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Corruption Prevention Mechanisms towards a Humanistic Environment for

better Public Administration

Conference Paper · April 2018

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Corruption Prevention Mechanisms towards a Humanistic Environment for better Public
Administration
By: Eugenio Ferrer Santiago III

Abstract: The Integrity Development Review (IDR) is the pioneer corruption prevention tool rolled

out by the Philippines Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) in 2005 to 2013. The data and narratives

are all published in the OMB website for public consumption. IDR is composed of two parts:

Corruption Resistance Review (CRR) and Corruption Vulnerability Assessment (CVA). The CRR

is the first part of the entire report composed of ten dimensions, amongst are: Leadership, Code of

Conduct, Gifts Policy, Human Resources, Financial Management, Performance Management,

Procurement Management, Corruption Risk Management, Whistleblowing and internal reporting

and Interface with External Environment. It must be bear in mind that corruption prevention such

as the IDR-CRR is a proactive approach and should not be misled as a phishing tool of the

government’s anti-corruption agency. This study shall determine if performance management

corruption resistance review level of achievement is affected by corruption resistance review levels

of human resource, leadership and corruption risk management towards a humanistic environment

in public administration. Chi Square Test was used in this study to determine the correlation of

IDR-CRR Performance Management Level of Achievement against IDR-CRR dimensions –

Human Resources, Leadership and Corruption Risk Management each. The distribution of levels

of achievement in the IDR participating agencies, makes chi-square method help the researcher

have a scientific analysis of the data. The contribution to knowledge of this study shall create

observations, recommendations as to its findings of correlation of performance management

corruption resistance mechanisms to human resources, leadership and the fight of corruption in a

government agency.

Page 1 of 22
Keywords: Public Administration, Human Resources, Corruption Prevention, Integrity, Systems

Study

Introduction:

People Resource is the most important asset in an organization. This idea is usually seen

in human resource centered juridical entities to impress upon their external environment that such

organization values the people working inside it. Juridical entities as mentioned are artificial

persons created by operation of law. It acts through its agent, and these are the natural persons

representing such separate and distinct entity apart from its composition. Natural persons in

actuality are the ones composing an organization along with its other resources or assets to fulfill

its racio of existence.

The importance of people within the organization should always be stressed in all respects,

most importantly - issues in public administration. The only same thing about public

administration and business administration is the word “administration” which is at all times

viewed that principles in the management of people in the business should be the same approach

in managing people in the public sector. A more tender approach which in technical terms a

humanistic approach in public administration should always be paramount to public administrators

in dealing with their subordinates, but keeping in mind that public administration is a professional

practice that are bound by laws, rules and regulations, culture, values and norms and its end goal

is service to the people, the most important element of the State, in its political technical sense.

Humanistic approach in public administration in a given government office may vary and

be attributed to the historical and cultural environment of such. Carl Rogers not one of the founders

of the Humanistic Approach, but one of the most influential therapist in 20th Century, has two

Page 2 of 22
fundamental ideals worth looking in the area of humanistic approach before such be connected to

public administration. One, is a healthy individual will tend to see congruence between their sense

of self and who they feel they should be; and two is the conditions for healthy growth.i

Understanding the human compliment in a government office is essential to fulfill its

mandate to the people. If people within the organization are disgruntled, unsatisfied, abused and

so on, it will just be passed on - to the people whom they are serving. Those mentioned feelings,

even if civil service is subjected to performance appraisal and the results was a bad or poor

performance rating is not a good image to project to the public. This will result to: 1) unwelcoming

good and competent new people to enter government service; 2) it impresses upon the international

community that a country is not satisfying its citizens; and 3) finally would create chaos and

disarray upon the “governed”.

The systems and procedures pertaining to human resources, corruption risk management

and how the organization view their leadership and its resistance to possible commission of

corruption already happening or had happened in the past contribute to the resistance to corruption

of the performance management of an organization. It has been a long standing culture in the

Philippine governance system that performance management is just a “compliance tool” to stay

forever in the most stable job in the country, for the old saying, is that “all may shut down their

operations, but not the government”. Performance management system should be freed from

possible commission of corruption which is through Corruption Prevention.

“Health is wealth” as many people nowadays pay closest attention to their well-being

(physical, emotional and mental). People do not want to get sick, and the reason behind – people

nowadays believe that prolonging life existence here on earth is to prevent sickness, for prevention

Page 3 of 22
is better than cure, as the old saying goes in the world of medical and health sciences, even in

alternative medicine.

