The recently concluded governance boot camp gave strategy experts from the National Electrification Administration (NEA) and the Philippine Navy an opportunity to reach out to their peers in the public sector. These two institutions continue to lead the pack of national agencies that are adopting or running governance programs.

National Electrification Administration

As the first national institution to complete ISA’s Performance Governance System, NEA is determined to share what it has learned with other government institutions that are planning or implementing reform programs. Administrator Edita S. Bueno herself led a study tour of the Pampanga I Electric Cooperative (PELCO I) on the first day of the boot camp in order to demonstrate the systems and successes of the Rural Electrification Program. ‘The statistics speak for themselves,’ Admin. Bueno declared, pointing to the fact that as of December 2011, more municipalities, cities, and barangays are more dependent on electric cooperatives than other providers. PELCO I itself has energized its territory completely, and its general manager, Engr. Loliano E. Allas, credits their progress to the cultural change in the central office. ‘Employee morale is at an all-time high,’ he shared. ‘This translates to excellent individual performance, especially on the frontlines.’

For more information on NEA and its current projects, log on to www.nea.gov.ph.

Philippine Navy

After having concluded a massively successful year in capacity- and credibility-building, the Philippine Navy continues to work towards its 2020 vision of becoming a strong and credible organization that can respond to the needs of the Philippines as a maritime nation. During the boot camp, Center for Naval Leadership and Excellence (CNLE) Deputy Director LT Edwin German A. Cordova, former Naval Doctrines Director COL Eugene Erwin R. Martinez, and Vice Commander RADM Orwen J. Cortez campaigned for support through a series of presentations on the improvements the organization has undergone since the implementation of their good governance program. ‘We have begun the 2020 journey, but we cannot sail alone.’ Admiral Cortez shared, ‘2012 is a very important year for all of us.’

At present the Navy is working on the completion of a personal governance program that can direct individual performance to organizational breakthroughs, kick-starting the year with the first leg of the Philippine Navy Governance Forum Series.

Read more about the Navy 2020 Sail Plan on www.navy.mil.ph.

50 government officials from over 15 local and national government institutions took part in the January 2012 Performance Governance System Boot Camp, a weeklong deep dive into governance theory and its applications in the Philippine political setting. The boot camp was organized by the Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA) in partnership with the National Electrification Administration (NEA), Philippine Navy, COMFAC Global Group, and Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE).

During the learning institutes and workshops, the boot campers shared their experiences in implementing governance culture programs in their institutions, and sat down with governance practitioners from top-performing public sector organizations like the National Electrification Administration, Philippine Navy, Philippine Army, Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the Cities of Masbate and San Fernando Pampanga. Participants from private sector institutions like the Bataan State Peninsula University and Winternitz Insurance Brokers Corporation likewise came to learn from the public sector experience.

The January 2012 boot camp was the first to make use of the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) philosophy, which ISA Chairman Jesus Estanislao used to design the personal governance and governance culture learning institutes. The facilitation technique, which is attributed to Dr. David Cooperrider, endeavours to guide individuals and institutions towards change by reaffirming and developing their strengths.

The next governance boot camp will be held in July 2012.

THE NATIONAL Competitiveness Council (NCC) will unveil later this year a 20-year road map in a bid to sustain business and economic reforms to be accomplished in the medium term, an official said yesterday.

The public-private council in the next few months will focus on establishing regional competitiveness committees and co-developing industry road maps as two of the building blocks of the long-term plan.

The competitiveness road map will be designed to align with the six-year Philippine Development Plan for President Benigno S. C. Aquino III’s term and NCC’s own 2016 target to be one of the top 30 economies in the globe.

“We need to do a strategic long-term perspective for our competitiveness plan. We have all this data on the government and industries, but we have to organize them into a plan, because if there is one, it’ll be easier to understand where the country is going,” Guillermo M. Luz, NCC private sector co-chair, said on the sidelines of the group’s press conference. Read more.

MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino has formed an inter-agency task force to unify and strengthen the performance monitoring of national government agencies, as well as simplify, harmonize and boost the reporting systems in place.

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. said Administrative Order 25 will result in “a collaborative instrument for a unified and integrated Results-Based Performance Management System across all departments and agencies in government.”

“In line with the President’s commitment to streamline processes and systems in the bureaucracy, as well as his administration’s commitment to transparency, accountability, participatory and effective governance, our office initiated efforts to bring into line and integrate government performance monitoring systems,” he said. Read more.

