It is all about the profiling of the profiling of the Philippine administrative system.

3. Welcome to
Module 5

4. G o o d G o v e r n a n c e a n d S o c i a l R e s p o n s i b i l i t y
Profiling the Philippine
Administrative System

5. • The Philippines is a democratic state under a Republican system. It operates
under a representative government where all the powers of the government
are exercised by public officials chosen in periodic elections by the electoral
body. Reelection is generally allowed but not in the case of a President who is
the head of the government elected directly by the people for a term of six
years and so with the Vice-President who assist the President in his executive
functions to implement the law faithfully. The 1987 Constitution vested the
power of government on the Legislative (Art.V1), Executive (Art. V11) and the
Judiciary (Art.V111). The legislative structure is bicameral (the Senate [24] and
the House of Representatives [not more than 250 members]. 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
government. Art.V111, Sec. 3 of the 1987 Constitution reads,” The Judiciary as a
government department shall enjoy fiscal autonomy. Appropriations for the
judiciary may not be reduced by the legislative below the amount appropriated
for the previous year and, after approved, shall be automatically and regularly
released.
INTRODUCTION

6. Local Government
Framework
Constitutional
Commissions
National and Local Government
Relations
Topics:

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

8. The 1987 Constitution provides for independent Constitutional
Commissions such as the following: Civil Service Commission (CSC),
Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and the Commission on Audit
(COA). The CSC manages government personnel which embrace all
branches, subdivisions, instrumentalities and any agencies of the
government, including government owned and controlled corporations
(GOCCs) with original charters. An appointment in the civil service is
through competitive examinations. The CSC maintains an effective,
efficient and accountable civil bureaucracy.
The COMELEC 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. It can also
recommend to Congress 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 COA is the national accounting office of the government that
keeps the general account and government expenditures. It has exclusive
authority to define the scope of its audit and examination, establish the
techniques and methods required thereof, and promulgate accounting
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. The Constitutional Commissions (Art.1X) shall enjoy fiscal
autonomy and shall be assured of automatic budgetary allocations.

9. The national government promulgates general laws, sets
policies and carries out rules and regulations. The Local
Government Code instituted an system of decentralization and
deconcentrated field offices to the political subdivisions of the
state. The national government devolved some political powers
to local government units (LGUs) like the responsibility of the
delivery of social services in the areas of environment and
natural resources, tourism, health, local public works,
agriculture, and social welfare and development. RA 7160, for
one, granted local units wider space for participatory 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 Local
Government 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 aside from a
just share in the national taxes which is automatically released
to them. The Department of Interior and Local Government
(DILG) assists the President and acts as the coordinating and
central body in overseeing that their functions and powers are
properly discharged according to the mandates of the Code.

10. Quasi-judicial Bodies
Nongovernmental Organizations
(NGOs)
Citizens’ Participation
Topics:

11. Quasi-judicial bodies are administrative tribunals where aggrieved citizens
may file their instant complaints as a way to seek redress of grievance. For
example, an employee in the business sector who had been dismissed from
work without 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 Ombudsman. 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
ultimately is the aim of justice for all and the essence of equal protection of
the law clause. Apart from PAO, the Integrated 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.X111 (Social Justice and Human Rights). The
Commission looks into possible 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 is simply unattended and gathering dust on the table because
resolution of cases may take years, long years to promulgate. In the process,

12. NGOs came in large number during the Aquino
presidency as a call for effective governance
towards nation-building. NGOs were charitable
institutions serving and 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 organizations
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 unskilled, among others. The
Local Government Code (RA 7160) engineered
the birth of people’s organizations and

13. 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 propose and enact laws, and approve
or reject any act or law or part thereof. 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 passage of Absentee Voting Act
in 2004, the Dual Citizenship Act, the party-list
representation system in the House of Representatives,
the creation of development councils in the local
governments, the recognition of the role of people’s
organization, voluntary groups and civil society,
including NGOs.

14. Management and Good
Governance
Contracting Out Services
Topics:

15. Based on Civil Service Report, the importance of the use of management information
technique 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 analysis still require manual manipulation. There
is wide usage of IT for programmed presentations.”
On the e-government readiness index from the UN World Public Sector Report 2003
which refers to the generic capacity or aptitude of the public sector to use ICT for
encapsulating in public service and deploying to the public, high quality information
(explicit knowledge) and effective communication tools that support human
development. The Philippines is the first among the countries in terms of readiness.
(Principles and Practices of Public Administration p. 57)
Traditionally, the public sector delivered services by utilizing its government agencies
to disperse public goods and services. But towards the 21st century governance, the public
sector can provide these services through the employment of technological and
communication networking with speed, reliance and reliability, and this is with the
adoption of e-government strategy (electronic government). This is relatively new
integrated approach for enhancing the value of services offered to the public.

16. As part of the reengineering effort in the 1990s, public
administration in the Philippines 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 service and better
regulatory framework, those that can meet the expectations of
the public. 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
bureaucracies, and high-level technical works are contracted as
well for more efficient services, as the private sector is perceived

17. “SHINZOU WO SASAGEYO”
Thank You <3