The “Prevention is better than cure” principle can be applied in the long standing ill-

effects of corruption in governance. Many authors and experts have already dug into the study of

the root causes of corruption and even the culture or practice of corruption in the public service,

but very few had ventured into focusing on how to address and counter-attack the findings of these

studies in the preventive and not in the punitive side.

A healthy governance system can lead to a sustainable community as envisioned by treaties

and conventions on development of the society and the world as a whole. Corruption Prevention

is a very young term used in the Philippine Governance System which promises a more sustainable

solution to fight corruption. In a long line of jurisprudence in the area of public accountability, it

has been the practice that government anti-corruption crusaders run after culprits, after the latter,

had amassed a large amount of government funds; a whistle-blower “blows” out information in an

illegal government transaction, or a recurrence of a complaint in the same government frontline

service. The preparation and the long legal process of fighting individuals committing such

infraction of law on public accountability, is evident, and sometimes the art of legal battle among

seasoned lawyers now becomes the subject of the issue and not the illegal act that should be

corrected and never again be emulated. Corruption prevention practice in government envisions

preventing corruption in happening by means of instituting concrete and implementable control

and preventive policies in government processes through the use of an extensive

research/corruption prevention audit tool/s.

The dilemma of this infant specialization in the fight of corruption is the lack of acceptance

and internalization of the value of corruption prevention in government organizations presumably

Page 4 of 22
due to want for information or just getting tired of thinking that there still hope in fighting

corruption. “Leadership by example”, “Setting the tone at the top” and other good governance

principles for the leaders in government is the heart and soul of a corruption prevention audit tool.

It is in the hands of the head of such government agency to implement a policy to prevent

corruption at its door step. Now, the run of a corruption prevention audit tool can be voluntary or

mandatory due to an executive order issued by the Aquino administration.

The Duterte Administration’s rearing towards federal governmentii iiimaking the would-be

“federal states/subdivisions” more independent in their governance and making them prone to a

lot of political discretions which may redound to more chances of graft and corruption, shall be

the scenario, if corruption prevention atmosphere or culture will not be enthralled to the systems

in place.

The author, in his more than a decade practice in a government agency specializing in the

anti-corruption, believes that there are now three theories involving Anti-Corruption studies in the

Philippines. These are:

1. Theory of Corruption Studies. This body of knowledge focuses on the root causes of

corruption, culture of corruption and case studies on corruption antecedents in public

service. A wide and variety of articles, local and abroad, are available, since experts

who have already ventured into this field are most of the time political scientists,

psychologists/psychiatrists, anthropologists, historians or even sociologists who try to

explain why there are incidents of corruption, why a person engages in such an act.

This is the baseline study for all anti-corruption studies;

Page 5 of 22
 2. Theory of Corruption Prevention Studies is the friendly approach to ease the pain of

the term “graft and corruption act or practice”. The author believes that corruption

prevention is the encompassing field covering internal auditing, making agency

analysis framework, systems study, red tape assessments, corruption resistance review,

corruption vulnerability assessments, integrity systems check , documentation of good

governance practice, monitoring and evaluation of good governance practices,

corruption risk ratings, corruption prevention awareness campaign/drive and

coordination activities. This body of knowledge can be for social science researchers

and public administrators, since their involvement and practice are into government

systems and procedures. The institution of recommendation policies at an immediate

time controls and prevents corruption from happening;

3. Theory of Corruption Punitive and Correctional Studies is the tooth and fangs aspect

of fighting corruption. This field studies procedural aspects of conducting investigation

and prosecuting perpetrators of graft and corruption, recovery of ill-gotten wealth and

others. This body of knowledge can be practiced by criminologists, lawyers and penal

institution enforcers.

