Chapter 4

PROFILING THE PHILIPPINE ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM

The Philippines is a democratic state under a Republican system where all pow- ers of the government emanate from the
people.' Under the 1987 Constitution, the frequency of elections is held every three years. The term of office of elected officials
is fixed by law. Reelection is generally allowed but not in the case of a President. The President who is the head of the
government, and concurrently the head of State, is elected directly by the people for a term of six years, and so with the Vice
President, elected at large for a term of six years, who will assist the President, in his executive functions to implement the
law'faithfully.

The Philippines operates under a representative government, one that is repub- lican in character, "the powers of government
are exercised by public officials chosen in periodic elections by the electoral body." The 1987 Constitution vested the power of
government on the Legislative (Article VI), Executive (Article VII), and the Judiciary (Article VIII).

Leaders of Philippine Administration

For more than 20 years since 1965, President Ferdinand Marcos held an authori- tarian regime that prescribed for the basis of
national and local administration in the Philippines, and issued presidential decrees at will, including letters of instruction and
proclamations, which had the force of a law. In 1986, the People Power revolu- tion toppled down the long standing dictator in
history and catapulted to the office of the Presidency, Corazon Aquino, who earlier eed for a new Constitution, the 1987
Constitution. The fundamental law was unanimously promulgated and ratified on 2 February 1987 by the people, and took
effect on 11 February of that year.

Fidel Ramos was elected President in 1992 and continued the previous reforms of his predecessor in the business of public
administration, as well as the economic policies, this time with a new mantra of Philippines 2000. In 1998, Joseph Estrada, who
served as Vice President, was elected the 13th President of the Philippines. But halfway through his term, President Estrada
faced an impeachment complaint and was later forced to leave the Palace on allegations of corruption and betrayal of public
trust. Vice President Gloria Arroyo succeeded him in 2001 when the Supreme Court declared a vacancy in the Office of the
President.?

In 2004, Gloria Arroyo ran for president. Amidst allegations of electoral fraud and rigging the elections, she was declared by
Congress as the president-elect and made her the 14th President of the Republic leading the Philippine public administra- tion.
In 2010, Benigno S. Aquino III is elected the 15th President of the Republic of the Philippines, now running the public
administration in the country.

Legal and Institutional Basis of Public Administration

The 1987 Constitution of the Philippines, as in past constitutions, vested the pow- er of government on the Legislative (Article
VI), Executive (Article VII), and the Judi- ciary (Article VIII). Thus, the specific mandate is herein set as follows:

1. Art. VI, Sec. 1: The legislative power shall be vested in the Congress of the Philippines which shall consist of a Senate, and a
House of Representatives, except to the extent reserved to the people by the provision on initiative and referendum.

2. Art. VII, Sec. 1: The executive power shall be vested in the President of the Philippines.

3. Art. VIII, Sec. 1: The judicial power shall be vested in one Supreme Court and in such lower court as may be established by
law.
The legislative structure in the Philippines is bicameral. The Senate is composed of 24 Senators, and the House of
Representatives shall be composed of not more than 250 members, unless otherwise fixed by law, who shall be elected from
legislative districts apportioned among the provinces, cities, and Metropolitan Manila area in accordance with the number of
their respective inhabitants.

Senators are elected at large for six years term of office and can be reelected. While a Representative is elected by the district
(and/or through party-list system) for a term of three years with maximum tenure of not more than three consecutive terms.
The party-list representatives shall constitute 20% of the total number of Representa- tives including those under the party-list.

The President is popularly elected with a term of six years in office, without re- election. All members of the legislative
department d the executive branch shall, upon assumption of office, make a full disclosure of their financial and business inter-
ests. Members of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President (until they retire) upon the recommendation of the Judicial
and Bar Council. Moreover, members of the Supreme Court and judges of lower courts may hold office during good behavior
until they reached the age of 70 years or became incapable to discharge the duties of their office.

The basic principle of the government embraced the rule of separation of powers among the three branches of government.
The Constitution provides a mechanism of check and balance to prevent abuses and unbridled discretion of a branch of govern-
ment.

Local Government Framework

Local governments are widely recognized in every democratic state as general purpose units created by the national
government. They represent vital constituent parts of the nation's politico-administrative system, and play an important part in
the administration of public services. In the Philippines, local governments are political subdivisions created by law. These
subdivisions are provinces, cities, municipalities, and barangays.

