Where Has Public Administration and Governance Gone in the Philippines?
By: Ret. Col. Dencio S. Acop | Published: January 4, 2025
Reading Time: 5 minutes
Boston, Massachusetts – Where is public administration and governance headed in the Philippines?
To concerned citizens, it seems like the country is getting hopeless. Corruption and abuse of power are rampant. There appears to be no public accountability at all.
Significant portions of the population are apathetic, non-participative, and even party to the dysfunctions that are going on.
At no other time in its history, the Philippines is currently embroiled in the most damaging political feud between the two top-most officials of the land.
Ongoing congressional hearings are exposing the wrongdoings of the sitting vice president and those of her father, the former president.
If these hearings are pursued to their just conclusion with evidence to boot, the vice president could be impeached.
Moreover, the former president and his cohorts could also be held liable for crimes against humanity in the extra-judicial killings of thousands of mere drug suspects in the now infamous “drug war” allegedly masterminded by the former leader.
The findings of the investigations could strengthen the case of the International Criminal Court against Rodrigo Duterte.
With their backs to the wall, the group of the vice president and former president is now going all-out against the incumbent leader.
The group is emboldened by their inside knowledge that the current leader allegedly won the presidency through fraud.
However, it cannot pursue the case without also exposing its participation thus nullifying its argument and moral ascendancy.
The group has therefore resorted to threats of having the president reportedly assassinated or ousted by Duterte loyalists in a military coup.
When the military and police leadership declared their loyalty to the incumbent leader, the vice president said that she would just rely on private security for her protection.
Why and how has this happened? There are several factors to consider.
First, the credibility of elections in the Philippines is weak. Candidates who are declared the winners may not necessarily be those who won.
This sad fact applies to any elective position. It undermines the rule of law and the credibility of Philippine democracy.
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A body politic is hardly democratic if its “leaders” are not those elected by a majority of the people. Second, there is an inherent culture of corruption in the Philippines and the foregoing merely exacerbates it.
The serious weakness in the electoral system allows candidates who are not fit for public office to lord it over the public coffers at the expense of legitimate public concerns in need of resolution. Once we see actors and clowns occupying legislative and executive seats, we know that the nation is seriously in trouble.
Third, other inherent cultures in Filipino society need to be reined in by the right leaders lest these too undermine public governance and administration.
These sub-cultures are “patronage, “dualism”, “mediocrity”, and “political ambiguity”.
“Patronage” prioritizes narrow interests over the general interest.
“Dualism” is the selective application of the law. “Mediocrity” is being content with “half-truths” and “half-honesty” when the whole could be won.
And, finally, “political ambiguity” is, for instance, coming up with a law that does not have any implementing rules and regulations (IRRs), thus such a law is inutile.
A classic example is Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte was long suspected by the military to be a
CPP-NPA sympathizer while still a Davao City mayor.
But, since the cunning politician had a way of keeping corrupt military officers happy, the government looked the other way. The rest is history.
What should be happening instead? This final paragraph reflects how governance and the public administration system should be functioning according to law.
The government is composed of two layers. The first layer is the bureaucracy composed of appointed and tenured civil servants who run the various functionalities of government at the ground level.
The second layer is made up of the elected officials who govern through their fixed mandates over a certain period, both in the executive and legislative departments.
Members of the judiciary are appointed by the electives. The legislators have the so-called “power over the purse.”
This does not mean, however, that such privilege includes “pork-barrel funds.”
It only means that it is the legislative bodies that are given the responsibility to review the annual budgets submitted by the executive departments and recommend final budget allocations or reallocations for approval by the president before it is signed into law.
The legislators have no business choosing public projects that favor lining up their pockets. It is only the executive departments that are authorized by law to disburse public funds allocated to programs and projects.
Confidential funds have been abused. Traditionally, it has just been for military intelligence purposes that confidential funds came into being.
For check and balance, even confidential funds are subject to congressional review.
The Constitution is very clear in both substance and letter that “public office is a public trust” and that “honesty is still the best policy”.
For it is a no-brainer that if honesty is practiced in the public affairs of any society, people’s taxes will go to the rightful public projects allocated for those purposes and away from the pockets of corrupt officials who make a dishonest living off the blood, sweat, and tears of honest citizens.
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