Corruption holds back growth and progress to lift people out of poverty.iv Corruption

wastes general public’s resources that came from the hard-earned money or labor for work by its

people, be it professional or skilled. The Commission on Audit estimated around 2 billion pesos

was the cost of this ill-embedded system, or about 25% of the annual budget.v It was corruption

that hinders government’s capacity to deliver basic services especially to the poor – who are

vulnerable sectors.vi

Page 6 of 22
 Corruption is a governance and social issue. It destroys the trust and confidence of the

public to government institutions. A systemic/institutionalized corruption in Philippine

governance is a reflection of poor internal control in its procedures and processes. A reason for the

incapacity of government institutions to implement a policy that exists, if there is a policy at all, is

because some erring employees find a chance for corruption to become prevalent. Rules and

Regulations without clear demarcation as to authority and effective monitoring and evaluations

mechanisms, gives power to officials which can lead to loss of public funds.vii

The study of theory will help the Corruption Prevention Practitioners check on the root

causes of corruption and design effective corruption prevention projects and programs. Reform

initiatives can be at its best if such are grounded to theoretical and empirical principles. Theory of

Corruption Prevention is an informed guess of the source of corruption and the needed approach

to address it. International best practices provide critical lessons in strengthening corruption

prevention practice. Hand in hand, the foundations of theoretical approach and experience in the

implementation of corruption prevention audit tools shall help in the sustainability and

development of the field.viii

Corruption Prevention practice in the Philippines at its early stage had many challenges,

among which are the lack of research/study on the subject area; academic expertise and

specialization in governance setting; compilation of specific good governance habits; management

of knowledge sharing and data banking; etc. This is the reason why academicians and practitioners

should merge their varying/unique experiences and exposure to the study of root causes of

corruption and the corruption prevention practice in the country. The experience of those who took

a course in Corruption Prevention and practiced it at such person’s work place could be generated;

Page 7 of 22
gathered or documented that can serve as empirical inputs in generating theories to explain the

challenges and opportunities in such field of specialization.

The past years have seen a surge of anti-corruption efforts. The increase in the number of

anti-corruption stakeholders is unprecedented. There is no shortage of lessons that can be learned

from different anti-corruption crusades. However, it has been observed, according to an article

published by the Career Executive Service Board in 2005, that lessons are not well articulated and

even internalized, hence stakeholders in the fight of corruption fails to address the incidents of

such. The levels of anti-corruption initiatives are international, national and local encompassing

the boundaries of the private-public divide. ix

Corruption prevention programs are effective if it is both theoretically sound and

empirically grounded. Efforts cascading and implementing a corruption prevention program can

be successful if government agencies can analyze corruption utilizing appropriate theories, learn

from best practices, develop strategies and faithfully implement the anti-corruption measures

according to peculiarities of the subject office.x

The time after the Marcos Regime had passed and the democratic institutions were again

installed by former President Corazon C. Aquino, she released Administrative Order (AO) 278. xi

According to the AO, responsibilities encompass the examination and evaluation of the adequacy

and effectiveness of internal control and the quality of performance.

Subsequent issuances were released by the Executive Branch to face lift the work and

services in the government. Executive Order No. 605xii, was issued by then President Gloria

Macapagal-Arroyo and it talks about promotion and enhancement of public sector performance

through the adoption of ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management Systems in all agencies of

government; development of an institutional infrastructure that shall provide certification with

Page 8 of 22
international accreditation; establishment of the citizens’ charter of key government offices that

shall be provided to the transacting public as government’s manifestation of service guarantee; and

recognition of citizen-driven government organizations that have attained ISO 9001:2000

certification for other government agencies to emulate.

President Arroyo during her term adopted the Integrity Development Action Plan (IDAP)

of the defunct Presidential Anti-graft Commission (PAGC), on the other hand, anchored on

Chapter 21 of the government’s Medium Term Philippine Development Plan, which embodies the

multi-pronged strategy involving 22 specific and doable measures under four major areas of

implementation – graft prevention, education, deterrence and strategic partnershipxiii.

Under the mandate of the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) is the function Corruption

Prevention, the Public Assistance and Corruption Prevention Office is the implementing office of

such.xiv The creation of reports regarding agency analysis framework, systems study, corruption

vulnerable assessments, integrity development review and the integrity management program was

done by the Bureau of Resident Ombudsman (BRO), headed by a Director and a group of graft

prevention and control officers, who are trained in different kinds of corruption prevention tools.

The trainings and exposure of these corruption prevention officers to corruption prevention tools

implementation are culled from the OMB’s General Appropriations Act budget or from foreign

development aid funders like the European Union, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, etc. To

date, the OMB is under organizational restructuring program, to strengthen the function of

corruption prevention the Research and Special Studies Bureau and the Bureau of Resident

Ombudsman shall in the future be named Corruption Prevention Bureaus A and B.