The Constitution provides for Article X establishing the local governments of the state, and the creation of special metropolitan
subdivisions, and the provisions for autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and the Cordilleras. Moreover, enabling laws are
promulgated to establish finer details as regards their particular powers, features, and structures of the various levels and
branches of government like RA 7160, the Local Government Code of 1991, and EO 292, which is the Administrative Code of
1987.
Constitutional Commissions

The 1987 Constitution sets the organizational framework among the major branches of government, namely: the legislative, the
executive, and the judiciary. It also provides for independent Constitutional Commissions: Civil Service Commis- sion,
Commission on Elections, and Commission on Audit.

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) under Art. IX-B is commissioned to act on particular areas of system regulation in the
bureaucracy and manages government personnel. The civil service embraces all branches, subdivisions, instrumentalities, and
any agencies of the government, including government-owned or controlled corporations with original charters. An
appointment in the civil service is through competitive eligibility examinations. The CSC maintains an effective, efficient, and
accountable civil bureaucracy.

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) under Art. IX-C is commissioned to guarantee free, orderly, honest, quiet, and
believable elections, including plebiscite, initiative, referendum, and recall through the enforcement of the related organic laws.
COMELEC shall enforce and administer all laws and regulations relative to the con- duct of an election, and other electoral
mechanisms. It can also recommend to Con- gress effective measures to minimize election spending, including limitation of
places where propaganda materials shall be posted, and it can prevent and penalize all forms of election frauds, offenses,
malpractice, and nuisance candidates.

The Commission on Audit (COA) under Art. IX-D is the national accounting of- fice of the government that keeps the general
account and government expenditures. The COA shall have exclusive authority to define the scope of its audit and exami-
nation, establish the techniques and methods required thereof, and promulgate ac- counting and auditing rules and regulations,
including those for the prevention and disallowance of irregular, unnecessary, inexpensive, extravagant, or unconscionable
expenditures or uses of government funds and properties.

National and Local Government Relations

The Local Government Code instituted a system of decentralization and decon- centrated field offices to the political
subdivisions of the state. The national govern- ment devolved some political powers to Local Government Units (LGUs) like the
re- sponsibility of the delivery of social services in the areas of environment and natural resources, tourism, health, local public
works, agriculture, and social welfare and de- velopment.

The national government promulgates general laws, sets policies, and carries out rules and regulations. RA 7160, for one,
granted local units wider space for par- ticipatory governance over their community affairs and more flexibility in exercising
revenue-generating activities, while the President only assumed general supervisory powers over LGUs

Under the Code, LGUs have the power to create their own sources of revenues and to levy taxes, fees and charges, subject to
such guidelines, which may accrue exclusively for their use and disposition and which may be retained by them. They also have
a just share in the national taxes which is automatically released to them. And to ensure that local units conform to these
powers, they continue to be under the general supervision of the President. Furthermore, to aid the President, the Department
of Interior and Local Government (DILG) acts as the coordinating and central body in overseeing that their functions and powers
are properly discharged according to the mandates of the Code.

Political, Fiscal, and Administrative Autonomy

The prevailing government laws, primarily the Constitution, are fashioned to- wards wider democratization processes, be it in
political, fiscal, and administrative aspect of all departments, government organizations, government-owned companies,
commissioned bodies, including public corporations.

In the grant of administrative autonomy, government employees in the national and local bureaucracies are appointed based on
merits pursuant to the rules and regu- lations prescribed by the Civil Service Commission, except for those positions which are
classified as primarily confidential, highly technical or policy determining. Bu- reaucrats are likewise secured in regard to their
employment and may not be removed without a cause.
Political autonomy is also served to elected government officers. The President and the Vice President are elected to serve for
six years. Senators and Congressmen are chosen by the people for six years and three years, respectively, and may serve for an-
other term. Elected officials at the local governments also serve for three years and are eligible for reelection. The creation of
local development councils at local governments grants also for sectoral representation from the diverse groups of the
community like the women sector, the labor group, and the disabled and elderly peons, among oth- ers.

The judiciary as a government department shall enjoy fiscal autonomy. Accord- ing to Art. VIII, Sec. 3 of the 1987 Constitution, it
reads "the judiciary shall enjoy fis- cal autonomy. Appropriations for the judiciary may not be reduced by the legislature below
the amount appropriated for the previous year and, after approved, shall be automatically and regularly released." In the same
vein, the Constitutional Commis- sions (Art. IX) shall enjoy fiscal autonomy and shall be assured of automatic budget- ary
allocation.

