How VAT helped the Philippine economy?

Despite the much publicized opposition, rallies and invectives hurled against the implementation of the expanded Value Added Tax (from 10% to 12%), here's some positive and encouraging observations from the CIA factbook: "the implementation of the expanded Value Added Tax (VAT) in November 2005 boosted confidence in the government's fiscal capacity and helped to strengthen the peso, which gained 5.7 percent year-on-year, making it East Asia's best performing currency in 2005. Investors and credit rating institutions will continue to look for effective implementation of the new VAT and continued improvement in the government's overall fiscal capacity in the coming year".