Page 9 of 22
 President Benigno Simeon Aquino issued Executive Order no. 176, series of 2015xv, on the

other hand, implements the harmonized version of the OMB’s Integrity Development Review

(OMB-IDR) and the defunct PAGC’s Integrity Development Action Plan (PAGC-IDAP) which is

now called the Integrity Management Program (IMP).

OMB-IDR, is a project funded by the United States Aide for International Development

(US-AID), to roll out an anti-corruption plan spearheaded by the Office of the Ombudsman to a

participating agency. The OMB-IDR has two phases which includes the Integrity Development

Assessment or IDA with ten dimensions; the second phase, on the other hand, is the Corruption

Vulnerability Assessment (CVA), where the IDR Assessors chooses at least three critical agency

operations processes and conducts a process mapping of the each chosen transaction in such

agency.xvi

IMP now is the new corruption prevention tool of the National Government and continues

to develop thru its implementation and pilot testing of its component phases in different

participating government agencies (Included and Voluntary).xvii

The conduct of thorough and inter-disciplinary research as to effectiveness of the

corruption prevention tools already rolled out by different oversight and anti-corruption agencies

in different participating government agencies should be reached through a collaboration of the

corruption prevention officers with the Academic Community and come up with a more credible

and reliable source of information to be submitted to Legislators for policy direction.

A partnership of the experts and practitioners in the field of corruption prevention and the

scientific/technical know-how-of-Research by the Academic Community can sway and easily

influence Legislators or even to the worst scenario if not supported through legislative sponsorship

is via a People’s Initiative since there has been an organic law on creation and pushing of a law by

Page 10 of 22
a group of Taxpayers/Concerned Citizens through Republic Act 6735 otherwise known as the “The

Initiative and Referendum Act”.Internalization of corruption prevention in the governance culture

and system is already evident but not continuing. Whether there is force or mandate from superiors,

an implementation of the national anti-corruption tools and initiatives, is already success -

dependent to the Head of Office/Agency and even the Presidential Call. This humble view needs

an in-depth, qualitative research to really make a credible conclusion on such hypothesis.

In some government agencies, the sustainability of corruption prevention became more

dependent of the implementers who are most of the time Senior Officers of a Government Agency;

knowledge and expertise are not well documented; best practices were not yet made into a book

or publication; and the scientific/technical way of writing these are not yet in place.

Internalization of the culture of corruption prevention must be given great weight because

since time immemorial our society and government processes are only reactive. We can no longer

afford losing large sums of hard earned tax money from the people who should be dedicated to

housing, education, livelihood and decent living of Filipinos.

Corruption Resistance Review Tool

The corruption resistance review was a part of the Integrity Development Review of the

Office of the Ombudsman started in 2005 until its terminal reports were submitted in the year

2013. The early years of the IDR started with a survey of employees of the Department of

Education, Culture and Sports now Department of Education.xviii

For the purposes of this study, the results of the Corruption Resistance Review of the

dimensions in: Human Resources, Corruption Risk Management, Leadership and Performance

Management shall only be included and the results for the following agencies are: xix

Page 11 of 22
Agency D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
O O I P O O E O N O N A A O B I
T F L W F H N T D J D R - J M L
C - G H - R C - - - N - - G
- B - B - P B P I L P -
L I P O L N u V A R S B
T R N C R C A A F
O P T O O P
A R
Leadership 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 2
Corruption 0 1 0 2 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Risk
Management
Human 1 3 2 2 2 1 1 2 3 2 1 3 2 1 1 0
Resources
Performance 1 3 3 2 2 1 1 3 3 0 1 2 2 1 1 0
Management
Table 1. CRR Results Summary

The above results were just tabulated. These results are found in the different reports of the

above government offices published in the Philippines Office of the Ombudsman website in 2006

and in 2007. The first five agencies were assessed in 2006 and the latter eleven in 2007.

The results of the corruption resistance review were done by the agency concerned process

owner along-side with other process owners of the other dimensions. Process owners are division

heads or service director in charge of a particular process or multiple process for each dimension.

The results were validated by a pool of assessors for each government office composed of

the Office of the Ombudsman, Commission on Audit, the defunct Presidential Anti-Graft

Commission representatives thru documents research and interview of the key informant of the

process (not necessarily the process owner).

Statement of the Problem

1. What is the correlation of corruption resistance levels of leadership, human resource

and corruption risk management to the corruption resistance level of performance

management?