Trends and Developmental Efforts

Consistent with the goals of public administration, there are continuous devel- opment efforts that governments in national and
local levels are committed to push through like rational bureaucratic reforms, encouraging participatory governance, promoting
work ethics in the administration, and enhancing the capacity and quality of human life through responsible and accountable
public service. Efforts to achieve a leaner but working government organization have persisted as a goal of the reorga- nization
plan. The institutionalization of political values and ethical standards in the bureaucracy, and the implementation of various
laws enhancing the accountability of public officials and employees are all but manifestations of perking up the image and
morale of the civil service.

The thrust of reengineering governments is also a response to the public view that government needs to be more efficient by
contracting out services, in some ways and/or if not by deploying its responsible people to frontline services while reorganiz- ing
the number of central offices, and their employees by deconcentrating them, when needed, to field or regional offices where
more personnel are desired to deliver social provisions. This reform effort is headed by a Presidential Committee on Effective
Gov- ernance. It is observed that all past presidents undertook reorganizations upon their assumption, but current efforts are
focused on minimizing, overlapping, or duplicat- ing structures, ensuring optimization of human resources and the abolition of
offices whose functions have been rendered either as overlapping or marginal.

Administrative System

Perhaps, one strong bargaining power of public administration in the Philippines is its plethora of laws, rules, and regulations.
The existence of government regulations on every aspect of administration may be observed as the government's strength is
seen on one side; while, it may also be its source of weakness, on the other side.

Loose regulation of facilities and services that is contracted out to the private sec- tor may allow a certain degree of abuse and
may foster a sort of negligence on the part of the said sector. Overregulation, in many parts, on the other hand, may allow
lever- age for so-called fixers who peddle their tricks anywhere or everywhere in facilitating irregular transactions in exchange
for a fee. It has been noted that "one-stop shop arrangements have been set up in critical areas like investments and
importations, but the pernicious practice of fixers continues," which flourishes and even patronizes in some respect.

Issues on Regulation

The Administrative Code of 1987, known as Executive Order 292, sets down one chapter pertaining to government contracts
and public bidding in the country. There seems to be diverse regulation standard issued by different agencies regarding certain
use of utilities, facilities or services. Hence, there is purportedly an absence of uniform standard or criteria applicable to all; it
actually varies from one department to another.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) issued a Manual of Regulations providing rules on the hiring of
consultants for foreign assisted proj- ects. But hiring of local consultants has another regulation by the Department of Bud- get
and Management (DBM). The Commission on Audit (COA) also has its rules on regulating public bidding, government contracts,
and general hiring. (See RA 9184 for updates.)

The question breeds, whether or not it is possible to standardize a regulatory criteria say, for public bidding. The issue contends
however, that government agencies provide certain but differing services, they need to set individual guidelines in regulating
the kind of services they offer. While it is likely to synchronize these rules, they are separately issued and required different
submission to these various government agencies. Even the utilization of budget requires separate and different reports to
various authorities, which necessitate an added personnel force.

There are persisting demands for regulation, but according to National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) report, it
said: "this process is largely left to the discretion of the operating managers and there is little incentive for undertaking a really
thorough review of regulations that may already be irrelevant, outdated or un- necessary." In terms of international competitive
bidding, this is normally done only for foreign assisted projects or for big ticket items like airplanes or tanks, for which there are
no local agents available.

Quasi-Judicial Bodies

There are many administrative tribunals or quasi-judicial bodies where ag- grieved citizens may file their instant complaint as a
way to seek redress of grievance. Example, an employee in a business sector who has been dismissed from work with- out due
process may bring this dispute of illegal dismissal before the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) to resolve such
controversy.

So, as a citizen who has been aggrieved from the action or decision of public administration, authorities can bring the matter for
possible resolution to the Ombuds- man. In fact, any taxpayer or concerned citizen may bring an action for decision before the
Sandiganbayan for a particular anti-graft or corrupt practice by a public officer from which act he has been disadvantaged.

