Indigenization as Reconstruction of Philippine Public Administration: A

Challenge

Ancero, John Mark M.

2015-00449
BA Political Science, College of Arts and Sciences
Political Science 150 WBC

Philippine Public Administration is extensive and diverse as a discipline. Every

day the scope and range of the field of Public administration in the Philippines has

been spontaneously developed and shaped by ever evolving education,

government, and politics. The problem of indigenizing public administration in

Philippine context arose from the difficulty of Philippine public administration in

explaining challenges in public service delivery. The researcher suggests that

indigenization can only be achieved by operationalizing and entailing different

Filipino values, ideas, and aspirations in understanding and theorizing Philippine

public administration, continued flourishing of shared commonalities of Filipino

scholars in their researches, and transforming the influence of our western

counterparts into our very own (Ricote, 2005).

One of the persistent problems surrounding Public Administration in the

Philippines is the predominance of American and western theories and principles in

the content of Public Administration courses and reading lists. The American

influence can long be traced since the American occupation, for the reason that our

bureaucratic and government structure is patterned, and as almost the same as of

the Americas (Tantangco, 2011). Furthermore, in the beginning, the circular and

program of Public Administration in the Philippines is supervised by the American

professors, therefore reflecting American culture. The researcher believes that if we

try to incorporate important Filipino aspirations and goals into our Public
Administration, then we can hope for an indigenized Philippine Public

Administration. It is important to embody the hopes of every Filipinos in the

perspective of Philippine Public Administration. Therefore, the countrys bureaucracy

should veer away from the crazy world of politics; and the free from temptations of

corruption. The public administration should also be appointed and chosen based

solely on merit and the credibility of the aspiring public servant. And most

importantly, it should also embody the declaration of the state that the sovereignty

resides in every Filipino people, and that all government authority emanates from

them.

Aside from reflecting Filipino traits, values, and aspirations in indigenizing

Philippine Public Administration, the continued flourishing of shared commonalities

of Filipino scholars in the field of public administration should also help. According to

Reyes (2014), efforts in propagating Filipino administrative thought have constantly

pursued by different scholars in the field. Over the years, this idea continued to

flourish with the growing stamina as the aspiration towards developing an agenda

that is purely Filipino. One of the actions that has been made, not only by Filipino

Scholars, but scholars from all around Asia who happens to have the same problem

with us, convened in Saigon and formed Eastern Regional Organization for Public

Administration, Inc. (EROPA). This institution or international organization is made of

states, institutions, and individual members from across Asia which continues to

advance by promoting training and research centers in different member-states.

Along with this, different organizations with the same goals and objectives as of that

of EROPA has emerged, Asian Review of Public Administration (ARPA), Network of

Asia-Pacific Schools and Institute of Public Administration and Governance

(NAPSIPAG), and Annual Conference of the International Association of Schools and

Institutes of Administration (IASIA) are only few of them.

In all the meetings, gathering, and sessions made for each events, a rich

produce of academic research in different Public Administration practice and study

from across Asia has been collected and piled in journals. The exchanges of ideas

are often made by different scholars and practitioners from their own practice of

Public Administration in their respective countries. These exchanges of ideas have

provided opportunities for each countries in Asia in sharing their different dynamics

of Public Administration. But despite the recent developments made, the growth in

Asian Public Administration has only been recently made, and therefore still

marginalized as compared to the western counterpart. So as what Brillantes and

Fernandez (as cited in Reyes, 2014), the challenge really is for:

Asian literature to expose itself to the world, to globalize them and [to]
undertake a more aggressive conduct of international and transnational
researches to gain attention in what this paper calls as mainstream
publication in the West
Weve been talking about indigenization of Public Administration here, but

what really is indigenization? According to CPA Research Team (as cited in Reyes,

2014), seen from its generic term as something that highlights, firmly established

values and traditions which have shaped for many generations the religious, family,

social and national life of the people. But Reyes (2014) added that indigenization

was not invented by Asian or Filipinos, and therefore not a movement that is new to

countries that emerged from its colonies like Africa or Philippines. Furthermore, the

call for indigenization is certainly not because its a call for modernization or

something that would discard ones native culture in favor for another, but its

because its needed, and the society demands for it.

 Therefore, the correct way of perceiving indigenization in this context should

be adaptation. And it should not be also taken as something that is a revolt to

something that hegemon in terms of prevalent Western theories and ideas about

Public Administration. Furthermore, it also means that developing theories, ideas,

and knowledge according to the variations and changes in Philippine or Asian Public

Administration, but also, absorbing what is already developed and being established

from other countries and transforming or reformulating these concepts based on the

needs and demands of Philippine or Asian administrations.

Thus, indigenization can be understood in either, the effort to create

researches, construct theories, ideologies, or even philosophies that would fit in the

demand of the society or it also implies the transfer of ideas or the transformation

of concepts and different theories into your own. Furthermore, Indigenization can

also mean however converting or adapting westernized studies according to the

realities of the Asian environment (Reyes, 2014).

In conclusion, in order to reconstruct Philippine Public Administration, it

needs to be built on the foundation of Filipino goals and aspirations with the help of

Filipino scholars, intellectuals, practitioners, and even civil servants who will develop

theories, concepts, and ideas transformed and shared from other established

system of administration.
References:

Reyes, Danilo. 2014. REVISITING THE INDIGENIZATION CHALLENGE: TOWARDS AN

AGENDA FOR ASIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION?. Retrieved January 28,
2017 from: file:///C:/Users/John%20Mark/Downloads/1-2-2_Danilo%20de%20la
%20Rosa%20Reyes.pdf
Ricote, Eleazar. 2005. Indigenization as Refounding in Philippine Public
Administration and Governance. Retrieved January 28, 2017 from:
http://journals.upd.edu.ph/index.php/pjpa/article/view/1299
Tancangco, Luzviminda. 1991. PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION/MANAGEMENT EDUCATION
IN THE PHILIPPINES. In Carino, L. (Ed.), Public Administration in the Asia and
the Pacific (pp. 268-304). Bangkok, Thailand; UNESCO. Retrieved January 28,
2017 from: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0008/000882/088207eo.pdf