BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Graduate School

A REPORT ABSTRACT ON
THE INTERACTION BETWEEN BUSINESS AND GOVERNMENT IN THE
IMPLEMENTATION OF SOCIAL POLICIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

A Written Report Abstract

On Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility (BA 611)
To Dr. Elroy Joseph C. Valdez

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Business Administration

By

Name of Student

March 12, 2020

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Abstract of the Report

The government and organizations or businesses always interact and try to

influence and persuade each other in many ways for various matters, especially, in the

implementation of social policies. Social policies within the governmental and political

setting, are usually consist of guidelines, principles, legislation and activities that affect

the living conditions conducive to human welfare, such as a person’s quality of life. A

balanced relationship between the government and businesses is required for the

welfare of the economy and the nation. And since businesses are strongly affected by

public policies, it is in their best interest to stay informed about public policies and to try

to influence governmental decision making and public policy. There are different general

ways that businesses view and act on their relationship with government. The three

general categories of business responses to the public policy environment are reactive,

interactive, and proactive. This report further examines the Philippine government’s

programs and policies with regard to its Social Contract to the Filipino people. It also tries

to understand the different contributing factors and economic policies that are

responsible for the high incidence and persistence of poverty in the Philippines. And in

a macro level, it is also important to know the thrust of ASEAN countries, where the

Philippines is part of, on bridging the gap in social protection and socio-economic

policies. This report further recommends businesses and governments the adaptation of

the Policy Implementation Theories upon knowing its critical account on its status and

reconsideration to further improve the interactions between the two.

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Objectives of the Report

This report aims to achieve the following objectives on the topics of the Interaction

between Business and Government in the Implementation of Social Policies in the

Philippines:

1. To understand the different types of interactions of businesses with government

2. To explain how businesses try to influence government and the types of

responses by businesses to their legal, social, and political environment

3. To identify and examine the Platform of Government in the Philippines with regard

to its Social Contract with the Filipino People

4. To know the economic policy and key factors that affect the persistence of poverty

in the Philippines

5. To know the socio-economic policies in ASEAN that bridge the gap in social

protection

6. To examine the critical account of Policy Implementation Theories on its status and

reconsideration

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Definition of Terms

ASEAN. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is a regional intergovernmental

organization comprising ten countries in Southeast Asia, which promotes

intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, military,

educational, and sociocultural integration among its members and other countries in Asia.

Bureaucracy. It is an organization made up of many departments and divisions that are

administered by lots of people. It is an administrative, government, or social system with

a hierarchical structure and complex rules and regulations.

Bottom-up perspective. It assumes that policy goals can be specified by policymakers

and that implementation can be carried out successfully by setting up certain

mechanisms. It exhibits a strong desire for ‘generalizing’ policy advice.

Economic Policies. The economic policy of governments covers the systems for setting

levels of taxation, government budgets, the money supply and interest rates as well as

the labour market, national ownership, and many other areas of government interventions

into the economy.

Lobbying. It is an attempt by individuals or private interest groups to influence the

decisions of government; in its original meaning it referred to efforts to influence the votes

of legislators, generally in the lobby outside the legislative chamber. Lobbying in some

form is inevitable in any political system.

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Social Contract. It is the voluntary agreement among individuals by which, according to

any of various theories, as of Hobbes, Locke, or Rousseau, organized society is brought

into being and invested with the right to secure mutual protection and welfare or to

regulate the relations among its members. It is an agreement for mutual benefit between

an individual or group and the government or community as a whole.

Social Economics. Social economics is a branch of economics that focuses on the

relationship between social behavior and economics. It examines how social norms,

ethics, emerging popular sentiments, and other social philosophies influence consumer

behavior and shape public buying trends.

Social Policy. It emphasizes on the analytical and conceptual skills necessary for

interrogating social problems, analyzing how social policies are implemented, and

evaluating the (positive and negative) consequences of those policies, across a range of

topic areas, and across high, middle, and low-income country contexts.

