After two decades under a dictatorship, the Philippines finally became a democracy in 1986. The call for governance reforms in the public and private sectors rose as impatience built up over the inability of open, democratic processes to work effectively and quickly for the genuine development of our people.

In the immediate wake of People Power II, it became clear that governance reforms had to be on top of the national agenda. At that time, corporate governance reforms were already underway. Governance in the public sector, on the other hand, posed significantly more challenges.

The Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA) was established in December 2000 to answer the exhortation and act concretely on the rhetoric for good public governance. We promoted systemic and comprehensive reforms at the national level and served as a knowledge base for such reforms in East Asia. With more than half of the population living in cities, we saw the strategic importance of local governance.

Thus in 2004, we introduced the Performance Governance System (PGS) to a pioneer group of eight cities. Our strategy was simple. We sought to be a partner of our City Mayors. We worked with them to install the PGS in their respective cities. With our guidance, they crafted City Road Maps. They formed multi-sectoral coalitions, made up of leaders from various sectors of their city who would contribute to meeting the targets they have set. With private citizens, they started implementing their development strategy, tracking it regularly, and measuring the city’s performance using scorecards.

Today, we are proud to say we have several cities, national public institutions and sectoral associations that have adopted the PGS. While we now see dramatic changes where the PGS has been implemented, we must continue to respond to the call of our times — for positive, far-reaching and radical change.

There is still much to accomplish in our country, but with your unshaken faith in the Filipino and in the Almighty, we will finally realize our dream of having a just, peaceful and prosperous Filipino nation. We invite you to join us in ringing the bells for good governance and responsible citizenship.