1

Public Administration in the Philippines

Jeffrhey F. Belardo

Faculty of Management and Development Studies, University of the Philippines Open

University

PM 201: Theory and Practice of Public Administration

Prof. Juvy Lizette M. Gervacio

CERTIFICATION AGAINST INTELLECTUAL FRAUD AND DISHONESTY

I hereby declare, upon my honor, that what I have written in this FMA/Final Exam are
the products of my own personal intellect and I have made the proper attribution of
sources and references. In the event that it is established by competent authorities that
what I have written in this FMA/Final Exam had been obtained by me through fraudulent
use of ideas or information belonging to other persons, I will accept the corresponding
penalty or sanction corresponding to such dishonest conduct.

JEFFRHEY F. BELARDO February 15, 2020

 2

Public Administration in the Philippines

First of all, what is public administration? Throughout the history, a number of

eminent authors and scholars, including Woodrow Wilson (Wilson, 1887), Raul De
Guzman (Guzman, 1986), Karl Marx, Frederick Lane, Leonard White, and Felix Nigro
(Juneja, 2015) provided their own definitions. However, if we are going to have a
synthesized characterization, while also considering its evolution, public administration,
as a practice, may be defined as the management of government organizations, its
functions and operations, including the implementation and enforcement of public policy,
and the synergy and interrelationship between institutions working together to deliver
services to the people. Public administration, as a discipline, is fundamentally the study
of such.

Now, is there a Philippine Public Administration? Based on the above definition,

as a practice, as long as the Philippine Government exists, the act of management or
governance, as well as the interconnection between agencies, will be present; hence, the
answer would be yes. As a discipline, this is where the answer lies somewhere in
between. While public administration is generally offered at the graduate level in various
universities and colleges, there is a limited number of literature on Philippine Public
Administration due to funding problems supporting research that describes and depicts
the realities and dynamics of public administration practices in the country (Reyes, 2019).
A number of sources are still based on American theories.

The Evolution of Public Administration

Public administration can be divided into two (2) major phases: the traditional
phase from the late 1800s to the 1950s, and the modern phase from the 1950s to the
present. The traditional phase is characterized by the following major concepts and
theories: 1) the science of administration is needed to straighten the paths of government,
to make its business less unbusinesslike, to strengthen and purify its organization, and to
crown its duties with dutifulness. Likewise, the field of administration should be removed
from the hurry and strife of politics (Wilson, 1887; Reyes, 2019); 2) politics should be
separated from administration. Politics has to do with policies or expressions of the state’s
will, while administration has to do with the execution of these policies, or the will of the
 3

state (Goodnow, 1900; Reyes, 2019); 3) bureaucracy is the most efficient form of
organization. It is characterized by speed, precision, unambiguity, rationality,
impersonalism, efficiency, technicism, and high standards of moral and ethical behavior
(Weber, 1946; Reyes, 2019); 4) the study of administration should focus on the
managerial functions of POSDCORB (Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, Co-
Ordinating, Reporting and Budgeting) (Gulick, 1937; Reyes, 2019); and 5) the use of
scientific management to establish exact information on the work process, using
measurement techniques such as time and motion studies, in order to increase output
per unit of human effort addressing the problem of wastage and inefficiency (Taylor, 1911;
Reyes, 2019).

On the other hand, the modern phase of public administration has the following
sub-phases: 1) new public administration; a call for redefinition of the field of public
administration to review, among others, its core values enshrined in the principles of
management tradition of efficiency, effectiveness, and economy, and adopt the principles
of representativeness, responsibility, and responsiveness to strengthen the discipline
(Frederickson, 1971; Reyes, 2019); 2) development administration; a representation of
aspects of public administration which are needed to carry out policies, projects, and
programs to improve social and economic conditions after World War II (Gant, 1979;
Reyes, 2019); 3) new public management and reinventing government; an introduction
of an alternative model of an entrepreneurial government to replace the Weberian
principles and practices of modern bureaucracy, rejecting the traditional hierarchical,
centralized, ritualized, and rigid systems (Osborne, 1992; Reyes, 2019). It seeks to apply
private sector techniques to ensure efficiency, economy, and effectiveness. Reforms
under new public management featured elements of privatization, deregulation,
reorganization to stimulate competition, customer-orientation, emphasis on performance
management, public-private sector partnerships, reduction or rule-based management,
measurement of outcomes, and mission driven management (Geri, 2001; Reyes, 2019);
and 4) governance; the system of values, policies, and institutions by which a society
manages its economic, political, and social affairs through interaction within and among
the state, civil society, and the private sector (Reyes, 2019).
 4