Sustainable Businesses. Businesses that tend to focus on their responsibility to the

environment and societal impact and also tend to recognize that government policies and

programs are often necessary to help them achieve their objectives and therefore are

inclined to try to work with and even partner with government to achieve desired ends.

Top-down Perspective. It emphasizes formal steering of problems and factors, which are

easy to manipulate and lead to centralization and control.

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Summary of the Report

Introduction

Organizations interact with the government in many various ways such as trying

to force the government to act in ways that benefit the business activities, of course, with

that an organization must go through legitimately. Stated in this report are the common

methods that business organizations try to interact and influence government policies.

Since businesses are strongly affected by public policies, it is in their best interest to stay

informed about public policies and to try to influence governmental decision making and

public policy.

Business and Government Relations: How Do Government and Business Interact?

There are different general ways that businesses view and act on their relationship

with government. One perspective is for businesses to consider business and

government on “two sides” and in opposition to each other. Another business perspective

on government is that government should favor businesses and incentivize business

performance and investment because businesses are the main source of jobs, innovation,

and societal economic well-being, and therefore government should support businesses

with grants, tax credits, and subsidies. A third general view of businesses and government

relations

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is with business in partnership with government in addressing societal matters. This is in

contrast to government being the regulator to ensure businesses act in a socially

responsible manner.

The three general categories of business responses to the public policy

environment are reactive, interactive, and proactive. When business is in a reactive

response mode, it most often engages in confrontation of its adversaries. When it

assumes an interactive response mode, it participates in dialogues with NGOs and the

media and develops partnerships or coalitions to advance new policies and programs.

When business behaves in a proactive manner, it anticipates future pressures and policy

changes and adjusts its own internal corporate policies and practices before it is forced

to do so.

Sustainable businesses, such as the companies, they tend to focus on their

responsibility to the environment and societal impact and also tend to recognize that

government policies and programs are often necessary to help them achieve their

objectives and therefore are inclined to try to work with and even partner with government

to achieve desired ends. It is always important for sustainable businesses to understand

how their efforts to achieve profits and to serve a social purpose are both strongly

influenced by government policies, and it is always important for sustainable businesses

to manage their relationships with government (local, state, national, and international)

effectively.

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Types of Business Responses

Once a business has an understanding of how government affects their operations

and profitability, it can formulate strategies for how best to interact with government.

There are three general types of business responses to the public policy environment—

reactive, interactive, and proactive.

Reactive responses involve responding to government policy after it happens. An

interactive response involves engaging with government policymakers and actors

(including the media) to try to influence public policy to serve the interests of the business.

A proactive response approach entails acting to influence policies, anticipating changes

in public policy, and trying to enhance competitive positioning by correctly anticipating

changes in policy. For most businesses, a combination of the interactive and proactive

approaches is the best approach.

In meeting challenges from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the media,

businesses may respond in a variety of ways, including the following:

• Confrontation. It may aggressively attack either the message or the messenger,

and in extreme cases, business has felt justified to sue its critics for libel.

• Participation. Business may develop coalitions or partnerships with NGOs, as

McDonald’s did with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF; see the following

discussion) or as Home Depot did with the Rainforest Alliance (see the following

sidebar).

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• Anticipation. Business may adopt issues management programs to forecast

emerging issues and to adjust or change business practices in advance of the

passage of stringent laws or regulations.

Tactics That Businesses Use to Influence Government

Businesses often engage in a variety of tactics to influence government policy.

This includes lobbying, political contributions, and interest group politics.

Business Lobbying

Businesses lobby in different ways. This can include lobbying of Congress and

state legislatures and executive branch agencies directly through its own government

relations specialists, through an industry trade association, through consultants, or

through a combination of all those avenues. Businesses may also engage in indirect or

grassroots lobbying by appealing to its own employees, stakeholders, or the general

public to make their views known to policymakers. In order to build a broad grassroots

constituency, business may manage “issue advertising” campaigns on top-priority issues,

or purchase issue ads in media outlets that target public policymakers or Washington

insiders.

