CHAPTER II :ITHE ENVIRONMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Too much concern for the fundamentals and process- oriented principles and too little attention paid to
the milieu or the environment within which the principles are to be applied, could be a public
administration shortcoming. More so in transitional societies undergoing the process of change and
development. The set of traditional principles of POSDCORB' were viable and relevant during the
time Gulick and Urwick coined the acronym for an American society not as complex as it is today.
Presently, even in our country, the effectiveness of a system or of a process should be measured in
terms of what it can do to improve the lives of people and secure for them at least a minimum "quality
of life."

Management and administrative principles should be contextualized in terms of utilization and

pragmatic value to its client society. More so because the pre-occupations and problems of
developing societies are different from those of developed societies. Administrative technology
designed for industrial societies may only have minimal value to agricultural societies, hence transfer
of administrative models and in-built practices and procedures from other countries should be done
selectively. Donald E. Stokes, citing American experience in international administration, points out
that one of its shortcomings is the "intensive drive to raise the level of development administration in
Third Word countries by implanting budgeting systems, personnel management and planning, and
other practices without adequate studies on how the culture and structures of the client society could
affect the performance of these principles and the response of the societies being assisted.2

CULTURE AND ADMINISTRATION

Culture is the composite or learned behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, ideals and values held by a particular
society. Some of these values and traits are widely shared by particular specific groups. These values
have political significance even if they do not directly involve political matters. Those which have
political values comprise the political culture of a society and significantly influence politics and
administration. Since every culture has its own standards, its patterns and traits should be viewed in
terms of significance in a society of which these are parts. Their impact upon the matter of governing
should correspondingly be evaluated to determine their influence upon decision- making.

A responsive public administration needs to address and adjust to the type and level of development
of society. A developing nation, like ours, undergoing the modernization process and bent on using
the software technology of developed countries, may encounter difficulties because the push of
innovation is resisted by the pull of time-honored tradition. For example, economic aid assistance and
development projects funded by foreign sources may not always be welcome because of doubts
about the sincerity of donors and commitment and motivation which underlie assistance programs of
political benefactors. This is the typical sentiment of peoples overwhelmed by the surging tide of
nationalism. In a situation such as this, the following options may be adopted: (1) The recipient society
accepts the innovations for change or restructuring including the conditionalities imposed, welcome
foreign aid or funding, and adjust its policies and programs, to the agreed-upon arrangements just like
any client would. (2) The patron state studies the culture of the prospective client and based on its
findings, constructs an aid and assistance program which takes into account traditional norms and
operating procedures. (3) If the modernization drive is strong, the traditional society retains the
unifying elements of its institutions and practices and gradually institutes reforms and changes
whenever these are perceived as necessary for development. It should be noted, however, that
cultural relativity requires interpretation of modernization based not necessarily on western
paradigms, but in terms of the "satisfying model" indigenously perceived.

This raises the issue whether the existing culture should be modified or the foreign assistance agenda
should be restructured to accommodate the domestic cultural environment.
Viewed through the prism of Filipino political culture characterized by strong-family linkages, an
accepted rural - urban dichotomy, pronounced disparity of income and wealth, unemployment, almost
complete reliance upon government for the dispensation of essential services, there is need to modify
the features of the indigenous culture. Strong family ties can breed nepotism; unemployment and low
income opens up avenues for graft and corruption: complete reliance on government results in
parasitism and dependency which destroys individual initiative and self- reliance. These are features
of our culture which stand in the way of development and should therefore be changed. Change to be
effective, must consider not only the local environment but also strive to do away with those rigid
psycho-social attitudes and break down resistance to worthwhile innovations.

If satisfying local needs enjoys the highest priority in development assistance then foreign aid policy
and the mechanisms for its implementation must be designed to fit into the local set-up. The
administrative structure must consider the political culture of those who are to implement them. Some
of the agencies directly involved in these activities are the Philippine Aid Program (PAP), Overseas
Development Assistance (ODA) of Japan, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the
Economic Support Fund of the United States.

