INTRO TO POLITICAL ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH WEEK 11-12: LEARNING TASK

Directions: Answer the following questions concisely. Take note of the rubrics. (60points)
RUBRICS #1
CONTENT 4pts
GRAMMAR 3pts
ORGANIZATION OF THOUGHTS 3pts
TOTAL 10pts

1. What is the importance of understanding Contemporary Philippine Politics in the analysis of every current administration or
system of government in the Philippines?
It has been always deemed necessary that certain fields, or in this case－politics, must be studied based on their engagement and
outcomes through comparison of different cases to see numerous factors that may provide similarity between or differ a variable to
that of another.

Contemporary Politics in the Philippines, as subject into every administration that the country was and being under of, curate the
political nature of the country and under each administration, translating factors that promote or deter the development of the
government and the country. As the Philippine bureaucracy have structural features to which is formally differentiated or specialized
by agency, the hierarchy of authority has been the same in pattern but not in actuality － since traditional politics has been
incorporated into the colonized system that was introduced to us, and not the other way around. Moreover, family, kinship,
religious, socioeconomic, political and other groups continue to impinge on the performance of these government agencies, putting
continuity of search for flexibility or versatility in its operations within and upon the restriction or confinement provided in our
constitution (or our constitutions before the current one), as the general charter of the country exhausting its supremacy.

This being said, understanding it through every analysis of an administration or system of government provides clear and definite
answers to which why and how certain factors were present in relation to the government’s bureaucratic behavioral patterns and
the outcomes supported by popular participation of the people conducive to power the whole political economy of the Philippines.

2. Are the platforms or programs of the Government directly answering the current difficulties of every Filipinos sojourning in
the Philippines?
As provided in the Midterm Assessment of David G. Timberman to the Philippine Politics under the Duterte Administration, the
platforms or programs upheld were within the basis of rampant social issues that has an effect on both the economy and politics.
Realistically speaking, the campaign platform of Duterte “War on Drugs” has a broad sight to what the Philippines can be if drugs
and crime will be eradicated: “given its high level of poverty, underresourced and corruption-prone law enforcement agencies, and
slow judicial system”, it might be decreased in its detrimental value if the platform thrived or succeeded.

Moreover, I personally think that it has an effect on the different aspects of the society but it has been concerning that, if this
administration singularly focused in drugs and crime, the small problems that kills the living from below the social class will further
be damaged, and the country would possibly not prosper. It is also germane that the promotion of infrastructure development
fueled through the multiphase tax reform program supported by the TRAIN law has been long overdue in progress whereas people
who earns below or just average of the minimum wage income earners are pained because of the high priced commodities brought
forth by the law in exchange to this slow-progressed ‘infrastructure development’ as promised.

Although I am fairly not impressed with how certain programs take their place in the scene given its appropriated budget, it is unfair
to agree that some might not be purposeful in dealing with the difficulties of the people (citing the passage of the Universal Health
Care Law, the Free Tertiary Education Law, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, and such others) when the very problem really
is the unscapable corruption.

3. Are the adopted programs rooted from the direct needs of Filipinos?
The Philippines has employed sustainable and inclusive goals and principles guided for their development strategies. According to
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Report of the UN on the Philippines, it has been a life-long aspiration by the Filipinos to
achieve AmBisyon Natin 2040—that came from a nationwide survey conducted in late 2015; where work-life balance, a comfortable,
secure and peaceful life will be for everyone. It was about that time that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was
adopted, and that was subsequently crafted the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2017-2022.

Now, the Duterte administration’s programs seem to have implemented the SDG unto their platforms and programs, availing
national actions and cross-sectoral coordination and orchestration within and through the existing institutional mechanisms. For
education, we have the institutionalization of Alternative Learning System and the funding and passage of the Free Tertiary
Education that actually delivers education services for the out-of-school youth and other vulnerable groups and the wide-ranged
population of college students in the country. In targeting poverty amidst the soaring inflation rate, the government’s successful
program Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) harnessed powerful incentives to reduce poverty and target interventions for families who
needed it. The Universal Health Care Law that automatically enrolls all Filipino citizens in the National Health Insurance Program and
prescribes complementary reforms in the health care system of the country provides necessary means of medical services for all.

These are just few of the many problems existing way before the current administration and how they’ve put up certain programs
that address these clearly could be assessed that they are directly for the needs of the Filipinos. It might not be covering all of the
SDG, but to say the least that they’ve actually done something, is worth giving credit for.
4. Are these programs of the Government successfully administering the long time problem of the Government with regards to
poverty, hunger, and education?
In connection to what was written on the previous question, it has been grounded that every evident problem a current
administration is dealing with was an end effect of what has happened from the precious one. Taking this into account, programs
that have been put up to by the government is objectively for addressing the problems accumulated or passed on by their
predecessor into their term.

This translates that even though the ongoing correspondence of the Duterte Administration doesn’t seem effective nor successful to
some, the very fact that there are projected actions for the life-long problem of poverty, health, hunger, and education, perceives
that it has success on taking the problem into their administration’s answerability.

It will only take such time that we can say such programs and/or platforms were done successfully if and when the term has ended.
But for now, with half of the term taken in, I have to say that so far the administration is trying.

REFERENCES:
▪ https://carnegieendowment.org/2019/01/10/philippine-politics-under-duterte-midterm-assessment-pub-78091
▪ University of the Philippines Press, College of Public Administration-Univeristy of the Philippines, 1993: Introduction to Public
Administration in the Philippines: A Reader
▪ https://carnegieendowment.org/2012/04/27/economic-and-political-challenges-in-philippines-event-3645
▪ https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/memberstates/philippines
▪ https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/23366Voluntary_National_Review_2019_Philippines.pdf