Political Contributions

Businesses also use campaign contributions to support their position and to try to

influence public policies that can help them increase profits. Seven of the ten largest

corporations in the world are oil companies, based on revenues. Their access to funds

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for lobbying and campaign contributions gives them a significant voice in the political

system and on policies that can impact sustainable businesses.

Interest Group Participation

Business response can include participation in interest group politics. Interest

groups play a key role in all democratic systems of government. However, as an interest

group is a group of individuals organized to seek public policy influence, there is

tremendous diversity within interest groups. Business is just one of many interest group

sectors trying to influence public policy. Businesses will encounter interest groups that

may support or conflict with their position on an issue.

Other Business Interactions in the Public Arena

Businesses face a complex array of formal and informal public policy actors

beyond (just) government. Business practices can be strongly influenced by citizen

actions that bypass the formal institutions of government. Though they lack the economic

clout and resources of industry as tools of influence, citizen groups do possess other

tools. They can lobby and litigate, and they can get out large groups to demonstrate in

public events and use exposure in the news media as a vehicle for getting their

perspective heard.

Businesses are influenced by direct citizen activism and protest. Organized

interests and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have been the source of influence.

Businesses have to also understand the importance of another actor in the business and

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public policy sphere—the news media. The media provides important functions for both

society and business. For example, it influences the public policy agenda by filtering the

various events and interest-group areas of attention and it can serve as a sort of

“watchdog” over both business and government exposing any unethical practices.

Business must constantly monitor the media and be ready to respond. In particular, since

the media are usually a pivotal actor in any corporate crisis, company “crisis

management” plans must include steps for dealing appropriately with the media and other

critics. (Business and Government Relations: How Do Government and Business

Interact?, 2012)

How Business Organizations Influence the Government

These are the common methods that business organizations us to influence government

policies.

Personal Conducts and Lobbying

The corporate executives and political leaders and government officials are in the

same social class. This creates a personal relationship between both parties. Also,

organizations formally from the group to present their issues to government bodies.

Forming Trade Unions and Chamber of Commerce

Trade unions and the chamber of commerce are associations of business

organizations with a common interest. They work to find the common issues of

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organizations and present reports, holds dialogue to discuss them with government

bodies.

Political Action Committees

Recently in the 2012 US elections, the term “super PACs” was a common topic in many

discussions. Political action committees (PACs) or are special organizations formed to

solicit money and distribute to political candidates.

Most times the rich executives donate money to the political candidates whose political

views are similar to them.

Large Investment

Companies if can make a very large investment in industries or projects, could

somehow affect government policies.

We see these very often in developing countries where foreign corporate wants to

invest in these countries.

These works in another way around, where the government tries to implement the

policy to attract foreign investment.

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How Government Influences the Business Organizations

The government attempts to shape the business practices through both, directly

and indirectly, implementing rules and regulations. The government most often directly

influences organizations by establishing regulations, laws, and rules that dictate what

organizations can and cannot do. To implement legislation, the government generally

creates special agencies to monitor and control certain aspects of business activity.

For example, the environment protection agency handles Central Bank, Food and

Drug Administration, Labor Commission, Securities, and Exchange Commission and

much more. These agencies directly create, implement laws and monitor its application

in the organization.

Governments sometimes take an indirect approach to shaping the activities of

business organizations. These are also done by implementing laws or regulations but

they are not always mandatory.

For instance, the government sometimes tries to change organizations’ policies by

their tax codes. The government could give tax incentives to companies that have an

environment-friendly waste management system in a production factory. Or, tax

incentives could be provided to companies that have established their production facilities

in a less developed region in the country. As a result, more often the businesses would

probably do so. However, this regulation and its implementation must be to an optimal

degree.

