, the country’s fiscal health remains fragile –but improving.

Nobody likes paying taxes and few people like tax collectors – but it was a pleasure meeting the top officials of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in Quezon City on May 28. The BIR’s tax campaign theme for 2010 is a perfect and fitting one for all in government: “Making the Public Know.”

Barely a decade ago, Bongao was an underdeveloped municipality despite it being the political and economic capital of Tawi-Tawi, the southernmost province of the Philippines.

Back then, life was difficult and miserable. Economic and social development was slow; prices of basic goods and commodities high -- and the government was desperate for funds to remedy social and environmental problems. Infrastructure too was very poor and private business was hesitant to invest for precisely these reasons.

Victoria Constantino (not her real name) runs a hardware business in Caloocan City.

There was a time, every tax-filing season when her bookkeeper would ask her for PhP 50,000 (USD 1,111).

The money was for the examiner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) who was assigned to assess the income tax returns filed by Constantino’s company.