Ours is a society undergoing transformation.

What direction the change is heading for,

how long will it take to complete the process; what problems will confront it; how are we
going to respond to these problems – all these are basic questions which are of
immediate concern to us as a polity of a developing country. However, we believe that
the solutions to these problems which have reached crisis proportions will depend to a
large extent upon the agenda that our leaders and policy-makers have set up or are
going to set up. A well- considered plan and program for administering public affairs
becomes an essential social design that will facilitate service delivery to the clientele of
government, which is the people. The presence or the absence of a consistent policy
framework that will serve as guide to action can spell the difference between success
and failure; between promise and performance. Absence of a blueprint reflects lack of
vision to foresee and to provide for the needs of an ever- changing society. Governing
without a plan leaves the fate of society to chance, to hit and miss operations which can
be more expensive in the long run in terms of cost-benefit criterion.

It Is possible that administrative theories applied to implement plans based upon

framework or model are neither appropriate nor relevant to the real needs of society.
And for this matter, it does not always follow that theories and principles which yield
positive results for western societies will work similarly in non-western societies. If public
administration is to be viewed as a problem-solving undertaking, then public
administrators should realize that problems arise from a variety of sources, that these
vary from one community to another; that there are different ways of solving them; that
solutions are never permanent. The reality is that variations in context and environment
of public policy require different standard operating procedures. The possibility of
mismatches of problems and solutions is not remote. An ill-considered imitation or
adaptation of a model or a technique may even exacerbate a social crisis instead of
solving it and add to the already burgeoning concerns of government. This is not to
suggest that concepts of public management evolved in the interstices of Western
experience are always applicable to other societies. Neither is it suggested that
paradigms of developed societies are not adaptable to our local environment. What is
needed is the wisdom to determine and to adopt those models which are relevant and
discard those found wanting on trial. This calls for eclectic choices.

The task of public administration in the Philippines today has become more engrossing
than ever before. Whereas decades ago the basic evaluative criterion for administrative
efficiency was adherence to classic management principles after the fashion of
PODSCORB of Gulick and Urwick and response to community needs, as articulated by
elected officials, today administrators have to forecast changing conditions, explain
present phenomena, shape and help shape scenarios for the future and participate in
the making of decisions. This necessitates shift from reactive to proactive role-playing
by administrators. Debates on whether public administration is science or art have been
laid to rest. Its traditional and classic nuances have been superseded by the urgent
demand to formulate more novel and viable formulas for problem solving. In our society,
the more pressing of these problems are peace and order, food and nutrition,
environmental pollution, energy crisis, unregulated population growth, depletion of
natural resources, inflation, government deficits and foreign debts, natural calamities
and disasters, rising unemployment and persistent under- employment, deteriorating
public services like water supply, communication and transportation, health and welfare,
garbage disposal, to mention a few.

Rivers and streams and other natural drainage outlets have become convenient
dumping areas for industrial wastes and other effluents, in volume sufficient to endanger
marine life. Brownouts are usual fare not only in Metro Manila but also in lesser urban
population centers. Population growth has gone beyond the capacity of the economy to
provide for. The denuded watershed areas attest to the massive extent of logging
activities, licensed and unlicensed, and the ineptness of government to enforce
reforestation measures. Marine resources are fast dwindling because of dynamite
fishing. Natural disasters have further compounded the other crises pushing back
economic growth. The most recent of these disasters were the July 16, 1990
earthquake with its toll of human lives and destruction of infrastructures in the cities of
Baguio, Dagupan and Cabanatuan, including the historical landmarks in Agoo, La
Union, and the June, 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo laying waste agricultural lands,
eroding roads and demolishing bridges and homes and displacing thousands of
facilities. The flooding of Metro Manila during the rainy season, the monstrous traffic
jams, urban decay, drug peddling, spiralling of prices of prime commodities, the fiscal
problems-all these challenge public administration to come up with new orientations to
solve these problems. Strategies for crisis administration should be formulated and
applied. Public should upgrade the administrative mechanisms to cope with these
challenges. If new problems merit new solutions, our administrators must re-think and
look for new alternatives. Perhaps, now is the time to consider using the new public
administration with its assumptions differentiated from, but complementary to, the
traditional version as the table on page 4 will show.2

This new role of public administration assumes greater importance for Philippine society
confronted with many problems requiring immediate solutions, where development has
to move with accelerated pace contingent upon an improved administrative capacity
and an affirmed stability of the political order.