As the administration continues to sweep dust out from under the rug, another government agency has decided to step forward for a second chance. The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) is the latest to join the massive governance campaign that has turned things around for several government agencies and cities in the Philippines.

Putting together a select group of assistant directors, division heads, correctional facility superindendents, and planning experts from the bureau, Lt. Gen. Gaudencio S. Pangilinan expressed the need to revisit organizational issues like the lack of prison dormitories, inefficient record-keeping, and an imbalanced ratio of inmates to personnel.

After sitting down to discuss these internal and external realities in a working session earlier this week, the bureau agreed that its objective should be to develop ‘productive and socially acceptable released inmates’ in order to achieve its 2016 goal of becoming a ‘dependable, effective, and modern correctional institution.’ To get this done, the bureau is planning to launch a comprehensive reform program for inmates in conjunction with a ladderized training program for personnel among other reformation initiatives.

BuCor is currently polishing its Strategy Map and Scorecard, and is due for a validation exercise in January 2012.

Since adopting the Performance Governance System (PGS) last year, the Army hasbeen unstoppable in its pursuit of real reform. The commanding general himself has named the Army Transformation Roadmap as a top priority under his leadership, and his ‘ATR warriors’ are wasting no time in spreading the word.

In the first two weeks of December, the  Army strategy was cascaded to Headquarters Philippine Army (HPA) units  such as the Infantry Division, Engineering Brigade, and Training and Doctrine (TRADOC) Command. The training program covered learning assessments on the PGS and team-building activities designed to build a strong foundation for a cultural transformation program in the organization. Philippine Army Chief of Staff Brigadier General Rolando Tenefrancia and Vice Commander Major General Renato David and 8 ISA-trained Army officials served as a lecturers and resource speakers.

The Army is now planning to hold cascading seminars on a quarterly basis.

After winning the support of the likes of Professor Winnie Monsod and Attorney Alexander Lacson, the Army is now bent on building internal commitment to the governance program, and Filipinos should look forward to the development of a world-class Army by 2028.

Dr. Estanislao

The Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA) is pleased to announce that its Chairman, Dr. Jesus P. Estanislao, has been chosen as one of the five recipients of this year’s The Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL) Award. Developed in 1988 as a joint project of JCI Senate Philippines and Insular Life Assurance Co. Ltd., the TOFIL award is given to ‘exemplary individuals who by their life work exemplify excellence and service to humanity.’

Dr. Estanislao, a former economic planning and financial secretary, is being cited for his work in public governance. After a successful post-martial law rehabilitation of the Development Bank of the Philippines, Dr. Estanislao established several institutions, among them the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P), Foundations for People Development, Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD), and ISA. Recognized as the country’s foremost authority on governance, Dr. Estanislao serves on the citizen advisory boards of the Philippine Navy, Philippine Army, and Philippine National Police, among others.

In an official announcement earlier this month, TOFIL Search Chairman Reginald T. Yu referred to the awardees as ‘heroes…who create standards by which others are judged’, but Dr. Estanislao attributes the honor to the collective efforts of ISA and its friends in the public governance advocacy. ‘I am pleased to accept this award to recognize the work that is being done through ISA and its sister institute, ICD,’ he said.

Insular Life and JCI Senate have announced that the awards ceremony will take place early next year.

Taking its cue from other cabinet departments that have been employing good governance mechanisms to improve performance, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) put down their progress indicators and base camps in a 2016 governance scorecard. Initial discussions among directors, employees, and stakeholders representing the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and Board of Investments (BOI) revealed an optimistic view of the future of Philippine competitiveness. If the latest road map is to be followed, Filipinos will be looking at 6 million new jobs, Php947-billion worth of approved investments, and 80% consumer awareness in five years’ time.

While DTI is still in the process of defining high-impact projects that will enable it to meet its targets, Secretary Gregory Domingo is confident that correct planning, execution and monitoring will improve the department’s ability to enable business and empower consumers. ‘If we are effective, our scorecard will show it,’ says Domingo. ‘We have to go after the ramdam (impact) standard.’

The Secretary and his leadership team are bent on developing ‘winners’ that can reinforce DTI’s standing as a zero-corruption Agency of Choice, and the department hopes to eventually be able to measure individual performance according to how well employees execute the demands of the scorecard. As it closes a successful planning year, DTI can expect 2012 to be a big leap forward towards inclusive growth.

