The Study and Practice of Public Administration

and its Evolution in the Philippines

Public administration practice is as old as the history of every nations and it is

also mentioned that It is as old as civilized society. Administration was present in almost
every human activity including the building of cities by nation leaders, construction of
infrastructure projects, managing territories, organize armies and codified laws (Caiden,
1971). Public Administration is an essential part of the structural formation of nations with
its collective objectives to build a civilization wherein laws and infrastructures are
established and also addresses the needs of the people within the nation’s sovereignty.

There is a Philippine Public Administration as there is American Public

Administration, French Public Administration and Thai Public Administration. According
to Raul, the bureaucracy of the Philippines exhibits the generally accepted organizational
features common to all public bureaucracies. These are hierarchical structure of authority;
creation of sub-units based on differentiation of functions or specialization; recruitment
and promotion based on merit and competence; and a system of rules and procedures to
guide action in the organization. (Raul P. De Guzman, 1986). Given the idea that there is
really a little distinction of Philippine Public Administration from other nation’s public
administration, confusions arise and debates to see the roots and the very foundation of
our own Public administration and how to determine and to confidently classify our own
practice from the other nations.

The study and practice of modern public administration in the Philippines are
developed by the influences of the colonial periods and indigenous customs. Together
with it is also the introduction of United States of the Civil Service System under Act No
5 in 1900. The study of the discipline of Public Administration are provided by the
Americans with the establishment of the institute of Public Administration at the University
of the Philippines in 1952 (Introduction to Public Administration: Dr. Danilo DLR Reyes
(2019). Retrieved from https://networks.upou.edu.ph/23611/introduction-to-public-
administration-dr-danilo-dlr-reyes/).

With the applications of Public Administration already in place even before the
colony or during the independent Philippine period, the Americans are influential in the
establishment of the modern practices, methods and processes of Public Administration.
One of the significant contribution of the America to our own Public Administration is the
Civil Service Reform Movement which was a bridge for development of the public
administration as in the past there are no bases for appointment and not much training
provided for the public servants thus making the government incompetent with inefficient
skills in terms of public service. Thus, the influence of American public administration
theories and concepts upon Philippines public administration has led Filipino academics
in the early to mid-1980s to ask the question ‘is there a Philippine public administration?
(Brilliantes and Fernandez, 2013)

The discipline of the field of public administration can be divided into two major
phases: the traditional / classical phase from the late 1800s to the 1950s to the modern
phase, from the 1950s to the present (Brilliantes and Fernandez, 2013). Different
countries in the past are already practicing Public Administration in the classical phase
with the only shown intent is to serve the public focusing on the general welfare and public
interest. Modern phase is the time where the public administration is evaluated to be
improved on aspects such as the quality of civil service, limited resources, lack of
competitiveness, and poor accountability etc.

In the traditional phase, Philippine Public Administration are mostly influenced

by the American theories and principles which acts as our source or guide of our direction
towards the development of our study of the field of Public Administration (Brilliantes and
Fernandez, 2013). The Philippine adapted to these changes and organized structures
into ministries, bureaus, divisions and sections and into regional field offices and local
governments (Raul P. De Guzman). According to Raul, even the policies, rules and
regulations are adopted from the foreign administration’s influences to enlighten us more
about the substantial and procedural aspects of the public administration.
 Also, in the traditional phase, Wilson Woodrow states that the administration is
better separated from politics since the administration has its own unique function thus
the linking of politics could ruin the natural flow of operations as it still relies in its
substantial properties (Woodrow Wilson, 1887). In this time, there are no bases for
appointment for government officials and not much training provided for the public officers
thus making the government incompetent with inefficient skills in terms of public service
and weak public administration.

In the modern phase there are subphases that includes, development

administration, new public administration, new public management and reinventing
government; and PA as governance. The discipline of public administration in modern
phase continues the state of having a “identity crisis” (Brilliantes and Fernandez, 2013).
It is said that even until now, the identity crisis is still an issue and flooded with debates
as to the origins of the public administration with deep Filipino traditional roots with the
absence of foreign influences.

Towards the evolution of Public Administration its dual usage is defined, Field
of practice as a Professional and Field of study as Scholarly Discipline (Waldo 1955). In
distinguishing Waldo’s dual usage of Public administration, Public administration as Field
of practice is the administering of public affairs and carrying out government functions
that includes enacting laws, maintaining peace and order, processing of claims, building
roads and bridges, issuance of license, setting standards for environmental protection,
providing health and welfare services while the Public administration as Field of study is
the systematic study and improvement of govt capacity and practice in forming policies,
making decisions, implementing them, and securing desired results (Wilhelmina L. Cabo,
1997). Better understanding of the given explanation of the dual usage of Public
administration provides a better knowledge of how the evolution of PA started and where
it developed until the modern times as a practice and discipline.

How the evolution of Public administration help shaped the nature of the
Philippines can be seen in our today’s system of methods and processes with the
attainment of goals through a cooperative human action. With the help of Public
administration, the Philippine public servants are efficient enough since they are trained
in the field of practice and discipline which is provided by the PA and there is already
transparency and accountability in government processes. Also, in public offices, there
are strict qualifications and required trainings for government positions. The most
important upgrade of the new Public Administration for me is that it is no longer about the
organization processes and goals alone but also considers the need of the workers like
the behavioral, welfare and relationship aspects which are evaluated by the support of
social sciences. Most of the elevations of our country’s Public administration is credited
also to the America’s influence since we are mostly reliant as we are still practicing our
traditional way of Public Administration in the classical phase. Before the colonies, we are
mostly misguided of the necessary structural establishments, proper decision making,
implementation of policies for the public, and work ethics in the field of practice or even
the ethics of discipline. But still, we haven’t really lost our traditional norms and somehow
it blended with the foreign practice of public administration which became our own
Philippine Public Administration.