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Platform of Government in the Philippines (Official Gazette: Programs and

Policies, 2011)

• A Social Contract with the Filipino People

President Benigno S. Aquino III signed Executive Order No. 43, s. 2011, thematically

organizing the Cabinet into smaller groups called as the Cabinet Clusters. The Cabinet

Clusters—composed of Good Governance and Anti-corruption; Human Development

and Poverty Reduction; Economic Development; Security, Justice, and Peace; and

Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation—serve as the primary mechanism of the

Executive Branch for directing all efforts towards the realization of the Social Contract

with the Filipino People and its five key result areas.

The Cabinet Clusters and their key programs:

Good Governance and Anti-corruption

The Good Governance and Anti-Corruption Cluster shall promote transparency,

accountability, participatory governance, and strengthening of public institutions. It shall

also work to regain the trust and confidence of the public in government.

• Governance Cluster webpage

• Freedom of Information

• The People’s Budget

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Human Development

The Human Development and Poverty Reduction Cluster shall focus on improving

the overall quality of life of the Filipino and translating the gains of good governance into

direct, immediate, and substantial benefits that will empower the poor and marginalized

segments of society.

• Human Development and Poverty Reduction Cluster

• Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (CCT)

• K to 12 Basic Education

• Responsible Parenthood

• Sin Taxes

Economic Development

The Economic Development Cluster shall focus on the promotion of rapid, inclusive,

and sustained economic growth.

• Public-Private Partnership

• Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016

Security, Justice, and Peace

The Security Cluster shall ensure the preservation of national sovereignty and the

rule of law; and focus on the protection and promotion of human rights and the pursuit

of a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace.

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• National Security Policy 2011-2016

• PAMANA Program

Environment and Climate Change

The Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Cluster shall focus on the

conservation, and protection of the environment and natural resources. It shall take the

lead in pursuing measures to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change on the

Philippine archipelago; and undertake all the necessary preparation for both natural and

man-made disasters.

• Project NOAH

• National Green Program

Poverty and Economic Policy in the Philippines (Gerson, 1998)

Past economic policies that hampered growth, and the resistance of powerful elites

to much-needed reforms, were largely responsible for the high incidence and persistence

of poverty in the Philippines. Recent policy changes have spurred growth, but additional

reforms could accelerate the reduction of poverty.

POVERTY is both more widespread and more persistent in the Philippines than in

neighboring ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) countries. While the

poverty rate has decreased in the Philippines over the past 25 years, the decline has

been slower than in other ASEAN countries. Some of the blame for the Philippines' slow

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progress in reducing the incidence of poverty can be attributed to past economic policies

that retarded growth by discriminating against agriculture and discouraging investment in

human capital. These policies, in turn, sustained powerful interest groups that blocked or

delayed economic reform.

Economic policy and poverty

• Exchange and trade policies. For many years, the Philippines pursued an

industrial policy that encouraged import substitution rather than promoting exports.

Until tariff reforms were introduced in 1991, trade policies heavily penalized the

primary and agricultural sectors and benefited the manufacturing sector.

• Federal government expenditures. Because the poor are better endowed with

labor than with physical capital, public expenditures on education and health can

exert an important influence on poverty and income distribution. Unfortunately,

public investment in human capital in the Philippines was both low and inefficiently

allocated for many years and thus had a limited effect on poverty and inequality.

Historically, public education in the Philippines has been underfunded relative to

other ASEAN countries; central government expenditures on education, both as a

percentage of GDP and as a percentage of total government spending, were

significantly lower than in Malaysia and Thailand, for example. Moreover, the

distribution of education spending among levels of schooling is skewed toward

secondary and tertiary education. The government now subsidizes a greater share

of education expenses at the university level (78 percent) than at the primary level

(69 percent). If spending were reallocated toward primary education, the quality

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would improve significantly and a greater proportion of lower-income students

might remain in school, especially in rural areas.

