On Philippine Administrative System 1|Page

1. Political scientists say that “PAS is experiencing difficult times now more than ever.” Why?
Identify and discuss at least 2 problems that made it difficult for our country’s leaders to
deliver the basic services to our people.

The lack of financial sources brought about by the continuous increase of political-
related anomalies such as graft and corruption is one of the major problems of our country’s
leaders. The continuous increase of graft and corruption cases had lessen the confidence of the
Filipino people to the existing administration and some aspirant leaders of this nation.

An excerpt from the Philippine Daily Inquirer issue dated February 12, 2008 states:

Graft and corruption has been a fact of national life since post-
Liberation days. Almost every administration has had its big and
sensational graft cases. At every presidential election, one major
issue that is always raised is graft and corruption. Opposition
leaders denounce the graft being committed by the administration,
but once they take over the reins of government, they also commit
graft. It’s just a case of different sets of people pigging out at the
trough that is the national treasury at different times.

In 2000, the World Bank estimated that the Philippines had lost $48 billion (P1.968 trillion)
to corruption from 1977 to 1997. This huge amount could have been used in infrastructure
projects and building of educational institution and facilities. Due to prevailing political
anomalies by our trusted leaders who pocketed a percentage of the treasury fund, the realization
of these projects had not been possible. The scope of graft and corruption is not just limited to
the high ranking national government officials of this nation but extends even to the smallest unit
of local government institution.

In addition, the continuous increase in Philippine population that contributed to the

worsening issue of unemployment and poverty is another relevant matter that should have
been initially looked into.

Marc Gretel R. Madanguit

On Philippine Administrative System 2|Page

The table below shows the total number of Filipinos in the Philippines as reported on April
16, 2008 conducted by the National Statistics Office.

Census Year Census Reference Date Philippine Population (in millions)

2007 August 1, 2007 88.57
2000 May 1, 2000 76.50
1995 September 1, 1995 68.62
Source: Data taken from April 16, 2008 Census through Proclamation No. 1489

“In 2001, there are about 77 million Filipinos and this number is growing by 2.05 percent
annually. This means that some 1.5 million Filipinos are born every year, 600,000 of whom to
poor parents. Some 32.5 million Filipinos, comprising 66.3 percent of the population, are
considered matured enough to work. But 3.3 million of these people, or 10.1 percent of the
workforce, cannot find jobs while 5.2 million others, or 17.7 percent, have no regular source of
income.” http://www.txtmania.com/articles/poverty.php

We can therefore undeniably conclude that with this existing issue of overpopulation, our
country’s leaders find it difficult to equally distribute and allocate the limited resources and
funds of the state thus affecting the services that they may provide to the individual citizens of
this nation.

2. There is a need for the government to partner with nongovernmental organizations and
people’s organizations to achieve its development goals and in helping communities deal
with the complex and sometimes not too easily accessible institutions composing the system.

a. What is the nature of people’s and nongovernmental organizations?

Non-governmental organizations as taken from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-governmental_organization is defined as a term
that has become widely accepted as referring to a legally constituted, non-
governmental organization created by natural or legal persons. It is a non-
governmental organization that strictly prohibits the participation or

Marc Gretel R. Madanguit

On Philippine Administrative System 3|Page

representation of any government but, in some cases, it can be funded totally

or partially by governments. The NGO maintains its non-governmental status
and excludes government representatives from membership in the
organization.

On the other hand, People’s organization as defined in

http://www.adb.org/Documents/Reports/Civil-Society-Briefs/PHI/CSB-PHI.pdf,
is the Filipino equivalent of what in other countries are commonly called
community-based organizations. POs are generally composed of disadvantaged
individuals and work to advance their members’ material or social well-
being. POs are grassroots organizations, and their members typically work on a
voluntary basis.

b. Define people’s organizations and distinguish them from non-governmental

organizations?

Non-governmental organizations as cited in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-

governmental_organization is defined as a term that has become widely accepted
as referring to a legally constituted, non-governmental organization created by
natural or legal persons. NGOs are intermediaries between the State and POs.
They advocate and work for disadvantaged individuals, who are not necessarily
their members. Many NGOs work to strengthen POs by providing financing,
establishing linkages, and undertaking advocacy. In addition to engaging
volunteers, NGOs employ staff members. They are intermediate agencies or
institutions that tend to operate with a full-time staff complement and provide a
wide range of services and programs to Pos.

On the other hand, People’s organization as defined in

http://www.adb.org/Documents/Reports/Civil-Society-Briefs/PHI/CSB-PHI.pdf,
is the Filipino equivalent of what in other countries are commonly called

Marc Gretel R. Madanguit

On Philippine Administrative System 4|Page

community-based organizations. Pos are grassroots organizations such as unions,

community associations, primarily cooperatives that function as primary groups
coming together largely on a voluntary basis.

c. Cite relevant provisions of the 1987 Constitution and the Local Government Code
which explicitly promote collaboration between the PAS and 4GOs and POs.