The Influence of Public Administration Concepts and Theories in the Evolution of

Public Administration in the Philippines

The timeline of the two (2) major phases of public administration may not be
entirely accurate for the Philippines since the country was at war up until 1946 (Philippine-
history.org, 2020); nevertheless American theories and principles still influenced the
direction and development of public administration in the Philippines (Brillantes &
Fernandez, 2008). To begin with, the current structure of the Philippine Government is
largely based on Max Weber’s view of how bureaucracy should be (Reyes, 2019).
Likewise, the different concepts and theories involved in the transition from the traditional
to modern phase of public administration seemed aligned and validated, to a certain
degree, my experience and personal knowledge of the Philippine bureaucracy.

When I was a kid, back in the 80's, being raised by a government employee, I have
painted a picture of what our government is like; (1) there is an absence of service-
orientation; deliverables can be left undone since there is a culture that employees have
to clock out at exactly 5:00 p.m.; (2) corruption is rampant; it is acceptable to acquire
money and resources through unethical means; (3) there is an absence of customer-
orientation; government employees are often than not ill-tempered; and (4) inefficiency
exists because it employs mediocre talents; top graduates usually go to private
institutions, government is run by lower-tiered talents, hence processes usually have a lot
of room for improvement. There is a typical impression that the government is inferior; it
is not the private sector; it is a far second class.

20 years later, coming from a private industry, I became part of a government

agency, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. To my surprise, it was a complete turnaround
from my initial experience. Employees are graduates of foreign premiere universities;
people are competitive and opinionated; the management is borderline perfectionist; no
one settles for mediocrity; and every move demands excellence. I was like, "Is this really
a government agency?" Then I noticed that other government institutions have initiatives
of improving their processes, leaning towards customer-orientation. Some employ a “no
lunch-break policy”; process flows are posted in walls, informing stakeholders of the
different steps and the processing time for each.
 5

It seems that our government is moving towards the direction of employing best
practices in public administration. However, there are still a lot of glaring problems as of
date. No one will say that corruption does not exist. Politics still has a huge influence in
administration. Public policies are often bent to benefit certain politicians or interest
groups instead of addressing the welfare of the citizens. Poor urban planning causes the
perennial traffic issues that negatively impacts the economy and lives of the Filipinos.
These alone prove that we are far from an ideal state.

I believe our country has to have its own identity; conduct more research
indigenous to the Philippine setting; adopt a form of governance that is well-though out
and more suited to our circumstances.
 6

References

Brillantes, A. J., & Fernandez, M. (2008). Is There A Philippine Public Administration?

Or Better Still, For Whom Is The Philippine Public Administration? Philippine
Journal of Public Administration.
Frederickson, G. H. (1971). Toward a New Public Administration. Toward a New Public
Administration: The Minnowbrook Perspective, Chandler Publishing Co.
Gant, G. F. (1979). Development Administration, Concepts, Goals, Methods. Wisconsin:
University of Wisconsin Press.
Geri, L. R. (2001). New Public Management and the Reform of International
Organizations. International Review of Administrative Sciences.
Goodnow, F. (1900). Politics and Administration: A Study in Government. Russell and
Rusell.
Gulick, L. (1937). “Notes on the Theory of Organization” in L. Gulick and L. Urwick eds.,
Papers on the Science of Administration. Institute of Public Administration.
Guzman, R. D. (1986). Is There A Philippine Public Administration? Philippine Journal
of Public Administration.
Juneja, P. (2015). Management Study Guide. Retrieved from Management Study
Guide: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/what-is-public-
administration.htm
Osborne, D. (1992). Reinventing government: how the entrepreneurial spirit is
transforming the public sector. Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley.
Philippine-history.org. (2020). Philippine Independence from the Americans. Retrieved
from http://www.philippine-history.org: http://www.philippine-
history.org/independence-from-americans.htm
Reyes, D. D. (2019). Major Theories and Influences in Public Administration. UP Open
University.
Taylor, F. (1911). The Principles of Scientific Management. Harper & Brothers.
Weber, M. (1946). Essay in Sociology. Oxford University Press.
Wilson, W. (1887). The Study of Administration. Political Science Quarterly.