• Tax policy. Indirect taxes (for example, value-added taxes, excise taxes, and

customs duties) account for about 70 percent of tax revenues in the Philippines; it

would therefore be easy to conclude that the overall tax system must be

regressive. Because the poor consume a larger percentage of their incomes than

do the wealthy, consumption-based taxes are nearly always somewhat regressive

in their impact, even when food is exempt. However, the fairness of any particular

tax—and, indeed, of the tax system as a whole—must be viewed in the context

both of the alternatives for raising revenues and of the progressivity of the

expenditure side of the budget—that is, who benefits from tax revenues.

• Although the Philippines' individual income tax system is quite progressive, at least

on paper, it is easier for the wealthy than for the less well-off to reduce or avoid

taxes (as is the case in many countries). Although the Philippines has withholding

taxes on the incomes of wage earners, the earnings of businessmen are harder to

measure, and the wealthy have more opportunity to engage in perfectly legal tax-

reduction strategies, such as tax-free investments and deposits.

• While recent tax reforms and improvements in tax administration that reduce the

scope for income tax evasion will make the Philippine tax system more

progressive, ultimately it is very much a question not just of where the money

comes from but also where it goes that determines the impact of fiscal policy on

income distribution and poverty.

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Bridging the gap in social protection and socio-economic policies in Asean

(Ofreneo, 2019)

On paper, the Philippines and other Member States of the Association

of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) are all committed to the protection of their citizens

against social and economic risks. However, the adequacy of the social protection

extended to the ordinary people is still limited, as reflected in the social spending made

by ASEAN countries on social protection, roughly 4-6 percent of the GDP versus the 20-

24 percent in the developed countries.

In particular, Asean members need to address the policy gap. There is policy

variance between the populist declarations on social protection made by the political

leaders and the kind of socio-economic policies that they pursue. The latter, which often

favor society’s elite and the big corporations, tend to deepen inequality and put those in

the margins in a precarious and vulnerable situation due to job displacement,

unemployment, underemployment, ill health, accidents and marginal incomes. As

Resolution 202 of 2012 of the ILO puts it, a major requirement to achieve national social

protection floor is policy coherence in the social protection advocacy and the supporting

socio-economic policies that States follow.

In the Asean, the good thing is the rising awareness within policy circles on the

importance of providing universal social protection, starting with universal health

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care. The sad thing: all this is treated as a funding or budgetary issue.

There are numerous meetings and workshops on social protection or various aspects

of social protection such as the systems of delivering services, packaging the services

and so on. But rarely is there an exhaustive and serious discussion on the root causes of

poverty and social exclusion.

The task of securing universal, adequate and comprehensive social protection for

all cannot be reduced to a mere question of creating the fiscal space for this such

as generating new taxes. The most basic is how to align social and economic policies in

support of inclusion and sustainability by abandoning the neo-liberal development

straitjacket and by abandoning the regional and global Race to the Bottom in the

treatment of workers and resources of a country. We need to embrace a new paradigm

of regional and global integration, where people are truly at the center of development.

A Critical Account of Policy Implementation Theories: Status and Reconsideration

(Paudel, 2009)

This paper critically examines the theory of public policy implementation, discusses

the issues of policy implementation studies and examines the applicability of such theory.

This paper extensively reviews the literature related to the public policy implementation.

The first-generation implementation researchers find out the problems of policy

implementation, i.e. uncertain relationship between policies, decisions and implemented

programs. Similarly, the second-generation implementation studies focus on the

'development of an analytical framework of implementation', which includes the top down,

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bottom-up perspectives and their synthesis. Similarly, the third-generation

implementation research should concentrate on explicit implementation theory-building,

which has not yet been realized.