One government service activity which illustrates the relation between culture and administration is
public health. In administering this service, the Department of Health, especially in the rural areas,
must recognize the role of traditional habits. Even in the advent of medical science, people especially
in the rural areas, continue to patronize "hilots", "herbolarios" or quacks and spiritual healers who
practice medicine without license from the government medical board. Even if such practice is illegal,
patients run to them, maybe, because they are within easy reach, charge less or perhaps by force of
habit. Whatever be the reason, health care administration is involved regardless of patients!
preferences to minister to their health problems and needs While the practice of the profession is
regulated by law through board examinations, yet the force of law cannot always compel people to
submit themselves to licensed practitioners. In a traditional culture where society has shown
tolerance, the licensed practitioner should devise a way of making people accept modern medicine by
intermingling it with crude/primitive medicine which makes sense to rural folks. It is hoped that
gradually modern medicine will find acceptance with the masses. Popular acceptance of government
health programs depends so much upon an understanding of the social organization of the family, or
of the advantages of having less children. These are matters which administrators of health programs
should zero on.

The dilemma of the medical practitioner finds parallel in the young graduate of a College of
Agriculture. He returns to his home province with the thought of helping rural farmers increase their
yield. He introduces seed selection, irrigation, use of fertilizers and insecticides, performs soil analysis
to determine the crops appropriate to be planted. These efforts give him frustrations because of the
stubbornness of the tradition-bound local farmers impervious to change their ways of farming in favor
of the modern. These two situational cases show how difficult it is to change people's orientations and
the problem of choosing the administrative strategy that will convince them to adopt modern medicine
and modern farming.

Public Administration as an Environment of Public Administration

Integration of cultural communities is a program put under the responsibility of the Commission on
National Integration. It was the desire of the government to have the cultural communities assimilated
into the mainstream of the culture of the majority. Administrative policy which seeks to achieve
integration is fraught with problems. The cultural minorities want to maintain their cultural identity; on
the other hand integration is seen as a vehicle for achieving national solidarity. There is therefore an
apparent conflict between the twin aspirations. Government policy of forced assimilation may even
become counter-productive because it violates a fundamental right to one's individual or group
identity, hence the advocacy of cultural autonomy. But the extreme pursuit of this could result in
fragmentation. Perhaps the framers or the Constitution of 1987 envisioned that granting regional
autonomy to Muslim Mindanao and the Cordillera peoples will be the compromise solution.

Administration of a program or project is by itself an environmental factor. The success of a program

depends upon proper organization of the administrative units and utilization of resources, without
which there could be defeat or failure of the program. Efficiency is related to the administrative
environment. It is said that industrialized societies create the need for establishing target goals,
setting deadlines and preparing time schedules. These may not be urgently required in agricultural
societies with an imprecise philosophy of time and an erratic concept of time management. In
societies with high unemployment rates, there is intense competition for government jobs; influence
peddling abounds; the merit system is overlooked in societies where manpower is not fully nor almost
fully utilized; jockeying for government positions is a problem. These variances are a result of public
administration practices themselves. If the administration of service programs is effective, then there
is a healthy public - management environment. Conversely, ineffective administration of such
programs makes for an undesirable public administration environment.

Demography and Public Administration

The relation of population to public administration generally involves the implications and effects of
size, density, composition, distribution and movement of people. Growth of population creates
increased pressure for delivery of essential services like water supply, garbage collection, peace and
order and health and welfare. Unregulated population movement into Metropolitan Manila and other
urban centers of the country starting in the 1960's has accelerated to a much faster pace bringing
different kinds of problems way beyond the capacity of government to cope with. People are attracted
to the cities because the rural setting does not hold much promise to them. Job opportunities in the
countryside are less, if not absent; the better educational facilities are generally in the urban centers.
Certainly, the prospects of making life better is in the city. The peace and order situation in the
province gives greater push toward the urban communities.5

Public administration is challenged to expand its service. The Metropolitan Water and Sewerage
System has to expand its water facilities, construct additional reservoirs and pumping stations, lay
more pipe lines and employ more men to maintain such facilities. The same goes for Philippine Long
Distance Company with its communications facilities and the General Post Office for postal services.
More puericulture centers, medical clinics and hospitals have to be put up. Population increase brings
about shelter problems as human density gives way to squatting, as escalating real estate values
force rentals to rise. Take the case of Metro Manila as an example. Utilities for energy, transportation,
and telephone have to grow with the exploding population.