Page 12 of 22
 2. How corruption resistance levels of leadership, human resource and corruption risk

management to the corruption resistance level of performance management affect in

the humanistic approach in public administration?

Methodology

Chi Square Test was used in this study to determine the correlation of IDR-CRR

Performance Management Level of Achievement against IDR-CRR dimensions – Human

Resources, Leadership and Corruption Risk Management each. The distribution of levels of

achievement in the IDR participating agencies, makes chi-square method help the researcher have

a scientific analysis of the data. Chi Square Test is best suited in correlating two categories. The

levels of achievement as discussed above, impresses that all must reached level 5, or the rating

shall be 5. The following shall be correlated: 1) Leadership to Performance Management; 2)

Human Resource to Performance Management; 3) Corruption Risk Management to Performance

Management

If P results < , then reject the null hypothesis and accept the alpha hypothesis. In this

study the researcher sets 5% error of margin with 95% confidence level.

The formula in getting the P is as follows:xx

Page 13 of 22
Presentation of Charts and Graphs:

1. Human Resource to Performance Management

Null Hypothesis: There is NO direct relationship between the Human Resource Dimension

Level of Achievement as to Performance Management Dimension Level of Achievement

in an agency’s corruption resistance level.

Alpha Hypothesis: There is direct relationship between the Human Resource Dimension

Level of Achievement as to Performance Management Dimension Level of Achievement

in an agency’s corruption resistance level.

HR PM
Agency Independent Dependent
BIR 3 3
BOC 2 2 HR to PM
DPWH 2 2
3.5
PNP 3 2
3
LTO 1 1
2.5
AFP-PN 3 3
BUCOR 0 2 2

BFP 0 0 1.5
DAR 2 3 1
DENR 1 1 0.5
DOH 3 3 0
BIR

DPWH

BUCOR

DAR

PVAO
DOH

LRTA
DBM PS
PNP
LTO

BFP
AFP-PN

DENR

NIA
LRA
BOC

NIA 2 2
LRA 1 1
LRTA 3 2
HR Independent PM Dependent
DBM PS 1 1
PVAO 1 1

P= 0.77

The P which is .77 is more than .05 therefore we accept the Null Hypothesis, which

connotes that there is no direct relationship between the Human Resource Dimension Level of

Achievement as to Performance Management Dimension Level of Achievement in an agency’s

Page 14 of 22
corruption resistance review results. The line graph shows most of the up-down trend when plotted

comparing the human resource corruption resistance level as independent variable to the dependent

variable performance management corruption resistance level of an agency represented herein.

2. Leadership to Performance Management

Null Hypothesis: There is NO direct relationship between the Leadership Dimension Level

of Achievement as to Performance Management Dimension Level of Achievement in an

agency’s corruption resistance level.

Alpha Hypothesis: There is direct relationship between the Leadership Dimension Level

of Achievement as to Performance Management Dimension Level of Achievement in an

agency’s corruption resistance level.

Leadership PM
Agency Independent Dependent
BIR 2 3
BOC 2 2 Leadership to PM
DPWH 2 2 3.5
PNP 2 2 3
LTO 2 1 2.5
AFP-PN 2 3 2
BUCOR 1 2 1.5
BFP 2 0 1
DAR 1 3 0.5
DENR 2 1 0
DOH 3 3
DAR
BIR

DPWH

BUCOR

PVAO
LRTA
DBM PS
DOH
PNP
LTO

BFP

DENR

LRA
BOC

AFP-PN

NIA

NIA 1 2
LRA 1 1
LRTA 2 2 Leadership PM Dependent

DBM PS 2 1
PVAO 1 1
P= 0.13

The P which is .13 is more than .05 therefore we accept the Null Hypothesis, which

connotes that there is no direct relationship between the Leadership Dimension Level of

Page 15 of 22
Achievement as to Performance Management Dimension Level of Achievement in an agency’s

corruption resistance review results. The line graph shows most of the up-down trend when plotted

comparing the leadership corruption resistance level as independent variable to the dependent

variable performance management corruption resistance level of an agency represented herein.

3. Corruption Risk Management to Performance Management

Null Hypothesis: There is NO direct relationship between the Corruption Risk

Management Dimension Level of Achievement as to Performance Management

Dimension Level of Achievement in an agency’s corruption resistance level.

Alpha Hypothesis: There is direct relationship between the Corruption Risk Management

Dimension Level of Achievement as to Performance Management Dimension Level of

Achievement in an agency’s corruption resistance level.