Top-down perspective: The top-down perspective assumes that policy goals can be

specified by policymakers and that implementation can be carried out successfully by

setting up certain mechanisms (Palumbo and Calista, 1990, p13). This perspective is

‘policy-centered’ and represents the policymaker’s views. A vital point is the policymaker’s

capability to exercise control over the environment and implementers (Younis and

Davidson, 1990, p5-8.)

The top-down perspective exhibits a strong desire for ‘generalizing’ policy advice. This

requires finding consistent and recognizable patterns in behavior across different policy

areas (Matland, 1995, p146). The top-down perspective emphasizes formal steering of

problems and factors, which are easy to manipulate and lead to centralization and control.

Interest will be directed towards things such as funding formulas, formal organization

structures and authority relationships between administrative units, regulations and

administrative controls like budget, planning and evaluation requirements (Elmore, 1978,

p185, 189, 191). ‘

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The bottom-up perspective: The bottomup perspective directs attention at the formal and

informal relationships constituting the policy subsystems involved in making and

implementing policies (Howllet and Ramesh, 2003, p190). This perspective has as its

starting point a problem in society. The focus is on individuals and their behavior, and in

this respect street-level bureaucrats are made central in the political process. The street-

level bureaucrats are considered to have a better understanding of what clients need as

it is they who have direct contact with the public. Michael Lipsky (1980) propounds a

theory of ‘street-level bureaucracy’. Lipsky’s theory focuses on the discretionary decisions

that each field worker or ‘street-level bureaucrat’-as he prefers to call them--makes in

relation to individual citizens when they are delivering policies to them. This discretionary

role in delivering services or enforcing regulations makes street-level bureaucrats

essential actors in implementing public policies.

Synthesis of both perspectives: Both top-down and bottom-up perspectives draw

attention to the implementation process. However, there is a conflict between the two

perspectives. Each tends to ignore the portion of the implementation reality explained by

the other.

The ‘top-downers’ call for eliminating the ‘gap’ between formulation and output, whereas

the ‘bottom-uppers’ emphasize the inevitable, and perhaps desirable, participation of

other actors in later stages of policy process. Synthesizers have tried to get variables from

both top-down and bottom-up perspectives. There are still questions about the

methodology adopted for implementation research.

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Implementation is often not value-free. It is laden with social values, norms and practices.

These are location-specific or country-specific. Therefore, the applicability of the

implementation theory is questionable and challenging. However, the policy

implementation process in developing countries shares a great deal with the process in

more developed countries.

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Conclusions

Businesses are strongly affected by public policies and it is in their best interest to

keep abreast about public policies and to try to influence governmental decision making

and public policy. There are different general ways that businesses view and act on their

relationship with government. One perspective is for businesses to consider business and

government on “two sides” and in opposition to each other. Another business perspective

on government is that government should favor businesses and incentivize business

performance and investment because businesses are the main source of jobs, innovation,

and societal economic well-being, and therefore government should support businesses

with grants, tax credits, and subsidies. A third general view of businesses and government

relations is with business in partnership with government in addressing societal matters.

There are three general categories of business responses to the public policy

environment which are reactive, interactive, and proactive.

Business efforts to influence public policy and government include not only

individual company efforts but also business association efforts. For most businesses,

some combination of the interactive and proactive approaches with government and other

interest groups is most often the best approach. Businesses, individually and collectively;

citizen interest groups; and non-government organizations all have influence on

government policies. These entities often partner to influence public policy. Business

practices can be strongly influenced not only by government but by direct citizen and

NGO actions that bypass the formal institutions of government. Business has been
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increasingly influenced by direct citizen activism. The media has a strong interest in giving

visibility to issues and setting the policy agenda. Businesses must view the media as an

important influencing agent affecting their operating environment and must be effective in

its relations with the media.

In the Philippines, the government has a platform with regard to a Social Contract

with the Filipino People which was signed by then President under the Executive Order

No. 43, S. 2011 wherein the Cabinets were organized into small groups called Cabinet

Clusters such as Good Governance and Anti-corruption; Human Development and

Poverty Reduction; Economic Development; Security, Justice, and Peace; and Climate

Change Adaptation and Mitigation - serve as the primary mechanism of the Executive

Branch for directing all efforts towards the realization of the Social Contract with the

Filipino People and its five key result areas.

