REACTION PAPER

ON

PA211

Is there a Philippine Public Administration? or Better Still, for whom is the Philippine Public
Administration?

By:

Abdua A. Miguel Jr
Introduction

Is there a Philippine Public Administration? or Better Still, for whom Is the Philippine Public
Administration? a publication by Alex B. Brillantes Jr. and Maricel T. Fernandez where they tackled the
dimensions of public administration study and practice, from evolution of the field of public
administration in chronological order and how Public Administration became a catalyst of good
governance in the 1990s into the 2000s specifically, the publication mentioned about public fiscal
administration and local governance administration, which as a student in public administration, I can
reflect and analyze on their studies so that be able to understand better about how do the two
components of the course greatly enhance our management skills especially when one works for the
government, the two scholars also mention Gawad Kalinga as a model of good governance and public
administration and illustrated therein the goals and programs of the said private entity serving as great
example that is worth emulating.

Thoughts and Opinion

The government should be the benchmark of all good business transactions, it should serve as
role model in delivering all kinds of services to the general public, in connection, why did a private
corporation become a model of good governance despite the government’s advantage in terms of
human resource development? In my opinion, it is because of perks and benefits that the government
has failed to offer, intelligent minds tend to decide in accordance to their advantages and disadvantages,
say for example, a good engineer will never settle for a salary grade 15 entry-level income working for
the government, instead, he will go abroad and offer his services to a foreign land in exchange for a
paycheck that will worth ten times his supposed salary here in the Philippines, going back to the topic,
the minds behind Gawad Kalinga are top-notch, and because of lack of opportunity working in the
government, they work for private corporations and as a result, a private corporation became the ideal
model for public administration and good governance.

This could mean that somehow, it’s the man behind the wheel that makes the difference, if we
only put the right person for the right job, perhaps, we could achieve better than our neighboring
countries, given that we had the advantages in terms of international relations and natural resources.

Conclusion

Though there maybe ups and downs, Philippine Public Administration is for the Filipino people
as its uniquely formulated for the Philippines, forged by experiences and challenges, and evolved
through time, it has been proven as effective tool for management, where government’s plans and
programs are channeled through, it expands throughout the four corners of governmental sphere,
where in fact, a private corporation became a benchmark of good governance and local model for public
administration, it will progress as time passes, because when good governance and excellent public
administration is on practice, it will reach every point of the land under its jurisdiction, the people will
become aware, they will compare, hence, it will be perfected through checks and balances, until such
time we will be able to see a better nation that we all desire, and we may ask ourselves, for whom is the
Philippine Public Administration? Of course, it’s for our welfare.