LOCAL GOVERNANCE STRATEGY IN DECENTRALIZING POLITY

PUBLIC ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS A LOCAL GOVERNANCE
STRATEGY IN DECENTRALIZING POLITY
－EXEMPLARY INITIATIVES FROM THE PHILIPPINES－

by: Aser B. JAVIER

Public Entrepreneurship as Strategy for Decentralizing Polity

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The choice or selection of the three case sites as the setting for the study is justified. All three local government units（LGUs）have achieved Hall of Fame status in the Innovations and Excellence in Local Governance（Gawad Galing Pook Awards）sponsored by the Ford Foundation, meaning they have been awarded for exemplary local governance for five  consecutive years. Only seven LGUs have achieved Hall of Fame status since the establishment of Galing Pook Awards in 1993, with a total of 136 LGUs awarded. The Hall of Famers are two provincial governments（Bulacan and Davao, four city governments（Marikina City, Puerto Princesa City, Naga City and San Carlos City）and one municipality（Irosin) . The three LGUs are also ideal for public entrepreneurship research because, as nationally recognized exemplary local governance performers, they have instituted a variety of programs that support public entrepreneurship. They also have a common agenda incorporating and sustaining developmental and political gains for wider avenues of administrative reforms, creativity and innovations in governance and increased peoples’ participation.

Energizing the Bureaucracy in the Provincial Government of Bulacan

Bulacan was the site of the drafting and ratification of the famous 1935 Philippines constitution. More than its historical pride, the province of Bulacan became famous in local government circles when it ventured into entreprenurship programs even before the 1991 Local Government Code, under the stewardship of a private sector executive, Roberto Pagdanganan. Pagdanganan was challenged by the prevailing situation in the province where a few elite controlled the state of governance and there were poor investments, inadequate infrastructure and generally negative attitude towards the bureaucracy. Pagdanganan was given the electorates confidence based on his Five Point Development Agenda－(1） sustainable economic development, cooperatives as the centerpiece program,（2）peace and order, (3）youth, cultural and historical development,（4）effective delivery of health and social services ; and   （5） instituting reforms in the bureaucracy.

The Five Point Agenda’ s major component was reforms in the bureaucracy. Josefina dela Cruz was Pagdanganan’ s vice-governor and member of the group responsible for the initial attempts at reforming the bureaucracy. The reigns of power were handed-over by the people of Bulacan to dela Cruz as governor from 1998 to present.

The Five Point Agenda continued by dela Cruz pursued the concept of reinventing the bureaucracy of the provincial government. From an outsiders’ perspective, the idea of a decentralized polity based on energizing the bureaucracy is not strategically new, but such activity is crucial to Bulacan because she believes in putting her ‘home’ in order first. Before she can accomplish more, she must be backed-up by an efficient and effective bureaucracy.

The Energizing the Bureaucracy program is a re-organization program that aims to increase the level of workforce productivity in the long-term and match the needs and priorities of the provincial government in the short-term. It is the third attempt at reorganization in the province and the only one among the three initiatives that was completed. Governor dela Cruz created a Management Evaluation Group tasked of assessing the employee’ s performance, duplication of functions and the general organization structure of the province. The output was used by the newly created Reorganization Committee（with a mandate from Executive Order No.7）for a planned two-pronged reorganization program－streamlining and capacity building. It combines the downsizing of personnel and streamlining of administrative processes and at the same time providing the training of personnel for improving job responsibilities.

The streamlining of positions resulted to a relatively lean workforce number of 1,737 as of June 30, 2001 compared to 2,052 as of December 31, 1995. The streamlining has resulted in the abolition of 315 positions since 1995. Consultation with various offices were made by the re-organization team and those whose performance evaluation were below the standards set by their office supervisors were either retired, transferred to another office, or contracts were not renewed or terminated from the service. Those personnel affected were personally met by the governor and consequently downgraded the heated emotions. As a result of this simple managerial initiative of the governor, possible legal cases were avoided. The re-organization also opened up opportunities for competent personnel to rise in the hierarchy through transfer, promotion and direct competition for available positions. Previously, promotion can happen only when there is either death or resignation of employees or through the creation of new positions out of patronage. As Governor dela Cruz puts it, lets bring in good people to the bureaucracy because of their qualifications and merit instead of patronage. Likewise an employee handbook was conceptualized to inform employees and remind them of their responsibilities. Whereas previously, employees look at their jobs from how they have been structured through their own experiences in the bureaucracy, now, a standard governs their actions on top of the minimum output required of their positions.