What is Public Administration

To better understand the management of public affairs, it will be helpful to consider

administration from a general and a secular perspective. Administration refers to the
composite of those activities and processes concerned primarily with the means for
carrying out government programs and policy objectives. Such activities require
organization and direction of power and authority and the employment of those
techniques to bring about reconciliation of contributions and rewards and balance of
demands and satisfaction. It implies the presence of hierarchy for implementation of
programs within the framework of rules and regulations. However, program
implementation maybe more effectively achieved under an atmosphere of collegiality.
These policies are generally determined by the legislative body, although the other two
branches and the Constitutional Commissions of government contribute their respective
inputs. In the Philippines, the Civil Service Commission, the Commission on Audit and
the Commission on Elections, are constitutional bodies which have distinct and
independent functions and responsibilities apart from the three traditional departments
of government. The broad spectrum and amorphous combination of theory and practice
is intended to promote better understanding of the workings of government. The
formulation and implementation of public policy relevant to social needs and the
adoption of practices to achieve efficiency and economy are an intrinsic part of a public
administration commitment.3

Traditionally, public administration has been understood to include only the workings of
the executive branch. Of late, however, there has developed a consensus that its
parameters are no longer confined only to the executive domain but also encompasses
the working of the legislative and the judicial organs, the constitutional offices, the
activities of public enterprises and the entire gamut of governmental institutions and
processes. The traditional view of circumscribing government administration to the
execution of laws passed by the legislative body was the result of a strict and narrow
interpretation of the theory of separation of powers using the principles of check and
balance as the measure of organizational equilibrium. Hence the distinction of
legislative, executive and judicial domains under the tripartite system. Power and
authority delineation among the governmental organs is evidently clear, with Congress
making the law, the judiciary interpreting the law and the executive implementing the
law. What the executive and the constitutional commissions, which some call the fourth
branch of government, do about the law, including their exercise of administrative
discretion in implementing the law, is what administration is all about.

To contend that administration should be confined only to the domain of “doing” or

“executing” would be tantamount to discarding completely the principle of organizational
equilibrium. Separation of powers is neither absolute nor exclusive and even if the
components of the political system are structurally and functionally differentiated,
integration of parts and coordination of functions are indispensable for the execution of
programs and achievement of goals. In its strict sense therefore, separation of powers
becomes illusory. The prevailing reconciliatory view states that the three departments
are coordinate, co-equal, co-important, and as far as practicable, independent of each
other. The same view could include the constitutional offices. However, Apolinario
Mabini’s political trinity espousing the dominance of the legislature bears quoting at this
point:

“Society then, should have a soul: authority. The authority should have a brain to guide
and direct it: the legislative power. A will that works and makes it work: the executive: A
conscience to try and punish the bad: the judicial power. Powers should be independent
in the sense that one should not encroach upon the attributes of the other. But the last
two should be made subservient to the first, just as will and conscience are
subordinated to reason. The executive and the judiciary cannot separate themselves
from the laws dictated by the legislature, any more than a citizen can violate them.”

This precisely is the reason why Congress cannot accept its role of appropriating money
only, but also monitoring expenditure of funds to ensure that money is spent for
purposes earmarked by legislation. To leave the matter of implementation exclusively in
the hands of the executive constitutes a negation of the coordinate and co- directional
role of Congress and the executive. The Commission on Audit, in the matter of
accountability and fiscal responsibility, has mandated authority about which it is the final
arbiter and controller. In the United States during the administration of President Lyndon
Johnson, a precedent was vesting Congress the power to review decisions of the
executive regarding the implementation of governmental programs. The Senate Sub-
committee on Separation of Powers maintained that the absence of a constitutional
provision limiting and defining legislative power implies congressional authority to
review acts of the executive. In like manner, the courts can restrain administrators and
bureaucrats from performing acts violative of or contrary to constitutional provisions or
laws by issuing writs of injunction or enjoin them to perform duties as may be required
of them through mandamus. In a recent issue involving re-admission of medical
students in the College of Medicine of the University of the Philippines, the Court of
Appeals ordered the dean of the college to readmit the six students who were refused
enrolment for certain reasons. In the case of Eduardo Cojuangco questioning the right
of the Presidential Commission on Good Government to represent his shares and those
of his proxies in the Board of Directors of San Miguel Corporation on account of
sequestration, the Supreme Court ordered PCGG-appointed board members to vacate
their seats and postpone the holding of election of the corporate board until the court
decision becomes executory.