Corruption
Risk
Management PM
Agency Independent Dependent
BIR 1 3 CRM to PM
BOC 1 2
3.5
DPWH 2 2
3
PNP 0 2
2.5
LTO 0 1
AFP-PN 0 3 2

BUCOR 0 2 1.5
BFP 0 0 1
DAR 1 3 0.5
DENR 1 1 0
DPWH

BUCOR

DAR
BIR

DOH

DBM PS
PVAO
LRTA
PNP
LTO

BFP

DENR

LRA
BOC

AFP-PN

NIA

DOH 2 3
NIA 0 2
LRA 0 1 CRM PM Dependent
LRTA 1 2
DBM PS 0 1
PVAO 0 1
P = 0.47

Page 16 of 22
 The P which is .47 is more than .05 therefore we accept the Null Hypothesis, which

connotes that there is no direct relationship between the Corruption Risk Management Dimension

Level of Achievement as to Performance Management Dimension Level of Achievement in an

agency’s corruption resistance level. The line graph shows most of the up-down trend when plotted

comparing the human resource corruption resistance level as independent variable to the dependent

variable performance management corruption resistance level of an agency represented herein.

Summary and Recommendations

All the results above show that the corruption resistance level of leadership, human

resource and corruption risk management dimensions has no effect the corruption resistance level

of performance management. Performance Management is devised or crafted by top level to

middle managers to be cascaded to the entire organization. As performance management

communicated in all levels of the organization, the primordial idea is the effective fulfillment of

the mandate of such government office. The results do not show that the higher the corruption

resistance levels of human resource management, leadership and corruption risk management, the

higher the corruption resistance level of performance management in an agency, this happens the

opposite way around - that is - the results do not show the lower the corruption resistance level of

each of the three dimensions the lower the corruption resistance level of the performance

management dimension.

The corruption resistance level in leadership shows how the entire organization view the

post of top management and middle managers to be resistant to corruption. Setting the tone at the

top “to be corrupt free” must be echoed to the lowest rank and file, setting the example and walking

the talk are the most effective ways of sharing good values and forming a corruption-free work

Page 17 of 22
atmosphere or environment. The connotation of employing favoritism in the area of performance

management should be minimized and soon be eradicated.

The corruption resistance level of human resource affects the belief that the human resource

function pertaining to recruitment, selection and promotion were tainted or not with malpractices

and if malpractice is happening, the value of humanistic approach in public administration will not

be realized. The feeling of high confidence to perform more efficiently and effectively backed up

with a “very satisfactory to outstanding” performance appraisal reports of an individual should be

truly utilized in promotions. The filling up with the best people (intellectually and psychologically

good and competent) in various positions can be reliably believe that the “cream of the crop” were

the ones employed for positions serving in the government and thus will invite others in the private

sector or academic sector to establish a career in the government, uplifting the morale of those

being served, due to the perception that the best and professional care is always employed all the

time to them.

The corruption risk management is the government office’s way of addressing corruption

which should be also resistant to corruption. A government agency may always say that they fight

corruption, but are the means of fighting corruption “corruption-resistant”. These are controls or

systems that the government office employ for a more systematized operations, and that the latter,

cannot be subjected to compromise or a loop-hole in its implementation. Performance management

in relation to corruption risk management resistance level is affected, for example, a crash in a

system wide software was done by a former systems administrator of the government agency, and

it was done for a fee by a person who wants to steal or divulge government computer database for

unscrupulous activities. The image as to performance to protect the valuable confidential

Page 18 of 22
information of those affected will be distorted, and perception will always be the measure of

government performance.

In summary, among the three dimensions tested in relation to performance management

corruption resistance levels - human resource dimension has the highest Pearson Chi-Square test

of independence results, it can be deduced from this, that an effective human resource management

system resistant to corruption does not follow a reliable performance management system resulting

to a humanistic approach in public administration. Each dimension as to corruption resistance level

are all independent of each other. We must bear in mind that leadership, human resource

management, corruption risk management and performance management should have their own

in-place corruption prevention mechanisms and must all the time be revisited for upgrading.

Humanistic approach in public administration is the happiness of every person feels, when

he is treated fairly and with dignity inside the government office. A humanistic approach in public

administration will eventually actualize and realize the racio of civil service which is that “a person

wants to serve his people through the Agent of the State, which is the government, because that

was the feeling of the heroes who actually fought for the freedom and independence of such State.