As of September 1, 1995, the National Capital Region had a total population of 9,454,040. This
represented a population increase of 3,528,156 over the 1980 census figure of 5,925,884 or an
average of 235,210.4 yearly. The total land area inhabited by 9,454,040 is only 636 square kilometers,
thus yielding a population density of 14,864.84 as of 1995. This high population density overcrowding,
shelter, water supply, sewerage, health care, problems of transport and traffic, employment,
environmental protection and preservation, to mention a few. This situation pressures the government
to institute coping mechanisms and adjust administrative policies and performance standards to the
phenomenal population increase.
Population distribution by age group can help explain the relation between demography and
administration. In a study conducted by Leighton in a War Relocation Authority in Poston, Arizona, it
was found out that conflict is bound to develop between the older generation and the younger
generation of Japanese-Americans in the camp. Said conflict was due to apparent lack of consensus
among the project administrators resulting in resulting in lack of coordination and disarticulation within
the administrative structure of the center a conflict between the "people-minded" staff administrators
who regarded the internee-evacuees as people and the "stereo-type-minded line administrators who
regarded the internee-evacuees as Japanese.?

The findings convincingly show the importance of adjusting administrative undertakings to the belief
systems of peoples being supervised and adapting these to the customs and practices of different
generations of Japanese Americans. In other words, collective efforts of administrators and
administrators should mutually be pooled together. The attitudes and perceptions of the young are
different from those of the old. Playgrounds and gymnastic facilities are needed by the young just as
much as homes for the aged and the infirm are for those past retirement age. Policies to insulate the
young against the debilitating effects of drugs are as important as hospitalization benefits and old-age
pension plans are to the superannuated. These realities require different approaches. Public
administration should therefore be able to visualize needed variations and choose the appropriate
mechanisms to solve said problems.

/Ethnic groupings also challenge public administration. The presence of minority groups with ethnic
peculiarities requires the government to contextualize policies by considering the relativity of cultures
and subcultures of its population. Policy differentiation, while justifiable, opens itself to the charge of
discrimination especially when the expectations of minority groups are not served. The creation of
Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (RA. 6734) August 1, 1989 and the Southern Council for
Peace and Development (SPCPD) by E.O. 371, October 1996, were envisioned to solve this problem
but the target minority groups are not enthusiastic about nor receptive to this arrangement. The same
sentiment is also expressed by the target beneficiaries of R.A. 6766, October 23, 1989, an Organic
Act for the Cordillera Autonomous Region. There is a dearth of studies on the role and influence of
minority groups in the Philippines and their implications upon administration; nonetheless minority
groups have to be considered in formulating and in implementing policy.

Ideology and Administration

Ideology may be defined as a belief system. The belief system, when viewed from a political
perspective, is any set of political beliefs of political actors - individuals, groups, social classes,
government and the entire nation. Angus Campbell, et. al, in their book entitled The American Voter
regard ideology as an elaborate, close-woven and far- ranging structure of attitudes. As a component
of the environment of society, it has implications upon the politics and the administration of public
affairs. Government is what a people decide to make, as their hopes and aspirations help in
constructing a vision of it.

If the tradition of individualism is considered as the primary ideological element of American society, in
like manner paternalism is to Filipino society. If the American colonial government is equated with
British rule, and executive power with the British Crown, the Philippine government is equated with
Spanish colonial rule and executive power with the Spanish governor-general. The parallelism ends
here. American individualism has been influential in the drafting of state constitutions designed to
safeguard the early colonial communities against the excesses of government's power. thus resulting
in the installation of limited government. After all, the primary reason why the colonists left Europe
was their desire to set up a government by their own design - that is a federal structure.
In our case, the autonomous barangays gave way to the centralizing pressure exerted by the colonial
governors to hasten the subjugation of the remaining areas resisting foreign rule, in the name of
peace and order through the establishment of a strong central authority as an instrument for unity and
integration, hence a unitary structure. Immersion in this form of governance developed a paternalistic
attitude of reliance and dependency upon government as dispenser of privilege and favor. The
philosophy of public administration therefore developed along this channel.

The nature of the political system can pre-determine structure and policy. In a parliamentary model
where there is fusion of legislative and executive powers, it is the cabinet, headed by the prime
minister, which provides leadership and defines governmental policy. Because the members of the
cabinet are also members of the law-making body, it is to be expected that cabinet policy proposals
will easily get the imprimatur of parliament as in the case of England. Short of this, the cabinet
members tender their resignation because failure of parliament to endorse cabinet proposal is an
index of lack of confidence in the administration of government. In as much as English government is
party government, there is little opportunity for the minority to obstruct executive policy. There is less
horse-trading and concessional bargaining which deviate from cabinet policy direction. In the
presidential model like ours, leadership is diffused. There are issues which lie within the domain of
executive prerogative and there are those within the parameters of legislative jurisdiction. This
situation arises as a consequence of separation of governmental powers which, in a way, has its own
merit, but could result in a weak, if not divided, leadership which invites intervention by interest groups
in policy making. More than power diffusion, there is the problem of coordination of functions of the
two governmental branches. The presidential system breeds rivalry and competition for power
primacy which can make it difficult for the chief administrator to effectively control subordinates the
way a business executive does.