The foregoing citations affirm the perception that the legislature and the courts are
performing administration roles since evaluation and interpretation of activities which
have to do with governmental operations in all branches and levels of government are
public administration concerns. As a matter of fact, ethics and morality in the public
service, just like fiscal management, revenue generation, expenditure control, fund
accountability, debt management and even records keeping are areas for public
administration scrutiny and evaluation.

Approaches to the Study of Public Administration

The study of public administration may be approached from different perspectives.

Changed situations and patterns of social relations in society require government to
assume additional responsibilities and play newer roles. This calls for revision of
premises and approaches and modification of content. This requires the setting up of a
new public administration with a much broader content and using newer techniques to
supplement those employed by traditional versions. This does not mean that the
traditional approaches are no longer useful but rather a recognition of the need to
address themselves to new problems.

Some of these approaches are the following:

1. Constitutional legal – looks at the workings of government from the point of view
of the constitution, legislative enactments, the administrative code, executive
 pronouncements, and court decisions and legal opinions. It stresses the
normative and the political, more than the organizational and the structural.

2. Structural-descriptive – views public administration from the standpoint of

organizational structure, functions, and procedures. This approach is not
necessarily antithetical to the constitutional-legal approach. It looks at the
structure of the bureaucracy as an organizational arrangement of component
elements, each performing functions and roles. The structure is seen as a device
for policy administration. The tripartite delineation of functions among the
governmental organs highlights the focus of this approach.

3. Institutional Approach This complements the – structural-descriptive approach. It

emphasizes the formal relationships among the three branches of government on
the basis of separation of powers theory and the ways of keeping public
administration responsible to the elected branch and the public as clientele.

4. Behavioral Approach It aims at relating public administration and policy with the
situational context. It therefore looks into the behavior of individuals within the
organization. It believes in consistency and order in the administrative system
which it ascribes primarily to the positive interaction of human beings in an
organization. While it agrees in the necessity to examine the administrative
structure, yet it professes greater interest in

Examining the nature of authority and leadership

Patterns since these organizational problems are

Affected by individual and group behavior.

5. Systems Approach – The concer for management techniques developed as a

result of the desire to improve governmental service delivery. This is what
Stephen Bailey termed as “nuts and bolts theory” – that nuts and bolts must fit
 each other as parts designed to function in accordance with a pre- determined
pattern. Systems idea implies the happy ordering of components and the
integration of functions to achieve organizational goals. Systems approach hopes
to provide instruments that will help administrators identify and assess problems
and come up with appropriate mechanisms to solve them. The mechanism
chosen must consider the service-oriented thrust of government as against the
profit motive of business enterprise. Administrators must take stock of available
resources, both material and human. They should possess the skills to allocate
scarce resources with maximum results taking into consideration the status of
development of society. From the viewpoint of management, this approach will
require the setting up of a timetable for accomplishing projects with an in-built
schedule of activities to be performed by the subsystems.
6. Contingency Approach – This approach is less concerned about providing a
theory that can be universally applied. Its proponents believe that an organization
and the management of an organization should zero in on the situation because
there is no “best type” of organization structure. What structure is best is that
which is appropriate for a given situation, hence structural variances are to be
expected. In short, organization contingent upon a given situation. It therefore
structure is highlights the need for contingency planning and the construction of
models to choose from as a particular environment may so require.

This approach is especially useful for developing societies like ours which is looking for
a model fit for our needs.

The Role of Public Administration in a Modem Society

The state acts as the accelerator and stimulator of economic and social changes.
Government is no longer looked upon as an eleemosynary institution primarily designed
to cater only to public needs. Government now takes the responsibility for directing the
utilization of all resources of a state to create an environment conductive to progress
and growth. Governments are forced to come up with new orientations and innovative
forms of public administration techniques to overcome and meet the exigencies brought
about by development.

The survival of any government Is dependent upon the provision of good public
administration. Public administration is good and effective when the public finds in the
government the full expression of its will, so that public administration works within the
general framework of the consent of the people and with due regard for the rule of law
and individual human rights.

There are no limits to the services which a government may be called upon to perform.
Practically, all efforts are placed in the public sector and its entire management
becomes the concern of the public service. Service to the people is the basic foundation
of government of which public administration is an essential tool. The machinery of
government must at all times be attuned to the people’s will and programs are
implemented for the people’s welfare. Hence public administration essentially revolves
around the concept of public service.