Civil Service should be regarded as a noble calling since the end results is not actually to have a

feeling of power and influence but, the fulfillment of a person in serving others, “to serve and not

be serve”. The humanistic environment or atmosphere inside a government office will eventually

be seen by the public, because civil servants treat the public humanely, because the former were

also treated humanely by the top managers in government. Every client of the government must

be served to the fullest humanely passion and manner whether the function of such government

office is proprietary versus ministrant or regulatory versus service.

Page 19 of 22
 Finally, a government organization is compose of humans and not robots. Humans have

feelings, and we cannot discount that feelings play a vital role in the performance of a person in

any organization. A psychological belief or feeling of the individual, that the agency’s human

resource process is reliable and credible, will tend to see congruence between his/her sense of self

and who he/she feels it should be. In effect they will perform well due to a high corruption

resistance promotion system leading to an effective performance management system employed

by a corrupt-free leadership, for a healthy career growth in such government office, thus,

effectively serving the Filipino people with dedication and commitment during his/her career

service life in government.

REFERENCES
i
Unknown Web Author. The Humanistic Approach. Approaches to Psychology. History Review of Humanistic
Psychology. https://www.ryerson.ca/~glassman/humanist.html
ii
Online News Article. Laurel, Ramona. 2016. Duterte administration pushes for Federalism Read. Kami. May 2016.
https://kami.com.ph/21370-duterte-administration-2022-philippines-will-federalism.html
iii
Online News Article. Ferrer, Miriam Coronel. 2016. Duterte’s Philippines and the push for constitutional shift
towards federalism. Constitutionnet.Org. December 14, 2016.
http://www.constitutionnet.org/news/dutertes-philippines-and-push-constitutional-shift-towards-federalism
iv
Book. Magno, Francisco A. Corruption Prevention; Teaching Guides – Module 3: Corruption Prevention: Theory
and Practice. Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) Quezon City. 2009.
v
Ibid
vi
Ibid
vii
Ibid
viii
Ibid
ix
Ibid
x
Ibid
xi
WorldWideWeb Text. Administrative Order No. 278 series of 1992 entitled: DIRECTING THE
STRENGTHENING OF THE INTERNAL CONTROL SYSTEMS OF GOVERNMENT OFFICES, AGENCIES,
GOVERNMENT-OWNED AND/OR CONTROLLED CORPORATIONS, INCLUDING GOVERNMENT
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS, IN THEIR OPERATIONS
http://www.gov.ph/1992/04/28/administrative-order-no-278-s-1992/
xii
WorldWideWeb Text. Executive Order No. 605 series of 2007 entitled: INSTITUTIONALIZING THE
STRUCTURE, MECHANISMS AND STANDARDS TO IMPLEMENT THE GOVERNMENT QUALITY
MANAGEMENT PROGRAM, and AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 161, S.
2006
http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2007/02/23/executive-order-no-605-s-2007/
xiii
WorldWideWeb Text. Executive Order No. 531-A series of 2006 entitled: AMENDING EXECUTIVE ORDER
NO. 531, SERIES OF 2006, TO FURTHER STRENGTHEN THE PRESIDENTIAL ANTI-GRAFT COMMISSION
http://www.gov.ph/2006/08/23/executive-order-no-531-a/
xiv
www.ombudsman.gov.ph. Downloadable Annual Reports 2001-2015.