The Constitution assures adequate legal assistance through the Public Attorney's Office (PAO) in favor of a potential
complainant and/or (qualified) respondent of the case. The service extended shall be free of charge as this mately is the aim of
justice for all and the essence of equal protection of the law clause. Apart from PAO, the In- tegrated Bar of the Philippines and
the UP College of Law extend free legal assistance to the public on meritorious cases.

There is a Commission for Human Rights, which is constitutionally established under Art. XIII (Social Justice and Human Rights).
The Commission looks into pos- sible violations of the human rights of a citizen. There are other offices which can look at
problems of citizens, and protect them against the decision of public authorities on their own initiative. Very often, however,
there are too many cases filed before these quasi-judicial bodies but are simply unattended and gathering dust on the table be-
cause resolution of cases may take years, long years to promulgate. In the process, complainants may lose interest to obtain
redress as the wheels of justice in the Philip- pines grind so slowly, leaving them to believe the adage that "justice delayed is
justice denied."

Civil Service Career

Gone were the years of patronage in the civil service. The present state of bureau- cratic structure is the American influence.
The admission to the civil service force in the Philippines, like most democratic countries, is premised on merits and fitness that
the way to enter the organization is through a competitive examination. It is reported that more than half a million applicants
each year take the competitive civil service examination, both for professional and sub-professional eligibility. The examination
may be taken either the traditional way (testing centers) or through a computer-assist- ed test system that allows for
instantaneous results.

Furthermore, according to the Civil Service Commission policies: skilled appli- cants applying for skill position have to take trade
of test with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). When an applicant passes the examina- tion, he
may apply to his preferred office or government agency where additional requirements may be imposed by the hiring office.
The decision to hire an applicant belongs to the office even when the Civil Service Commission may disapprove an ap- plicant for
not complying with the rules, regulations or standards. There are exemp- tions, however, from taking the civil service
examination like those positions that are policy determining (political appointees), highly technical (scientists or professors), and
primarily confidential (secretaries or drivers). These positions are not required to go through or pass the competitive
examination system.

Tenure and Civil Service Category

In the Philippine civil service theory and practice, a civil servant shall enjoy te- nurial security until retirement (65 years of age),
unless one is separated for just cause. The law says, "no officers or employees of the Civil Service shall be removed or sus-
pended except for cause provided by law." The Administrative Code provides the details of removal and suspension, and the
Constitution guarantees payment upon separation of some officers in the civil service. The President is prohibited to remove
those whose tenure is guaranteed by law or by the Constitution.

However, career civil service employees separated from the service not for cause but as a result of reorganization shall be
entitled to appropriate separation pay and to retirement and other benefits accruing to them under the laws of general
application in force at the time of their separation.

There are, however, certain officials and employees who, because of the nature of their jobs, have tenure that is coterminous
with the appointing authority or subject to his pleasure which is limited to the duration of a particular service or based on how
the purpose of employment is made.

There are three levels of positions in the civil service according to the Adminis- trative Code of 1987. The first level position
consists of those in the manual, clerical, custodial or trades and crafts groups with salary grades between 1 and 10. The second
level includes those in the technical and professional groups or those who have fin- ished college degrees with certain
specialization enjoying salary grades between 11 and 24. The third group, the executive class, forms the government's
managerial corps and occupies salary grades between 25 and 33. The President, being the highest officer in the civil
bureaucracy, enjoys the top salary grade of 33; while a laborer is assigned only the salary grade of 1.

The classifications of government positions and salary schedules are executed under the Department of Budget and
Management (DBM). The Department shall up- date the positions and salary of all positions in the government in accordance
with the Index of Occupational Services, Positions, Titles, and Salary Grades of the Compensa- tion and Position Classification
System. However, Art. XVIII, Sec. 18 provides: "At the earliest possible time, the Government shall increase the salary scales of
other officials and employees of the National Government."

System of Promotion

In order to boost the morale of the civil servants, the Congress maintains salary standardization among the government
employees. Art. IX, Sec. 5 declares that "Con- gress shall provide for the standardization of compensation of government officials
and employees, including those in the Government-Owned or Controlled Corpora- tions with original charters, taken into
account the nature of the responsibilities per- taining to, and the qualifications required for, their positions."

