Indeed, that question had been asked more than 20 years ago, and answers have been provided by

eminent scholars of Public Administration such as Raul P. de Guzman (1986) and Onofre D. Corpuz
(1986). After two decades, it is worthwhile to revisit the issue and ask once again, “Is there a Philippine
Public Administration?” This time around, however, the question is taken a little further by asking an
equally important second question, “If there is a Philippine Public Administration, then for whom does
Philippine Public Administration exist?”

Dimensions and Development of Public Administration Study and Practice in the Philippines

Philippine Journal of Public Administration, Vol. LII Nos. 2-4 (April- October 2008)

History of Public Administration

Public Administration can be traced back to human history. It has been suggested that it is as old as the
ancient empires of China, India, Egypt, Greece, Rome and Mesopotomia. The idea that “public
administration should not be considered administration of the public but administration for the public”
was practiced and expressed in the Code of Hammurabi, in Confucianism and in the funeral oration of
Pericles (Caiden 1982: 7)

Caiden (1982) also noted that the genesis of Public Administration must have originated from
monarchical Europe where household officials were divided into two groups: one in charge of public
affairs, i.e. the administration of justice, finance, training of armies, and the other responsible for
personal services.

About Public Administration

The idea that “public administration should not be considered administration of the public but
administration for the public” was practiced and expressed in the Code of Hammurabi, in Confucianism
and in the funeral oration of Pericles (Caiden 1982: 7). . In other words, the idea of client-oriented public
administration has its roots in ancient public administration.

Since this article tries to trace the roots of Philippine Public Administration, it shall dwell on American
theories and principles which admittedly influenced the direction and development of the formal study
of the field of public administration in the Philippines, both at the levels of theory and practice. It will be
recalled that public administration as an academic field of study formally began with the establishment
by American academics of the Institute of Public Administration (IPA) in the University of the Philippines
(UP) in 1952; hence, the close affinity of Philippine PA theory to American PA theory and practice cannot
be ignored.

In the Philippines, the term “development administration” was used to suggest that it may be an
appropriate framework to examine the State’s experience as it tries to rebuild its institutions within a
democratic framework, as it struggles with new economic, political and social challenges, and as it
adapts to the trends and demands of globalization. Additionally, DA principles have been among the
major themes that ran through the various lectures and writings of de Guzman, who together with OD
Corpuz (1986) initially addressed the question: “Is there a Philippine PA?”
Subfields of Public Administration Traditionally, the discipline of public administration itself has the
following subfields: organization and management, public personnel administration, local government
administration, and public fiscal administration. The following discusses each of these subfields:

Organization and Management Organization and Management is one of the oldest subfields of public
administration. It basically focuses on sub-areas like organization theory and practice, dynamics of
organization, decision making in administration, leadership and other sub-areas. It discusses the
theories, processes and techniques involved in the organization and management of the national
government and its agencies. It also explores modern management techniques such as reinventing,
reengineering and other improvement methods in organization and management like total quality
management (TQM), 18 which has largely contributed to public administration reforms.

Public Personnel Administration Public administration consists of administrative processes. It involves

people, its most important element, therefore public personnel administration is an equally important
field. In here, the definition of personnel management as “the recruitment, selection, development,
utilization of, and accommodation to human resources by organizations” (French 1978: 3) is explored.
Specifically, it discusses the evolution of public personnel administration, arrangements of the personnel
system, general attributes of personnel functions in the public sector, and developments and current
trends in personnel administration.

In the traditional public administration, organization and management and personnel administration
were emphasized as salient features of the study in public administration. Personnel administration has
widened its scope and evolved into human resource management or human resource development.
These two fields not only complement but supplement each other and are now put together into what is
now called “Organization Studies.”

Public Fiscal Administration With the emergence of the field of public administration, much interest has
been directed towards fiscal administration. Again, this subfield of public administration covers a wide
range of issues and topics 2008 FOR WHOM IS PHILIPPINE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION? 263 affecting
government operations like taxation, public expenditures and borrowing, resource allocation, revenue
administration, auditing and intergovernmental relations (Briones 1996).

Public fiscal administration embraces "the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of policies and
decisions on taxation and revenue administration; resource allocation, budgeting, and public
expenditure; public borrowing and debt management; and accounting and auditing” (Briones 1996: 2).
Through the years, many researches were devoted to these topics and issues; the government has also
introduced reforms such as in tax administration, value added tax (VAT), expanded value added tax (E-
VAT), procurement reforms, the medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF), accounting reforms,
reengineering the bureaucracy program (REBP), transforming local finance, and many others.

Local Government Administration This is another distinct subfield of public administration. In studying
local government administration, the concept of "decentralization" is taken into account.
Decentralization, as a process, is one of the widely researched topics in promoting development and
democratic governance. Administrative organizations and operations of local governments, and the
structure and processes of regional administration are likewise discussed. In particular, local
government administration may include topics on theoretical and empirical perspectives of local
government and regional administration, community and institutional development, local government
systems/procedures, intergovernmental dynamics, local public finance or local fiscal administration,
local economic promotion, local and regional development planning, local government innovations and
many others.