Evolution of Philippine Public Administration

Philippine public administration has evolved through time. Please give your
comment, critique and analysis about its evolution. What are the important
developments?

Philippine public administration started to have a formal, although murky, system when
the Spaniards came to colonize our country. It has too many flaws and weaknesses,
being too dependent from the home government slowing the means of communication
and transportation, allowing voids for inconsistency between the kind of bureaucracy
imposed in the home government and in our country. Its flawed system further
aggravated the political and organizational hierarchy implementing the administration
when the unfairness and inequity in hiring and appointing of public servants was
apparent, seriously affecting the efficiency and the integrity of the public administration
and the trust of the general public.

However, the centralized form of administration, as well as its flaws and weaknesses,
became a stepping stone to further improvements when the Americans came to
establish the civil service system that we have today, one of the most important
developments in our country’s public administration. It is only during the American
regime that our country started to experience gradual transformation from a very unfair
government system to an effective and honest civil service system. Although I was not
able to experience personally the transition, I appreciate the process of the Americans
leading the first installation of the system by taking the high positions first with the
Filipinos assisting them and learning at the same time in preparation for the so called
“Filipinization”.

Among other important developments are:

1. The establishment of the Institute of Public Administration in the University of
the Philippines in 1952 with the help of the University of Michigan which paved
way to the study of Public Administration that would greatly help in improving
our administration through research, training and other services.
 2. The implementation of the Integrated Reorganization Plan (IRP) in 1972 which
decentralized the government and created regional districts to effect
administrative restructurings in the government

In conclusion, the Philippine public administration in the field of practice being deeply
rooted from the Spaniards while the Philippine Public Administration as a discipline
being founded by the Americans allows conflicting theories and practice especially
that the former was way ahead of the latter and that our country has been through
three centuries of conflicts. Perhaps the difficulty in implementing the correctness and
the appropriate system along with the values incorporated with the civil service system
that we have today can be attributed to such difference.

Endriga, J.N. (1985)

Bibliography
Endriga, J. N. (1985). Stability and Change: The Civil Service in the Philippines. Philippine Journal of
Public Administration, 132-152.