The promotion system in the civil service requires high qualifications and bet- ter performance records. In the past, seniority
was all too important an element for promotion but later the Civil Service Commission gave extra premium on increasing
performance, thus, allowing for what is known as "deep selection" or the vertical movement of the people to a higher notch not
necessarily on the basis of seniority but on better working performance criteria. A lateral system of entrance is allowed even for
high positions, particularly for second level positions, where the pool for selection is the entire bureaucracy. The choice for first
level promotion usually revolves only among personnel of a particular office. Career executive service officers like depart- ment
secretary, undersecretary, bureau directors, assistant bureau directors, regional directors, among others are appointed to the
generic rank and may be assigned any- where for as long as there is no diminution of rank or salary.

fraction).
Civil Servants Movement and Retirement

There are array of programs for human resource development of the civil service employees in the Philippines like subsidized
education for scholars (including grad- uate studies); continuing trainings and workshops for more specialized needs like
computer literacy, the need for the familiarity of technologio innovations in telecom- munications or the transfer of
technological skills; service orientations; and political civil values formation. Just like the private sector, employees in the civil
service also enjoy job enrichment, counseling, and other Human Resource Development (HRD) interventions for additional skills
acquisition.

There is also the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) from the civil ser- vice employees that is different from the Social
Security System (SSS) in the private sector, which is mandatory funding resource toward retirement and pension pay- ments. In
1994, a law was passed that allowed the portability (conversion/transfer) of social security benefits from the private sector to
the public sector and vice versa.

There are a number of Retirement Laws applicable to different set of employ- ees. Reviews of present laws and reforms are
underway to ensure equality for pub- lic personnel retirees in the future. In the meantime, "government employees, on the
average, get pensions of up to 20% or a maximum of P12,000/$300 of their highest monthly salary received while employed.
These benefits, however, shall only be com- menced and be enjoyed by those who have worked in the organization for at least
20 years of service."

Presently, there are about 90 million population in the Philippines and about 1.5 M employed in the bureaucracy. It may be
inferred that the ratio of government employees to the population is 1:60. While, this does not seem oversized as compared to
other countries, it may be argued that the bigger the bureaucracy the better, for there is the strength to expedite the delivery of
public services. Still yet, political values of accountability and performance are much required than mere numbers in the
efficiency of civil bureaucracy toward the public. However, with the given ratio, the public feeling is that there are too many
employees in the national offices and agencies, but not enough in the LGUs where services need to be delivered with more
employees in the frontline.

Civil Service and Public Administration

Civil service refers to the whole scope of bureaucracy with the employees who are charged with administrative functions to
execute the delivery of public goods and services to the people. While, public opinion refers to the aggregate views, positions or
preferences of the significant population on any given issue in the society that directly or indirectly affects their lives. It is the
outcome of collective discussion and agreement and the arrival at a decision from the significant population.' Public opinion on
civil service in the Philippines reveals the general dissatisfaction of the people with regard to the administration of its functions.

Public Opinion on Bureaucracy

Public opinion is the composite of individual views or preferences being commu- nicated to the politically relevant leaders of
government. Though, it is too impossible in a democracy that people with varying interests, beliefs, and expectations would
reach a unanimous opinion, those majority views or preferences nonetheless would generally be acceptable.Ⓡ

Public opinion polls measure public satisfaction or approval of government poli- cies and government officials. Public opinion
results generally influence or affect the conduct and direction of government plans and programs. Public opinion polls in the
Philippine bureaucracy result in the dissatisfaction of the people towards organi- zation because of its views about red tape,
corruption, and inefficiency.

Nongovernmental Organizations

Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOS) came in droves during the Aquino presidency as a call for effective governance towards
nation-building. The Local Gov- ernment Code of 1991 served as general impetus for the role of NGOs towards de- velopment.
Primarily, NGOs were charitable institutions serving as the arms of local church parishes to aid the poor and underprivileged
sector. They started their own interests in the community. Later, NGOs assumed a more important position in the Philippine
governance tradition, thereby elevating the importance of these organiza- tions for political, economic, and social purposes.
Following People Power in 1986, NGOS became vehicles for advocacy works that revolved around specific concerns of human
rights, education, women, the disabled, and provided training for the un- skilled, among others. Enabling laws like RA 7160
established sectoral representation in legislative development councils or policymaking bodies in the local units, and the Code
also engineered the birth of people's organizations and voluntary movements.