Parallel with Armenia, Kenya, China, and Russia, the Philippines has been a part of a international effort to identify and address barriers that keep small businesses from participating in the property markets, focusing on property rights and access to credit.

Findings from the recently released report on the Philippines (December 2011)  can be accessed here.

This initiative by the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) is led in the Philippines by the Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA), CIPE’s country partner.

The International Property Markets Scorecard, jointly developed by CIPE and the International Real Property Foundation (IRPF), maps the key institutional components of property markets: property rights laws and enforcement, access to credit, efficiency of governance, rational dispute resolution, financial transparency, and appropriate regulations. The Scorecard also measures their effectiveness through a mix of international indicators and in-country legislative research, as well as fieldwork consisting of focus groups and interviews with small businesses, legal and banking experts, real estate professionals, and government officials.

Although private property rights in most countries are legally protected, the implementation of such laws is often insufficient or incomplete. What is more, the understanding of property rights frequently remains limited to property titles, without recognizing the underlying and interconnected institutions that make property rights meaningful. Those shortcomings in property market systems disproportionately affect small enterprises that in most countries are the backbone of the economy and yet face serious barriers in property transactions.

In the Philippines, Micro-, Small- and Medium-Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in 2009 generated 3.6 million jobs, or about 63 percent of the total employment generated by all types of businesses. CIPE and ISA chose to focus on Manila and San Fernando, Pampanga where many of those businesses operate.

In May and June, ISA conducted focus groups and interviews with stakeholders in those two cities with assistance from the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Manila Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry, its local partners for this project. Consultations were also held with the Bankers Institute of the Philippines, the Rural Bankers’ Association of the Philippines, and Colliers International. ISA and CIPE validated the findings in a July expert roundtable held with public and private sector experts in real estate, banking, and public policy.

Small business owners reported having to contend with bureaucratic hurdles as a result of corruption, overlapping functions of agencies, and red tape in processes related to land administration (registration, transfers of titles, safety of records), which increase the cost of doing business. They also reported difficulties in accessing credit as a result of strict lending requirements of banks.

To address these concerns, the Scorecard findings identified specific reform initiatives such as the need for more efficient land titling computerization, more proper implementation of the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1991 (Lina Law), or broader access to credit through lending requirements better tailored to small business needs.

While it is crucial that such initiatives be undertaken within the framework of greater cooperation between national government offices and local government units, the Philippines should also benchmark various practices in its property markets against the experiences of other countries to follow international best practices.

According to Ms. Marissa Benitez of Colliers International Philippines, one of the recognized real estate consultants in the country, “there is a need for international standards in real estate practice to be implemented in the country”.

The Philippines final report is now out, and can be accessed at www.isacenter.org. Please check www.cipe.org for updates on other country reports. For further inquiries and/or requests, please contact the ISA office at +632.886.36.52 or 845.28.67, or email lmontesclaros@isacenter.org or mantonio@isacenter.org.

To access the final report which contains findings and reform recommendations, please access: International Property Markets Scorecard – Report-Philippines – December 2011

To access the appendices to the report, please access: Appendices to Final Report – Dec 2011

The Calapan Port -- Oriental Mindoro's main sea port.

Last August 23, 2011, the City Government of Calapan unveiled its 2016 strategy before the legislative council, key community leaders from the media, civil society, agriculture sector, youth sector, and business sector, and governance practitioners from the Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA) and Institute for Corporate Directors (ICD).

City Mayor Doy Leachon reported on actual baseline figures for health, employment, tourism and other areas covered by LGU services, and presented strategic projects that would help achieve city performance targets by 2016.

One of these projects is the ‘Orange Card Plus’, a universal registry system that will enable citizen access to health care, medicine, and funeral services. Meanwhile, the ‘City Hall @ Ur Service’ project aims to promote resourcefulness, discipline, and camaraderie among citizens through activities like executive and legislative consultation, pera sa basura, and the re-modelling of white elephant structures.

Calapan has identified 14 public-private projects that cover values education, environmental protection, core housing, tourism, risk management, and employment. They will present these development approaches in the September 29, 2011 Public Governance Forum.

Ms. Doris Melgar, a civil society representative said she hoped the city would ‘continue to use the [PGS] process to develop a true development agenda.’ Ms. Melgar was part of the citizen panel that approved Calapan’s 2016 agenda.

Vice Mayor Jojo Perez led the commitment ceremony, where city officials, panelists, and guests swore to pursue the vision of ’The New Calapan’ – a model of good governance with united and productive Calapeños.