IS THERE A PHILIPPINE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION?

OR BETTER STILL, FOR WHOM IS PHILIPPINE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION?

The article " Is there a Philippine Public Administration? Or better still, For whom
does Philippine Public Administration exist?" was written by Alex Brillantes, Jr. and
Maricel Fernandez.

Throughout my entire reading of the article, it is clear that the question " Is there
a Philippine Public Administration?" is answerable by yes. The fact that there are
institutions of public administration addressing specific sectoral concerns and that we
have basic public administration structures and processes. We have the executive
branch with the bureaucracy at its core. We have Philippine legislature and Philippine
judiciary. We have Philippine electoral processes and procedures. We have Philippine
sub-national institutions and local governments, together with decentralization
processes and procedures. It is within this context that we argue that indeed, we have a
Philippine public administration characterized by the presence of administrative
structures and processes operating within a unique Philippine context.

The article provides discussion on the two major phases of the evolution of public
administration such as traditional and modern phase. The first phase is the Traditional/
Classical Public Administration begun in 1800s to 1950s. The second phase is the
Modern Public Administration which begun in 1950s . During this phase the discipline of
public administration has been characterized as one with "identify crisis". To a certain
extent, it was that "identity crisis" that served as theme that led to the emergence of the
New Public Administration movement in the 70s and continues up to present. This
phase includes the following sub-phases: a) Development administration b) New public
administration; c) New public management and reinventing government; and d) Public
Administration as governance.

The article also discusses the various fields of specialization of Public

Administration such as political theory, international relations and politics; comparative
politics; and public administration. Public administration has the following subfields:
organization and management; public personnel administration; public fiscal
administration, local government administration; policy analysis and program
administration; public enterprise management; voluntary sector management and
spatial information management.

The praxis of Philippine public administration includes three major areas of

concerns. These are: reorganization, decentralization and the ever present challenge of
addressing corruption and promoting accountability in government.

A brief discussion of an example of what is now considered as an emerging

illustration of a home grown governance paradigm (Gawad Kalinga) as one that
illustrates successful cooperation between government, business and civil society in the
delivery of basic services, which after all is a core concern of modern public
administration and good governance.

The article ends with a number of challenges that have to be addressed like: For
whom is public administration been developed? Has Philippine public administration
been simply reacting and following the lead of the international public administration
community? Or do we need to develop and design local and Philippine-based fields, or
could these be incorporated into existing fields? A good example would be another
emerging field, indigenous forms of governance? Additionally, how have public
administration structures, systems and institutions in the Philippines responded to the
broader questions of promoting accountability, transparency and participation? What
has been role of information, communication and technology is making public
administration more responsive to the stakeholders who really matter? How have public
administrative structures, processes and institutions responded to the ever pressing
problem of poverty? What have been the impact of globalization and the response of PA
structures, institutions and processes in the development and evolution of a Philippine
public administration? How can we address the problem on maldistribution where those
who have less in life should have more in governance and public administration? And
how can we develop indigenous PA practices – like GK? How can we replicate and
further mainstream good practices of governance and development in a venue of
cooperation, trust, and partnership with various stakeholders? And how has the
teaching, research and publication of public administration responded to the above?

The above are only some of the emerging issues and challenges pertaining to
the evolution of the discipline of public administration in the Philippines. These
questions may serve guide questions are our continuing quest not only to answer the
question, “Is there a Philippine Public Administration?” but more importantly, “For Whom
is Public Administration.” The essay provided a discussion of the evolution of the field of
public administration, in general, and zeroed in on the Philippines in particular. It also
included a discussion of what may be considered as emerging illustration of an
indigenous governance paradigm in the Philippines – Gawad Kalinga - one that
combines partnership between government, business and civil society. For after all,
public administration and good governance is founded on partnership between and
among government, business and civil society.