The roles of NGOs, which are initially committed to political change as guided by the Code, are in fact notable. They
subsequently formed coalitions that enabled them to intervene in many government affairs like housing, agrarian reform, urban
poor, education, and others. To a great extent, they formed part of the interest groups that lobbied for some legislation in these
areas, and attained considerable success. Today, NGOS coalesced with Coalition of Development-NGOS (CODE-NGOs), the
largest NGOs' coalition group. The CODE-NGO started to formulate vision statement and defined their relations with the
government, other sectors of the society, including the International NGOS (INGOS). Filipino-based NGOs are now cooperating
actively with INGOS to achieve their noble ends of serving the community.

Citizens' Participation

The 1987 Constitution in Article VI (Legislative) provided a new mechanism for people's initiative and referendum, enabling
citizens' participation in the legislative processes. Under the 1987 Constitution, the power to make, propose, or amend laws is
also extended to the people, in whom sovereignty resides, through the mechanisms of initiative and referendum. In this
legislative system, the people can directly pro- pose and enact laws, and approve or reject any act or law or part thereof. This
may result from the acts of Congress or local representative councils following a petition duly signed by at least 10% of the total
registered voters. By initiative, we mean that the authority is reserved to the people through direct participation of the
electorate in lawmaking processes either in national or local level. By referendum, it means the process with which the people
are referred directly on any question of law passed by Congress or a local legislative body for their approval or rejection.

Among the features that aimed to enhance citizens' participation include the pas- sage of Absentee Voting Act in 2004, the Dual
Citizenship Act, the party-list represen- tation system in the House of Representatives, the nation of development councils in the
local governments, the recognition of the role of people's organization, voluntary groups and civil society, including NGOs.

Another feature is the independent Commission on Human Rights (CHR), first time in the Philippine Constitution, which may
investigate, on its own initiative, cases or complaints involving violation of human rights of a victim or an accused. However, as a
new system, it suffers from the transitional problems of all pioneering organiza- tions. The absence of a clear model to work
from, and the need to orient and educate the populace about human rights, are viewed as the causes of ignorance. In fact, the
CHR has no prosecutory powers to decide on cases of human rights violation, it has only investigative powers or functions which
when compared to other agencies, CHR is nothing but a toothless piranha.

It is quite evident that the Commission on Human Rights as an independent and constitutional body lacks quasi-judicial powers
to hear and decide cases of hu- man rights violations. It has no authority to impose punishment but merely a com- mission body
to investigate and recommend to Congress appropriate and effective measures to promote human rights in the Philippines and
to provide ways from which compensation shall be paid out to the victims of human rights violations or to their heirs of families.
The Commission in fact should be empowered to provide ad- equate redress and remedies for violations of the dignity of human
persons (Lazo, 2009:372 in Jonathan Malaya's 2003 Survey Report).

Ethics and the Public Service

The 1987 Constitution provides a particular article, Article XI, as the basis for laws regarding the behavior of public officers and
employees. Article XI has 18 sections devoted to the accountability of public officers. At the same time, there is RA 6713
otherwise known as Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees. RA 3019 which is the Anti-Graft
and Corrupt Practices Act, the Moral Recovery Program in the 1990s, the creation of Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC)
under EO 12 in 2001, the Anti-Money Laundering Act or RA 9160, among others.
The Philippines has numerous laws addressing graft and corruption, and ethics in the public administration. Mandated laws
defined the prohibited and punishable acts of public officers and employees. They laid down specific penalties imposed for
every breach thereof, and identified the agencies responsible in the implementation of the said laws.

Today, public opinions revealed the general distaste of the people in the govern- ment organization; they regarded bureaucrats
as not honest, not transparent, and not neutral. This is however a universal phenomenon as shown in most surveys of exist- ing
related literature abroad, particularly among developing countries.

The civil service employees are expected to be politically neutral at all time, es- pecially in regard to changes in government
leadership. Politicians tend to view gov- ernment employees as partisans that is the reason they are trying to cleanse the
bureaucracy of perceived political enemies after every election, particularly those at the LGUs. In fact, there is a law against
electioneering, the politics of preferring a fa- vored candidate by using government resources, time, and facilities in advancing
the winning chances of a preferential one.