Even today, NGOs and POs are still very active and dynamic in all
government and non-governmental related issues that is continuously breaking the
very foundation of our society. The Constitution and the Local Government Code
have provisions on the concept of the three P’s (Public Private Partnership).

As stressed in the Country Reports on Local Government System: Philippines

by UNESCAP, the 1987 Constitution have a separate provision on the roles and
rights of People’s Organization (POs) in public affairs and in local governance. It
states that:

The State shall respect the role of independent POs to enable the
people to pursue and protect, within the democratic framework,
their legitimate and collective interests and aspirations through
peaceful and lawful means.

POs are bona fide associations of citizens with demonstrated

capacity to promote the public interest, and with identifiable
leadership, membership and structure. The right of people and
their organizations to effective and reasonable participation at all
levels of social, political and economic decision-making shall not
be abridged, as provided for in the Constitution of 1987. The state
shall, by law, facilitate the establishment of adequate consultation
mechanisms.

Marc Gretel R. Madanguit

On Philippine Administrative System 5|Page

Likewise, the Local Government Code of the Philippines as highlighted in the

same article states that the Local Government Code has provisions (in Sections
324, 35 and 36 of Chapter IV) entitled Relations with People and Non-
Governmental Organizations, which states the following provisions:

Local government units shall promote the establishment and

operation of POs and 4GOs to become active partners in the
pursuit of local autonomy (Section 34).

Local government units may enter into joint ventures and such
other cooperative arrangements with POs and 4GOs to engage in
the delivery of certain basic services, capability-building and
livelihood projects and to develop local enterprises designed to
improve productivity and income, diversify agriculture, spur rural
industrialization, promote ecological balance and enhance the
economic and social well-being of the people (Section 35).

A local government unit may, through its local chief executive and
with the concurrence of the sanggunian concerned, provide
assistance, financial or otherwise to such POs and 4GOs for
economic, socially-oriented, environmental or cultural projects to
be implemented within its territorial jurisdiction (Section 36).

With these provisions, we can say that through the privileges given to NGOs
and POs who are representatives of the people, we can somehow articulate that
our rights as citizens of this country are still mattered to the government and the
administration.

Marc Gretel R. Madanguit

On Philippine Administrative System 6|Page

3. Corruption is a “social cancer”. Discuss.

“The Spaniards may have totally left the Filipinos but their shadows still lingers through our
actions”

The idea of Social Cancer was popularized by Dr. Jose Rizal in his book, Noli Me Tangere, a
passionate exposure of the evils of Spanish rule in the Philippines. Today, the Spaniards may
have totally left the governance to the Filipinos, but the cancerous attitude of these conquerors
has not absolutely left the Filipino people.

Corruption in the simplest definition can be described as an act done with intent to give some
advantage inconsistent with official duty and the rights of others. In the post-Spanish times, the
word corruption connotes a very negative meaning. A person suspected of committing this
violation can be considered the mortal enemy of the nation. Unfortunately, in today’s context,
corruption has evolved into something which is already common to almost all individual. It is
now considered a natural part of our existence that has already penetrated the roots of our culture
and our whole political system. Even ordinary citizens in public offices or in private businesses
indulge into this criminal offense nonetheless they were simply just taken for granted. Our
community has become immune to the dirty deeds of our leaders who are supposedly leading
this nation. Ironically, the sad part is we, Filipinos continuously tolerates this dreadful behavior
of our fellow citizens. We’re bound to visibly see, hear and feel all these anomalies but we’ve
taken no action to end the matter, we tolerate the idea of abuse in the fear of endangering our
lives. We unconsciously become ourselves’ heroes that we forget our responsibilities towards
others. We were so engrossed protecting ourselves that made us more susceptible to the
infection. Remember, selfishness can sicken an already dying nation.

Marc Gretel R. Madanguit

On Philippine Administrative System 7|Page

REFERE+CES:
Taken: March 20, 2010
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/550920/The-Social-Cancer
http://www.lectlaw.com/def/c314.htm
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/editorial/view/20080212-118232/Cost-of-
corruption
http://www.census.gov.ph/data/pressrelease/2008/pr0830tx.html
Taken: March 21, 2010
http://www.txtmania.com/articles/poverty.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-governmental_organization
http://www.adb.org/Documents/Reports/Civil-Society-Briefs/PHI/CSB-PHI.pdf
http://www.adb.org/ngos/docs/ngophilippines.pdf
http://www.unescap.org/huset/lgstudy/new-countrypaper/Philippines/Philippines.pdf

Marc Gretel R. Madanguit