Public administration is not static. It is a continuing process. It must be constantly

reviewed to adapt itself to current developments in society.

Eclectic choice would result in the acceptance of models of developed societies or

modification of certain of their features to meet the needs of developing societies. But in
shrinking world of information technology, globalization has become an inevitable
perspective such that transformations in the public sector of developed societies
produced spill over effects in developing countries, resulting in a paradigm shift from the
traditional to a flexible market-based management of public affairs. The shift brought
about another dimension of change in management style and a changed perception of
the role of government. More novel public administration models emerged to challenge
the rigidity of the Weberian construct. The focus is on “management” and not “policy”
with performance as the key evaluative criterion for efficiency, effectiveness and
economy. While output targets are sought for by this new management style, service to
society is not shunted aside.

Governance is now viewed analogous to a business enterprise operationalized on a

user-pay basis, with cost- cutting schemes effectively implemented; where different
sectors of society are catalyzed into action to solve problems instead of merely
providing services. The culture of public administration now utilizes the bureaucratic
organization to achieve the mission or objective with managers held to account for the
achievement of the targets. This is the re- invented government – an entrepreneurial
government perceived by Osborne and Gaebler.
The competence of government Is therefore called upon to address problems arising
from shifts in global demand, labor demands, currency fluctuations, commodity pricing.
Especially in the case of the Philippines, as a consequence of the policy of trade
liberalization and global competitiveness. There are two imperatives of this paradigm
shift. First, allowing market forces to determine policies. This highlights the role of
economics and management in the governance of the public sector. Second,
downplaying the rigid bureaucracy as an organizing principle and substituting it with
bureaucratic flexibility using end-results as basic criterion for performance.5

Scope of Philippine Public Administration

Public administration activities may be classified into four broad categories:

1. Governmental undertaken to protect society as a whole. This includes national

defense, protective services like police, fire and jail, education and environment.

2. Government activities designed to provide assistance to economic and social

groups.

3. Government activities undertaken in the exercise of proprietary and corporate

powers. This includes ownership and operation of government-owned or
government controlled enterprises, better known as public enterprises.

4. Government activities undertaken to regulate business, trade and manufacturing.

By type of programs, public administration may be classified into the following:

1. External Programs this includes foreign affairs activities on a government to

government basis: trade promotion and other economic linkages, cultural and
educational exchanges and activities of international organizations, public or
private, of which the Philippines is a member. The Philippine Overseas
 Employment Administration, activities of our commercial attaches, labor attaches
and cultural attaches fall under this category.
2. Regulatory Programs concerned with governmental activities intended to regulate
the operation of business enterprises with domestic or foreign capital, banking activities,
practice of professions, quality control of products, standards specification, price control,
and public convenience certification. Some government entities involved in this type of
work are the Securities Exchange Commission, Land Transportation Commission,
Board of Investments, Bureau of Standards and the Commission for the Regulation of
Professions.
3. Service Programs – refers to those activities directly administered by government
which directly affect individuals and groups. Postal service, social security functions and
Medicare programs of the Government Service Insurance System and the Social
Security System, PAG-IBIG, puerilities and child care centers, physical and mental
health rehabilitation programs like the services rendered by the National Mental Hospital
and other rehabilitation and reformatory institutions; most of the services rendered by
the different units of the Department of Social Welfare and the Department of Labor and
Employment are some of the numerous direct service efforts of government. Included
also are the linkages and the cooperative networking arrangements established with the
governmental organizations. Non-
4. Development Programs these programs are – generally designed to direct socio-
economic transformation efforts to build self-reliant communities and geographic areas
and regions through the formation of development bodies or authorities. The role of
regional, provincial and municipal development councils affirms government concern to
speed up development of the countryside.
5. Grants-in-Aid Programs these refer to projects undertaken by government with
subsidy funds, partly or wholly, from external sources like the Overseas Development
Assistance (ODA) of Japan, Economic Support Fund (ESF) from the United States,
Philippine Aid Program (PAP) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Most of these grants carry requirements and conditionalities. Some are given without
strings attached. Some prescribe the program activity, others leave program plan and
implementation to the recipient country. Lately, however, grants are administered
directly by donor organizations. Why non-governmental organizations prefer direct
administration to the intervening mechanisms of state authority is something that has to
been looked into. Public works construction like roads and bridges, school buildings,
health and medical facilities upgrading enjoy high priority in these funding schemes.