Civil servants are likewise expected to be accountable in the discharge of their functions. The Civil Service Commission provides
a system of control for offenses (and penalties) committed where the appointing authority also becomes the disciplin- ary
authority in imposing sanctions to a proven offender. Decisions promulgated by an Ombudsman may be forwarded to
Sandiganbayan where it may also impose penal- ties, over and above the usual administrative sanctions on an erring employee.
There is a resident Ombudsman in every office as well as a national Ombudsman under which administrative cases may be
referred to for appropriate resolutions. In the Philippines, the Civil Service Commission, the Ombudsman shall enjoy concurrent
administrative jurisdiction over government officials and employees.

Management and Good Governance

Based on Civil Service Report, the importance of the use of management infor- mation techniques in Public Administration is
essential for good governance, it said:

"Most government offices are computerized, but IT is not yet fully integrated into most office operations. Some databases do
exist, but interconnection between and among government offices has not yet materialized to facilitate services and
transactions. Most offices have Internet connection but are not covered by internal local area networks or wide area network.
Consequently, data collection and analy- sis still require manual manipulation. There is wide usage of IT for programmed
presentations"Traditionally, the public sector delivered services by utilizing its government agencies to disperse public goods
and services. But towards the 21st century gover- nance, the public sector can provide these services through the employment
of techno- logical and communication networking with speed, reliance and reliability, and this is with the adoption of e-
government strategy (electronic government). This is a relative- ly new integrated approach for enhancing the value of services
offered to the public.

Contracting Out Services

As part of the reengineering effort in the 1990s, public administration in the Phil- ippines started to contract out services like
public works and highways. The DPWH is perceived to be a corrupt-prone agency because of sub-standard materials used for
constructing public facilities, thus, receiving a lot of criticism from concerned sectors of the society. There is a need to set the
standard criteria for providing operation ser- vice and better regulatory framework, those that can meet the expectations of the
pub- lic. This has become an important issue of instruction from the government. There should also be high regard for public
funds, which should form part of the decision- making criterion.

Some services are already contracted out for a long time like the provisions of security services in government departments,
agencies or bureaus; garbage collection among local governments; janitorial services in the central and local by aucracies, and
high-level technical works are contracted as well for more efficient services, as the private sector is perceived to be a better
provider of this. A call for strong performance indicators and result-based oriented services emerges as a challenge for the
govern- ment to institute earnest reforms.
Some Key Areas of Public Administration

Higher Education

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) was established in 1994 as an independent body to institute reform programs
under the education sector. Originally under the umbrella of the Department of Education, CHED today promulgates poli- cies
and implements them through a national network of regional offices. It sets college and university standards for effective
operations and quality performance through its various accrediting arms.

CHED regulates both public and private tertiary schools in the Philippines and offers a system of subsidies and deregulation
status to schools which have shown high performance ratings, while for schools that are lagging behind other colleges and
universities in the area of course expertise and quality education and professional examinations; a system of subsidies has been
extended to improve field specialization, instruction and research, and enhance percentage passing in licensure examination.
School policies on imposing (high) tuition fees and other miscellaneous expenses are not subject to certain limit rates, following
a scheme of consultation and negotiation with the stakeholders in the academe.

Aside from the accrediting agencies such as Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU),
Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities-Commission on Accreditation (PACU-COA), and the like, special bodies are
formed to reinforce CHED's commitment to quality instruction and education. Other provisions like funding to private
education, and pension fund for private teachers, organization of university consortia and linkages, training centers for
professional growth, and other education policies all help to optimize curricular offerings.

Environmental Concerns

During the 1990s, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) launched a program for sustainable
development. This then served as a framework for good government and governance, and development in all departments and
agencies of the government including the LGUs. Environmental issues became an integral focus of government, and the private
sector and voluntary groups had generated significant amount of public awareness over the years toward the campaign.

The policy of sustainable development came as a result of major public disasters that have been traced to environmental
degradation and social neglect. Today, the government issues environmental compliance certificates before any major project
can be started. Even the cutting of a tree requires government permission. Illegal logging, however, persisted without regard to
the needs of future generations. Also, certain illegal fishing activities remained unabated and found to be truly harmful to the
aquatic life and other marine resources. The lack of political will and strong leader- ship further aggravated the situation. With
lack of manpower and funding to monitor environmental activities in far-flung areas all the more contributed to the decline of
the environmental resources.

Today, the DENR initiates policies, promulgates and implements laws for the protection of environment, and penalizes offenders
of anti-environmental laws. There are also a number of NGOs and voluntary groups devoted to utilizing their resources and time
for the protection and preservation of environmental concerns. They either work with government agencies to document
irresponsible activities aiming to de- stroy the resources of the ecosystem or serve as a watchdog to the officials of DENR.
Environmental groups are now fast becoming POS and NGOs' choice.