Page 20 of 22
xv
WorldWideWeb Text. Executive Order No. 176 series of 2015 entitled: INSTITUTIONALIZING THE
INTEGRITY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM (IMP) AS THE NATIONAL CORRUPTION PREVENTION
PROGRAM IN ALL GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS, BUREAUS, OFFICES, AGENCIES, INCLUDING
GOVERNMENT-OWNED AND -CONTROLLED CORPORATIONS, GOVERNMENT FINANCIAL
INSTITUTIONS, STATE UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES, AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS THROUGH
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF INTEGRITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (IMS)”
http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2014/12/01/executive-order-no-176-s-2015/
xvi
www.ombudsman.gov.ph > References Tab>Integrity Development Review Reports
xvii
WorldWideWeb Text. Executive Order No. 176 series of 2015 entitled: INSTITUTIONALIZING THE
INTEGRITY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM (IMP) AS THE NATIONAL CORRUPTION PREVENTION
PROGRAM IN ALL GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS, BUREAUS, OFFICES, AGENCIES, INCLUDING
GOVERNMENT-OWNED AND -CONTROLLED CORPORATIONS, GOVERNMENT FINANCIAL
INSTITUTIONS, STATE UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES, AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS THROUGH
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF INTEGRITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (IMS)”
http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2014/12/01/executive-order-no-176-s-2015/
xviii
The Corruption Resistance Review is part of the Integrity Development Review of the Office of the
Ombudsman. The Levels of Achievement and its description are all indicated in the 16 IDR reports readily
accessible and downloadable at www.ombudsman.gov.ph
Since then the tool was used in the pilot five agencies in middle of 2005 and the additional eleven agencies
in mid-2007. The CRR focuses in the ten dimensions:
1. Leadership
2. Code of Conduct
3. Gifts Policy
4. Human Resource Management
5. Performance Management
6. Procurement Management
7. Financial Management
8. Corruption Risk Management
9. Whistle blowing and internal reporting
10. Interface with external environment
Each dimension is composed of levels of achievement and each level has its own indicators. The IDA has
adopted a five-point scale to gauge the agency’s level of achievement in each dimension, with level 1 as the lowest,
and level 5, the highest. In each dimension, the evaluation is based on two items: approach and deployment. An
approach is generally considered good if it is systematic and documented. Deployment is generally good if the
application of the approach covers all concerned units and offices within the agency. The levels are structured to bring
the agency’s integrity systems to maturity:
� Measures under level 1 represent the basic standards of having a written policy or procedure for a particular
dimension. There are legal bases for some dimensions such as Code of Conduct, Procurement Management, and
Financial Management, which are indispensable for the respective operational procedures.
� Measures under level 2 represent the deployment of the written policies or procedures to the employees. Deployment
here includes providing access to information and training to deepen understanding of relevant personnel. Information
asymmetry or lack of information provides opportunities for rent seeking, often leading to corruption.
� Measures under level 3 denote the consistent enforcement of the integrity building policies and procedures.
Enforcement means that the system with designated personnel is in place, the employees use the system, and the
results of which are considered in decision-making. The measures also signify employment of incentives and
disincentives/sanctions.
� Measures under level 4 indicate seamless integration of organizational systems and processes in the agency. The
agency likewise conducts periodic analysis of data available to them to improve systems integrity and operational
effectiveness
� Measures under level 5 correspond to best practices and cycles of improvement, especially in the monitoring and
evaluation of the system. Impact of a particular system changes as factors such as environment in the agency
changes. Thus, it is important to review the systems on a regular basis.
xix
The following are the agencies:
1. Department of Transportation and Communications – Land Transportation Office
2. Department of Finance – Bureau of Internal Revenue
3. Department of Interior and Local Government – Philippine National Police
Page 21 of 22
 4. Department of Public Works and Highways
5. Department of Finance – Bureau of Customs
6. Department of Health
7. Department of Environment and Natural Resources
8. Department of Transportation and Communications – Light Rail Transit Authority
9. Department of National Defense – Philippine Navy
10. Department of Justice – Bureau of Corrections
11. Department of National Defense – Philippine Veterans Affairs Office
12. Department Agrarian Reform
13. Department of Agriculture – National Irrigation Administration
14. Department of Justice – Land Registration Authority
15. Department of Budget and Management – Procurement Service
16. Department of Interior and Local Government – Bureau of Fire Protection
xx
Ling 300. Tutorial: Pearson’s Chi Square Test for Independence, Fall 2008.
http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~clight/chisquared.htm
______________________________

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mr. Santiago is working full time as a Graft Prevention and Control Officer II at the Office of the Ombudsman,
Republic of the Philippines. He started his career as Clerk III in 2005 and after finishing his Masters eventually
promoted to the position he is at present handling. A true “iskolar ng bayan” he finished his Bachelor in Business
Administration Major in Marketing in 2003 as Cum Laude and Master’s Degree in Public Administration in 2007 at
the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Manila. He finished his Bachelor of Laws in 2013 at Philippine Law
School and at present on his 2nd to the last term at De La Salle University Taft Manila pursuing his Doctor of
Philosophy in Development Studies as a DLSU St. Lasalle Partial Scholarship grantee. He also teaches part time at
the Department of Political Science, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Sta. Mesa, Manila.

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