It is also said the past economic policies in the Philippines have been a great factor

in the hampered growth. It is also said that the resistance of powerful elites or big

companies in much-needed reforms were largely responsible for the high incidence and

persistence of poverty in the Philippines. Recent policy changes have already spurred the

economic growth, but additional reforms could still accelerate the reduction of poverty.

In a macro perspective, the Philippines together with the other Member States of the

Association of Southeastern Nations are all committed to the protection of their citizens

against the social and economic risks. However, the adequacy of the social protection

extended to the ordinary people is still limited. In particular, ASEAN members need to

address the policy gap. The task of securing universal, adequate and comprehensive

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social protection for all cannot be reduced to a mere question of creating the fiscal space

for this such as generating new taxes. The most basic is how to align social and

economic policies in support of inclusion and sustainability by abandoning the neo-liberal

development straitjacket and by abandoning the regional and global Race to the Bottom

in the treatment of workers and resources of a country.

The theory of public policy implementation, discusses the issues of policy

implementation studies and examines the applicability of such theory. Issues concerned

with the conceptual clarity of policy implementation, theoretical debate over the top-down

or bottom-up perspectives, applicability or transfer of research output from one region to

another, methodology employed in implementation research and so on are seen as

arguable. Social setting is either homogenous or fixed. However, quite a different situation

often characterized by uncertain, unpredictable and everchanging political situations

diversified social settings and weak economic condition prevails in developing countries.

Both top-down and bottom-up perspectives draw attention to the implementation process.

Though, there is a conflict between the two perspectives, each tends to ignore the portion

of the implementation reality explained by the other.

Implementation is often not value-free. It is laden with social values, norms and

practices. These are location-specific or country-specific. Therefore, the applicability of

the implementation theory is questionable and challenging. However, the policy

implementation process in developing countries shares a great deal with the process in

more developed countries.

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Recommendations

Government and business institutions in different countries are in many ways

interrelated and interdependent. In today’s global economy, businessmen and

entrepreneurs are the driving forces of the economy. In a planned economy or even in

the market economy government holds control of shaping the business activities of a

country. To maintain a steady and upward economic growth, the Government must try to

make the environment for business organizations suitable. And the organizations must

follow the laws of governments to run the businesses smoothly and making sure there is

a level playing field.

The main goal of businesses is to make a profit and governments’ goal is to

ensure economic stability and growth. Both of them are different but very co-dependent.

For this, the government and organizations or businesses always try to influence and

persuade each other in many ways for various matters. A balanced relationship between

the government and businesses is required for the welfare of the economy and the

nation.

It is recommended that business owners should involve themselves in the

business and social policies that that government is currently implementing. The

business people, executives and top management should continuously educate

themselves with the current and upcoming laws and policies on business and society

that are taking place. Starting to the simple laws and policies on registering a business,

to the required legalities of operating a business, to the government platform on social

contract with the Filipino People, to the agreements and advocacies with the other

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ASEAN state members, and to the complexities of implementing Public-Private

Partnerships to bring about social and economic growth in the country and its people.

Lastly, it is further recommended that business and government should consider certain

models and theories in implementing specific policies in the country such as the theory of

Public Policy Implementation. This theory discusses the issues of policy implementation

studies and examines the applicability of such theory. Social setting is either homogenous

or fixed, but quite a different situation is often characterized by uncertain, unpredictable

and everchanging political situations on diversified social settings and weak economic

condition. The theory suggests the top-down or bottom-up perspectives and their

synthesis in the implementation process. Implementation is often laden with social values,

norms and practices, that is why the policy implementation process is needed much in

developing countries, as well as in more developed countries.

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 BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Graduate School
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