In a unitary governmental structure the executive is regarded as the administrator-at-large. In the

Philippines, the president exercises supervisory powers over local governmental units, and control
over departments, bureaus and offices. This constitutional provision affirms the centralized character
of governance; where the peripheral units are regarded as extensions of the administrative personality
of the government at the center and exercise those powers which the center authorizes them to
perform. Whatever be the ideology, for purposes of administration the observation of Justice George
A. Malcolm is worth keeping in mind. "A trait of the Filipinos generally recognized is that they yield
their truest loyalty when there is at the head of affairs one man in supreme power.

In federalism, whether of the polyethnic or monoethnic type, there are two sets of government, one to
take responsibility over national affairs and the other to take charge of local affairs. Each exercises
powers and performs functions which fall within its sphere of jurisdiction as the basic laws provide.
The enumerated powers belong to the federal government and residual powers to the state
governments as currently practiced in the United States. One easily sees centralization of powers in
unitary systems and power decentralization in federal models.

Social and Physical Technology

Technology is generally perceived as the sum total of all mechanisms and methodologies employed to
ensure convenience and comfort of man and of society. It includes the social devices and physical
inventions of man. Discoveries and scientific advances influence and transform the social
environment and produce impacts on public management. The human contrivance which we call
government is an example of a social invention which has transformed social life. Like a business
corporation, the behavior of this leviathan affects individual and group behavior patterns. The policies
it formulates and implements have implications on people's lives like increase in power rates, import
levy and control, subsidy schemes, regulation of population growth or value added tax, to mention a
few
Similarly, corporate business influences production lines and volume, quality of merchandise, supply
and demand variables giving rise to problems of enforcing government rules and regulations. These
will require the government to institute control measures over their operations in order to protect the
general public interest. Monitoring business activities, seeing to it that nationalistic economic thrusts
are worked out; lending operations of banks and other financial institutions are all regulated by the
state notwithstanding the free enterprise economy enshrined in the constitution. Government is drawn
into decision-making roles affecting corporate activities.

Another social invention is the labor union. Labor unions are a strong cluster by themselves especially
in asserting demands for viable compensation packages and more liberal fringe benefits. If
negotiation with management fails to achieve a compromise formula, labor generally turns to the
government for resolution of conflict. Labor can threaten the government with mass action like street
parades, sit-down strikes and other economic activities to dramatize the failure of the government to
implement policies to protect their interest and welfare. The left of center labor organization Kilusang
Mayo Uno (KMU) with its progressive policy orientation has shown capability to muster sufficient force
to articulate demands through mass action. The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP)
takes a moderate stand on issues like increase of the price of gas, wage hikes to counter adverse
effects of inflation upon labor's purchasing power. While Article XIII, Section 3 of the constitution
guarantees worker's right to strike and to participate in policy-decision making affecting their rights
and benefits, it is possible that the assertion of this constitutional right could be arbitrary. The state
also guarantees the right to enterprises to expand and grow. This will require financial reserves for
capital build-up and a reasonable and fair return on investments. Conflict is therefore bound to arise in
the relations between labor and management which will compel the government to intervene either as
mediator or arbitrator in the name of industrial peace. Consequently, the government engages in
rule-making and rule implementation by defining to a certain extent the allowable activities and
options of both business and labor groups.

The church as a social institution has a tremendous impact upon society. We are aware of the
strength of the Catholic Church and the Iglesia ni Cristo (INK) in Philippine politics, policy formulation
and implementation. It is said that the Catholic church is a single-entity pressure group which
accounts for the failure of Congress to deliberate and pass a divorce bill. The INK is a religious group
capable of throwing its weight to ensure either defeat or victory of a political candidate. The two
above-mentioned groups are the most influential social inventions in the Philippines and because of
their political and administrative power leverages, they are considered as extra-constitutional
instruments of rule. While they are not part of the formal legal and constitutional apparatus of
governance, yet they wield considerable pressure upon administration. They are capable of
establishing alliances with administrative bodies and win the sympathy of legislators to effectively
influence the course of policy.