Also, as part of the accompanying strategies for the reorganization, management cell groups were organized with five members in each department to discuss cases, values and guidelines. The group discussions center on problem resolution or discussion of management values vital to the organization. This project is part of the long-term vision of changing the culture of government personnel and in making Bulacan a center for the development of a culture of excellence（Bulacan, Pandayan ng Kultura ng Kahusayan).

Also part of the reorganization program is the drive for administrative efficiency, which was done partly through the abandonment of some obsolete systems and procedures through their computerization programs. Full computerization of strategic operations was envisioned as part of energizing the bureaucracy. Government systems/operations such as personnel records, real property tax records, records management and payroll management systems are major processes that are being computerized for ease of storage and of course, efficiency. Personnel information record or  Civil Service 201 files are slowly being computerized enabling the Human Resource Office to determine offhand the administrative（e.g. personnel benefits, leave credits, etc.）and technical information needs（e.g. training）of employees. The province of Bulacan was one of the pioneers among the LGUs in the Philippines to computerize its administrative operations.

In terms of revenue generation, delinquent taxpayers are easily identified in the real property tax database. As a result of the information accessibility, new programs to enhance collection of real property taxes were made. An education campaign aimed at increased awareness on the value of taxation is also currently being made in schools, business and the municipalities. These efforts have resulted in the increase in revenue collection in terms of real property tax. In 1998, it has even exceeded targets by 18%.

Governor dela Cruz believes that as part of the decentralization of powers to the local government, part of her authority should also be delegated to the people to empower them. Governor dela Cruz’ idea was to separate her functions as a strategic decision-maker from daily operational management. In this manner, the strategy utilized by the governor is to band together the department heads to form her management core group aside from the outside networks from the academe that provide for the validation of ideas. Since they are now considered leaders with specific functions as management executives, they are also on their toes as they ‘hobnob’ with reputable persons from the academe as part of Governor dela Cruz management circle. They do not function as de-facto leaders without accountability, which usually characterize local level politics in the Philippines. The new initiative is a far cry from the traditional top-down decision-making, centralized hierarchy that characterized the management of the province then.

Further, the creation of a special project office under the Office of the Governor signaled the provincial government’ s intention to pursue vigorously innovative projects outside the stringent rules of the bureaucracy. As Governor dela Cruz said,“I am not happy with the status quo.” The special projects office function as an academy and provides the necessary inputs to the governor and the departments. The inputs are based on citizens polling and feedback mechanisms through surveys that they implement under the tutelage of the Asian Institute of Management（AIM）consultants.

The LGU perspective of public entrepreneurship viewed from the context of energizing the bureaucracy follows the trend of the new management bandwagon in local governance. Concurrently, however, the community perceives public entrepreneurship as assistance to business and industry, poverty alleviation and administrative reforms executed by the LGU. The difference in the perspective of the LGUs and the community lies in the fact that the role of the LGU in the community may not be sufficient enough to completely saturate the community with information or that the LGU has not been able to fulfill all the demands of the public. The strategy of prioritizing reforms in the bureaucracy has dwindled the notion of public entrepreneurship as a concept known only among and within the local government actors.

As a means to enact public entrepreneurship programs, the development agenda played major roles primarily hinging on energizing the bureaucracy program. The creation of the special project office under the office of the governor is a step toward veering away from the restrictive boundaries of bureaucracy. The support of the legislative council through the resolutions and ordinances were main pillars used as legal instrument to back public entrepreneurship programs.

While the province has ventured into reforms, some challenges were also identified. The measures to quantify the results of the reorganization in terms of personnel productivity and an evaluation  of the energizing the bureaucracy program are still management challenges. Also, to quell the ‘political color that might have been painted’as a result of the reorganization, a simple evaluation mechanism and program reporting is a logical necessity. In addition, it has been noted that locally-sourced income has decreased from 30.13% share in 1999 to 15.40% in 2000 despite the initiatives of enhancing real property taxation through the computerization efforts. These are political and management challenges that need to be hurdled by the province.

The principles of public entrepreneurship in Bulacan however, have not gone unnoticed. Bulacan has garnered the distinction of excellence in local governance through the many awards they have received, both international and national. They have become a Hall of Famer in the Gawad Galing Pook awards for exemplary governance for winning three consecutive awards. They were also a recipient of the 1999 Konrad Adenauer Local Governance Award, the Gawad Pamana ng Lahi Award for outstanding local governance for 1996 and 1997 and recently were recognized by the Human Development Network for having the highest HDIs in the Philippines.

Source: Forum of International Development Studies, 21 (Mar. 2002) PUBLIC ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS A LOCAL GOVERNANCE STRATEGY IN DECENTRALIZING POLITY －EXEMPLARY INITIATIVES FROM THE PHILIPPINES－ by: Aser B. JAVIER