PHILIPPINES SEES 1987 GOVERNMENT REVENUE UP 26 PCT Philippine government revenue is expected to rise 26 pct to 99.9 billion pesos this year from 79.1 billion in 1986, Finance Secretary Jaime Ongpin said. In a report to President Corazon Aquino on his department's performance during the year ended February 28, Ongpin said at least 15.9 billion pesos were expected to accrue from new tax reform measures announced last year. He said the goal for official development assistance (ODA) this year is two billion dlrs, adding that aid donors have committed ODA inflows of 1.7 billion dlrs in 1987, up 30 pct from 1.3 billion in 1986. Ongpin said steps planned to provide a sound revenue base included a value added tax (VAT) system due to be introduced in 1988. He gave no other details. He said treasury bill maturities, interest rate levels and the volume of government securities sold to the private sector have improved significantly. "In particular, short-term prime interest rates which had gone over 40 pct in 1985, are now down to less than 10 pct," he said. Ongpin said the government's debt-equity scheme, introduced in August last year, had attracted more than 276 mln dlrs worth of applications, but selective evaluation had resulted in approvals of only 61.8 mln dlrs at end-February. He said his department aims to accelerate its privatisation program and the sale of non-performing assets owned by associates of former President Ferdinand Marcos to achieve a 1987 sales target of four billion pesos which would help finance land reform. Aquino said earlier this month that all the 24 billion pesos the government hopes to raise from the sale of the failed companies will be used to finance the land reform plan. Ongpin also said the government would pursue efforts to obtain 500 mln dlrs in concessional funding for the program from a World Bank-led consultative group of multilateral and bilateral aid donors. The government has said the land reform plan aims to distribute 9.7 mln hectares of land to poor peasants.