The most recent social invention is technical assistance. Historically, nation-states have some form of
contacts and encounters. The less-developed countries (LDC's) avail of the generosity of "big
brothers" extending loan facilities and assistance schemes of sorts. These have expanded to include
cultural exchange, technology transfer, skills swapping, expertise sharing, and scientific consultations.
Beneficiary Third World societies may however manifest a mixed attitude vis a vis technical
assistance, maintaining that while the aid is welcome the politics of the donor countries could be
suspicious. Management of assistance programs should not fail to recognize this problem.

Technological advances have cluttered the organ- landscape as shown by widespread automation.

The use of the products of technology, like the computer, has affected office work. The computer and
other electronic gadgets have replaced conventional records-keeping and retrieval systems and
procedures; modified accounting procedures; reduced man-hours needed to accomplish a job or a
routine task. On the other hand, it can displace workers. Manpower expended to perform a job per
given time can be done by machine in a much shorter period of time. Skill levels need upgrading to
qualify workers to operate office machines. There is less need for men as machines and robots take
over their functions. Administrative entities have to be restructured. With computer's help, supervisors
oversee the work of a larger number of subordinates which may even justify decentralization of
function and responsibility in organizations. While this is not primarily a Philippine administrative
phenomenon, it is a development worth looking forward to as this will raise the question as to what the
government should do to soften the impact of technology on employment.

The communications revolution gives an added responsibility to the government. The age of and
satellite beaming of news and events require the government to put up rules regulating the activities
of radio and television paraphernalia including assignment of frequencies to prevent broadcast
jamming and airwaves pirating. The effects of all these upon personal contact and memorandum
writing should be considered.

The transportation problem merits special concern especially in Metro Manila and Cebu City where
the streets have not been designed to accommodate the traffic volume of today's road. There is a
need to improve the mass transit system as the government faces the dilemma of the light railway
transit (LRT) versus highway fly-overs. It has to provide a system of moving more commuters in the
shortest time possible especially during rush hours; minimize road accidents as more vehicles are put
into the streets without withdrawal formula for the dilapidated and the over-aged vehicles; protect
residents from the hazards resulting from toxic emissions of poorly-maintained transport units. The
advent of jet planes necessitated extension of airport runways, upgrading of loading and unloading
bays, flight supervision and monitoring. These are managerial and regulatory responsibilities which
have to be addressed.

Our government has responded to these concerns to a limited extent as financial viability would allow.
Joint ventures by local companies and foreign counterparts have been encouraged to expedite the
much-needed infrastructure building in the name of development. But foreign investor entry has
cornered the loan facilities of the banking institutions leaving the local construction companies a small
percentage of the available loan portfolios.

The "build, operate, transfer (BOT) " scheme was adopted by the government as the answer to the
lack of funds for infrastructure projects. Today, ongoing projects include LRT line II from Divisoria
passing through C.M. Recto Street, Magsaysay Boulevard to Aurora Boulevard all the way from
Marikina City to Caniogan, Pasig City. LRT line III from North EDSA to Pasay City is now operational.
These projects are consortium-funded and contracted during the Ramos administration and are being
completed during the Estrada administration. The same BOT arrangement applies to the skyway over
a portion of Southern Luzon Expressway (SLEX) undertaken by Citra, an Indonesian construction
company. When completed, it will link SLEX with the North Diversion Expressway to Central Luzon.
These projects will considerably cut travel time. But fare affordability has become an issue for
commuters as well as motorists because of high charges for their use. BOT companies maintain that
the planned rate charges will shorten the recovery period of the construction cost after which the
government will take over the operation.

Commuters and motorists contend that the rates are expensive not only for the low income group but
also for the medium income earners. Upgrading of airport facilities has high priority in the government
agenda. Centennial Terminal Il demonstrates government commitment to make our airport facilities
meet international standards. Terminal III which is under construction will further ease off passenger
congestion and make arrivals and departures more orderly and friendly. Lined up for construction are
the extension of LRT line I from Pasay City to Dasmariñas, Cavite; completion of the coastal road to
reach Cavite City, rehabilitation of the Philippine National Railway System from Tutuban Station in
Divisoria to Northern Luzon, to link to Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and Clarkfield Ecozone.