Social Policies

The National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) integrates and coordi- nates social and economic policies for the
development and growth of the Philippines in general. The Authority covers the operational concerns of many departments of
government such as DOLE, DSWD, DepED, DOH, among others. Essentially, "these units deliver programs that enhance
employability, incomes and livelihood concerns, particularly for those who are least able to fend for themselves."

The NEDA established on 22 July 1987 is the country's social and economic de- velopment planning and policy coordinating body
as mandated by the Constitution. It is an independent cabinet level agency and is responsible in designing the country's Medium
Term Philippine Development Plan.
There are existing special bodies that aim to strengthen social policies in the Phil- ippines, which according to one Report"
stated: "special public and private agencies exist that support or check the activities of these agencies. In government, there are
the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), the Overseas Workers'

Welfare Administration (OWWA), the Provincial Employment Services Offices (PESO and the Technical Education and Skills
Development Authority (TESDA). Outside o government, there are the labor unions and various people's organizations, the rep-
resentatives of which sometimes sit in the boards of specialized agencies to represent their particular interests." The results in
this area are generally regarded as successful.

Other Sectors

The judiciary is seen as slow in the dispensation of justice; some view the Supreme Court as somewhat political already, taking
sides in favor of the government. Majority, if not most of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court are GMA's appointees
that, as others put it, are under close scrutiny. Members of judiciary, in general, are regarded as persons of proven competence,
with high integrity, unquestionable probity, and independence. As a rule, they are devoid of politics and must remain politically
neutral. Despite of all these criticisms, the Supreme Court is leading the endeavor for improvement and reforms in the
dispensation and administration of justice. It should pursue its laudable works with more support from the Chief Executive and
the Congress, the people, and the media as well.

Another sector in public administration is the Philippine National Police (PNP). The PNP together with the Armed Forces of the
Philippines is the force that shall maintain peace and order and bring about normalcy in the community. The Constitu- tion in
fact ordains the creation of a police force that shall be national in scope and civilian in character, to be administered and
controlled by a national commission. The national character of the PNP is geared at ensuring a better seace for public safety,
particularly among local government units. The police force is empowered to promote peace and order, and to solve criminal
cases within its territorial jurisdiction."

Challenges Towards Globalization Era

Globalization permeates a holistic interdependence approach to development cooperation among nation-states in the
international community. The states' concerns and interests may always cut across borders, necessitating friendly regional
relation- ships or multilateral integration. The many changes in world politics affect significant- ly all nation-states. The advent of
global economies and information technology led to public administrators' emerging strategies of e-commerce and e-
government like new public management (reengineering approach), governance approach (emergence of voluntary
movements), and spatial information management. As Brillantes et al., (2008) noted in this account:

In delivering public goods and services efficiently or effectively, it is very im- portant that we will be aided with support tools
enabling the use of all kinds of spa- tial data/information which can be processed immediately and can be transported easily.
This technology is currently used by many government agencies and corpo- rations, thus the introduction and popularization of
some technology terms in gov- ernment such as e-government, e-commerce, geo-visualization, e-finance, among others. Other
systems are also introduced in system information management like global positioning systems and remote sensing. (p. 12)

Today onwards to the future, it becomes a great challenge among public adminis- trators to develop a high sense of credibility
in keeping with their mandates religiously. Government structures should be reviewed (like reorganization) in terms of respon-
siveness, and adaptability to institutional and global challenges in this fast-changing world. Government employees in the
bureaucracy, on their part, should deliver and perform with correct political values of transparency, accountability,
participation, and predictability. For the citizens of the state, they should tap their resources and pull them together to assist in
the development efforts of the government at the grass roots, voluntary movements as well should be encouraged to facilitate
social services.Truly, much can be accomplished in the country as we have an array of laws and regulations and also the existing
public resources. Public service value and ethics must prevail over politics of corruption, mediocrity, and patronage.
Bureaucracy must labor for its success; civil service must improve in terms of performance; and people must help in all pains of
development in achieving growth and equity. Hopefully, the Philippine public administration can soon fight all inefficiencies and
government dis- honesty with least cause, and may come out one day as a model institution among its neighboring states, at
least in Southeast Asia.