The decision on the PDAF should be appreciated as the start of even bigger fights ahead
The politics of reforms has a rich history that traces its roots from those who fought for this country’s independence, speaks of great sacrifices for the love of country and involves engagements and bonds of individuals, groups and networks that have been here continuously posing a challenge to the status quo—the alternative stride of this country’s nation-building. The politics of reforms is now by itself a tradition that rests on the values of solidarity, participation, inclusivity, empowerment, discourse and dialogue. Arguably, the politics of reform has given birth to the government we have now.
This paper presents the result of the exploratory research conducted by a research team of Ateneo School of Government that studied the impact of civil society participation on the responsiveness of local spending for education.
A fight as big as bringing down the pork barrel SYSTEM will take a long time. We want to bring back the integrity of our political system. End the culture of "suhulan." Restore the effective checks-and-balance relationship between the executive and legislature. This will take a long time.
So as not to get lost in the fight and be of disservice to our cause, we need to start somewhere where there is opening. We have to understand the institutional context of the country and the power dynamics to identify that opening.
Institutions matter and institutionalizing this reform process including the political dimension of it must be attended to so that it becomes a norm and its momentum cannot easily be subverted. Patronage politics supported and fed by political elites is an all-enduring institution in the country. For it to be subverted and replaced by modern and empowering institutions, the reform process and its constituency must also take the form of institutions--repeated pattern of behavior with predictable results that is accountable and efficient. Working towards party building and party system development that is democratizing must be taken up as a critcal challenge to the reform constituencies and champions.
In the Philippines, since the end of martial law, civil society has been hailed as “the savior of governance,” playing the roles underperformed by the government or filling the gaps in the services needed by the people. One of the most crucial elements of civil society engagement in the Philippines is its reform work that is varied and encompassing. These actors constitute a large portion of what is being referred to as reform movements in the Philippines, which consist also of the reformers in government, political parties, local government units and other arenas.
The Robredo case underscores one critical point for the Left: the new Left is out there. The current Left can either recognize this and do something about it, or once again be left out in the emerging politics of change.
Without a constituency rooted below in society and social movements, institutional reform will not stand a chance in Philippine politics.
Hence, if we want reforms in elections, we should build a constituency that will push for and claim those reforms. And this can only be done if electoral and party reform imperatives are mainstreamed and linked in other advocacies in governance and development work.
This study looked at whether the following government services have been allocated where they are really needed most or where there is shortage. It sought to find out explanations for misallocation that can inform possible policy/implementation reform proposals.
After round of monitoring of school building projects (SBPs) under the Bayanihang Eskwela, G-Watch has persistently encountered issues on allocation. This led G-Watch to inquire about the standard involving allocation.
The Government Watch (G-Watch) of Ateneo School of Government has implemented Bayanihang Eskwela since 2005. The program is a community-based monitoring of the government’s school-building projects that aims to ensure that the right quality of school building projects are implemented at the right time where it is needed most.
A follow up to the COMELEC Budget Watch in 2009, this study aimed to baseline and benchmark electoral administration spending of COMELEC, in the hope of helping inform COMELEC of relevant performance standards and indicators they should achieve in effectively linking their budget preparation and performance target setting.
A chapter by La Viña and Aceron in the book, Agenda for Hope: Democratizing Governance. This chapter proposes a movement for nation-building among reformist leaders from the different local government units (LGUs), the bureaucracy, the citizens’ groups, and even among the circles of some modernizing elites, that would develop a system of synergy and interdependence to be able to connect their efforts, share a common vision for the country, and eventually execute a coordinated strategy of capturing power at the national level.
This policy study aims to identify key issues in the implementation of the government’s school building program, focusing on the DepEd-led School Building Program for schools experiencing acute classroom shortage and the DPWH enforced Regular School Building Program which is in the ambit of Republic Act No. 7880 or more commonly known as the Roxas Law.
The news that the FOI Bill failed was frustrating, but it should serve as a wake up call. Not only that we must make power accountable, we must reconstitute power; for as it is now, the power configuration in our society only allows limited reforms and hardly any radical changes. Important legislations that deepen democracy by giving more power to the people and making the exercise of power more accountable like the FOI Bill will hardly have a chance and our toil to make a difference will be more of the same without making any difference in the existing power structure. This is why it is most critical that while we continue our governance work now, we do not lose sight of the important task of developing our political party system, continuing the political engagement with the new administration and creating a reform-oriented context for the next elections through electoral reform and political education.
Citizen Reform Agenda 2010 or CReforms 2010 is a consultation process initiated by the Ateneo School of Government (ASoG) through its PODER program that aims to bring together the broadest possible representation of citizen organizations in the country to identify key reform agenda or issues that candidates and political parties must address for the 2010 elections.
This paper aims to put together the thinking, discussions and debates of the reform-minded societal groups on the proposed Political Party Reform Bill based on the activities initiated by the Ateneo School of Government (ASoG) with support from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in the Philippines.
This is an attempt to superimpose the Human Rights-Based Approach (HRBA) to the Social Accountability approach of G-Watch.
Paradoxically, the Maguindanao Massacre gives the country a unique opportunity to address a long-time problem that was not a monopoly of one region or ethnic community. With this massacre, we crossed the line and the country is now on the brink of being a failed state. With this massacre, we are seeing a scale of brutality and evil that we have not seen before. We have seen political and media assassinations and we have experienced massacres of farmers and workers – but not with these targets (women, lawyers, journalists, bystanders and passersby) and not in these numbers. Lines were crossed in Maguindanao and we must all work together, and work very hard, to pull the country back from those lines. Otherwise, the consequences are unimaginable with political clans all over the country possibly believing that they too can act with impunity.
The way forward is to change the country from the base, place by place, island by island. The integration and unity must be achieved with respect to the diversity and plurality of struggles; but a conscious effort is needed by the leaders of these initiatives to connect their struggles and execute a coordinated strategy of taking power at the national level.
Once this political machinery of reform movements in the Philippines wins power, it has both the broad social base and moral ascendancy to bring a developmental and democratic state, which can effectively lead the process of nation-building. This is a formidable challenge, but it has to be done. By building on the basics, we will change the Philippines.