Politics and Administration - An Inter-relationship

There are different ways of looking at the relation between politics and administration. Proponents of
the traditional school, like Frank Goodnow and Woodrow Wilson, contend that the two terms
represent two distinct functions of government, with politics referring to formulating policies as
expressions of the collective will of society and administration referring to carrying out or implementing
that collective will. This view flows from a strict construction of separation of powers, the legislature as
the medium of state will and the executive as implementer, hence politics-administration 10
dichotomy. Apparently, this locus-centered distinction could result in "islands of separateness' ' as
though each conducts its business without regard for the other. It regards conflict as the key to
understanding the pattern of relations between the two branches of government. It believes that
conflict explains the political role of administrators as it construes politics as conflict resolution process
where wealth, status, skills, legitimacy and authority are taken as sources of power which, when
exercised, brings about desired outcomes.'' 11 Separating administrative activity from political activity
finds strong proponents especially in corrupt and graft-ridden societies, so that one organ will serve as
check on the excesses of the other; a condition which conveniently justifies the perception that
administrative questions are not political questions; that law-making is not law-enforcement.

A serious look at political and administrative relations show that the distinctions could not be absolute
and exclusive, because, in the long run, policy questions become administrative questions and
administrative issues are bound to affect political issues, 12 As a matter of fact, critics of
administration-politics dichotomy brand this perception highly idealistic and naive and therefore
impractical.

The American public administration experience in managing the New Deal program under the
Roosevelt administration points to the impracticality of separating politics and administration since the
two are linked to each other, the administrator participating in policy-making as an organizational
politician. As a matter of fact, there are those who believe that the political nature of public
administration can even be more important than scientific analysis of administrative structures. By the
middle of the 1940's, 13 politics-administration dichotomy gradually gave way to inter. relationship as
role differentiation became dysfunctional. The reconciliation was not without a struggle as the criterion
of rational efficiency associated with the traditional school was slowly supplanted by the more
utilitarian criteria of political ends, social efficiency and satisfaction of public wants. If the worth of
public administration is to be measured in terms of its ability to solve problems, to negotiate
compromises, build consensus, engage in trade-offs for growth and development, comfort the
destitute and the needy, then administrative management techniques and expertise must relate to the
political process. This is what we call interaction and interrelationship of politics and administration
mutually reinforcing each other. 14

Using the 3 E's - economy, efficiency and effectiveness, as performance standards, the bottom-line
criterion, which justifies an activity if it shows profit, is a typical business orientation but does not
augur well for the government since the profit motive is not its raison d'etre. Both efficiency and
effectiveness of public administration should be socially and humanely interpreted and qualitatively
evaluated. It has less need for quantitative and mechanical criteria; cost efficiency principle may, even
be, at times, a doubtful criterion. Projects need to be reviewed in terms of whether or not they address
clientele needs regardless of financial costs that these may entail and without use of control
mechanisms and systems capability to exact obedience and compliance to institutional commands.
 Public-Private Partnership

One significant phenomenon predicted by Dwight Waldo In the 1960's was the emergence of a "gray
area" characterized by the mingling of private and public categories and their roles. The complexities
of modern society are primarily responsible for this development and trend. Even in the Philippines
today, there has been shaped up a new thinking that delivery of essential services like health care,
shelter programs, community aid and rehabilitation, and energy conservation, are collective
undertakings to be jointly performed by government agencies and non-governmental organizations
(NGO's). While there is the problem of establishing the areas of concern for public and private
enterprises engaged in similar efforts, what is more important is that clientele-servicing orientation is
worked out through organization networking.15 Under the Aquino administration and successor
regimes of Ramos and Estrada non- governmental organizations are partners of government
agencies in rehabilitation work, especially in the calamity- stricken areas. Some donor countries have
made it a condition to their grants that they be implemented by NGOs instead of government
agencies. Foreign funding of projects, has been channeled directly to the NGOs in the hope that the
funds will be less vulnerable to the bureaucratic vice of fund transfer and diversion. Local NGOs have
been very active in development work in Third World countries. They have taken interest in reform
issues like land distribution, debt reduction and greater mass participation in decision- making 16

Interdependency of the public sector and the private sector is inevitable in society and more so in the
developing countries. The effectiveness of the private sector is dependent upon the efficient
operations of the public sector. When government requirements for the conduct of business and
service delivery by the non-governmental organizations entails minimum cost and less delay,
transactions will be for policy makers and implementers to enter into partnerships and joint ventures
with private enterprise to solve socio- economic problems and fast-track development provided final
decisions continue to be vested in the public sector- government."