GUEST COLUMNIST
By Jude Trinidad
In a perfect society, public and private sectors will be efficiently distributing wealth equitably and providing inclusive services sufficiently. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) would not even have to exist.
Alas, Utopia was just a fictional concept that, as in any other state of reality, will never happen. Natural law, thus, will have to take its own course for these gaps to be filled out. NGOs therefore are here because they were created not only out of necessity but also because of the law of supply and demand.
Over the past decades, the number of NGOs worldwide grew by leaps and bounds. It is estimated that this sector is now a trillion-dollar industry employing millions of people worldwide. It is said that if NGO is a country, it will be well up in the top 10 biggest economies in the world.
In a developing country like the Philippines,the gaps in wealth distribution and inclusive services are more pronounced. NGOs, therefore, play a vital role in community mobilization, and the national economic and social development. It is a given that the NGOs worth and works in the country now count among their beneficiaries, even dependents, millions of Filipinos that they have been informally regarded as the third sector, after government and church, in nation building.
Non-Profit Organizations (NPO), as defined under SEC Memorandum Circular No. 25, s. 2019 (or the “2019 NPO Guidelines”), refers to an “SEC-registered non-stock corporation that primarily engages in raising or disbursing funds for purposes such as charitable, religious, cultural, educational, social or fraternal purposes, or for the carrying out of other types of good works.” NPOs shall include non-government organizations (NGOs) and foundations.
As there are hardly any available data, Felix Tonog, executive director of the Philippine Council for NGO Certification (PCNC), estimates that, based on the total number of SEC-registered non-profit organizations, the total peso value of NPOs in the Philippines in terms of asset size is around P100 billion.
The immense resources the NGOs hold are distributed to various advocacy programs such as education, health, environment, disaster relief, community infrastructure, humanitarian services, livelihood, among others.
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission data, as of Dec. 31 2020, there are a total of 64,087 NPOs registered under different classifications.
PCNC was established in 1997 by six civil society networks in the country —Association of Foundations (AF), Bishops'-Businessmen's Conference for Human Development (BBC), Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO), League of Corporate Foundations (LCF), National Council for Social Development Foundations of the Philippines (NCSD), and the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP)—to help the government in regulating NGOs by ensuring that only legitimate, well-governed, and properly managed NGOs could avail of tax incentives under the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program. As such, PCNC was eventually designated by the Department of Finance-Bureau of Internal Revenue as accrediting entity to determine the qualification of NGOs for donee-institution status. It also provides capacity building and organizational development to all NGOs and foundations and serves as the vanguard of the seal of good housekeeping.
Tonog disclosed that, of the total SEC registered NPOs, there are only about 450 PCNC-accredited NGOs at any given time. “Every month, some accreditations expire, and new or re-accreditations are being approved by the board of PCNC.” The low number is because PCNC, itself an independent NGO and the de-facto evaluation arm of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), carries a stringent yardstick in evaluating organizations that entitles them to tax incentives through the awarding of official donee institution status.
The rigid evaluation process being employed by the PCNC on NPOs bodes well in elevating the status and keeping the standards of good housekeeping of the NGOs and foundations high. It will be recalled that in 2012, the Philippine government and some members of the NGO community had come under fire after a public fund scam exposed fake NGOs which embezzled millions of pesos in public funds with the connivance of some politicians. Because of the established, even exhaustive, standards set forth by the PCNC back in time, none of NGOs involved were PCNC accredited.
Tonog revealed that education program gets the biggest share in aggregate program budget or disbursement of the PCNC-accredited organizations. This is mainly because there are a number of educational institutions that are accredited. In addition, many NGOs are into education programs such as scholarships, educational assistance, infrastructure development, teachers’ training, and similar programs.
“However, there is a growing interest among many NGOs/foundations now along the area of climate change mitigation, adaptation, and resilience. These are really complex issues that are interrelated with other social issues such as food security, access to education and health services. We are also seeing a lot of promising innovations in development programs particularly in the use of technology to rather traditional approaches,” he added.
The Philippines has an immensely dynamic and diverse NGO sector. According to the Asian Development Bank, the country has the largest number of NPOs per capita in Asia. The NPO sector in the Philippines is also recognized as one of the most vibrant and advanced in the world and the legal environment is generally seen as supportive of the sector (AMLC 2018 NPO Risk Assessment). “In my experience, I’ve seen many countries would come to the Philippines to study how NGOs operate, their programs and services, and the regulatory environment. I would say that the Philippines has contributed significantly to the development of the NGO sector, at least in Asia,” he stressed.
Today, as the Philippines grapples in a complex tapestry of social, economic and environmental challenges, a beacon of hope emerges in the form of NGOs. These passionate and determined entities have taken upon themselves the noble mission of alleviating suffering and empowering communities to effect long-lasting change. They have become the catalysts for progress, amplifying the voices of the marginalized and ushering in a brighter future for all.
(The author is a volunteer evaluator of the Philippine Council for NGO Certification and a PR practitioner and freelance writer. He spent many years working with corporate foundations and various charitable programs.)