The State of the Nation’s Governance
Today Monday, President Arroyo will deliver her last State of the Nation Address (Sona). She will end her term on June 10, 2010. The next Sona will be delivered by the newly elected president.
GMA will deliver her Sona today amid calls that this should be her last address, as mandated by the Constitution. She will render her report on the state of the nation amid alternative Sonas submitted by civil-society organizations, think tanks, academic institutions, progressive organizations and opposition groups. Whatever she says will be benchmarked against the people’s Sonas.
Most of the alternative Sonas warn against amending the Constitution, cancellation of elections and illegal seizure of power. The Former Senior Governmant Officials (FSGO) has demanded that she relinquish all power at noon of June 30, 2010; that she not allow any effort to alter, amend or rewrite the Constitution before June 30, 2010; that she ensure clean, honest, free and orderly elections; and that she not impose emergency rule or martial law.
Other alternative Sonas assess the performance of GMA’s administration, using her famous “beat the odds” formula which she unveiled in the 2005 address. These stand for: balanced budget, education for all, automatic elections, transport and digital infrastructure, termination of hostilities, healing the wounds of Edsa 1,2 and 3, electricity and water for all barangays, opportunities to create 6 million to 10 million jobs, decongesting Metro Manila and developing Subic and Clark.
Talk shows, radio programs and think tanks have been busy at the weekend computing and averaging GMA’s performance in these areas. Interestingly, governance is not necessarily included in the assessment. It is probably because the letter “g” is not in the “beat the odds” formula!
Without governance, “beat the odds” is reduced to a mere list of goals and empty recitation of statistics without a vision and strategy.
Sona and governance
The word “governance” is usually associated with fighting corruption. This is an important part of governance but there are equally important dimensions. Governance is all about the use of power to achieve national development goals. The basic elements of governance are people’s participation, predictability, transparency and accountability.
Each of the items in the “beat the odds” list must be assessed in terms of the elements of governance. It must also be noted that three important Millennium Development Goals—health, education and gender equality are not in the list.
People’s participation
Participation of different sectors of society is indispensable in the formulation and implementation of national policy. Under the present administration, while lip service is paid to people participation, they are not actually consulted on many important national issues.
The best example is the contentious issue of constituent assembly. Congress, which claims to represent the people, is poised to morph itself into a constituent assembly, with the obvious support of the Executive. Public clamor is against this move, as shown by surveys, civil-society consultations, assemblies and protests. Nevertheless, the present administration is set to ram this issue down the people’s throats.
Another policy decision of the present administration is the aborted memorandum of agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which sparked incendiary debates all over the country. The government promised concessions which require consulting with affected local government units and various indigenous peoples.
Still another glaring example of minimal people’s participation is the budget process itself. The public is excluded from decisions on budget priorities and sectoral allocations. By the time the budget is brought to Congress for approval, the magnitude of the budget has already been determined, the macroeconomic assumptions formulated and the agency budgets firmed up.
It is not surprising therefore, that the share of social expenditures as a percentage of the national budget has steadily declined, even as the debt service is rising. This is particularly true of the budgets for education and health. In 1999, social services accounted for 33.81 percent of the budget. By 2006, this had gone down to 27.91 percent.
As a result of relentless lobbying by the Alternative Budget Initiative convened by Social Watch Philippines, significant additions have been appropriated for education, health, agriculture and the environment in the 2007, 2008 and 2009 budgets. This was achieved with the support of progressive congressmen and senators.
Nonrelease of budget allocations GMA has not released important expenditure allocations crucial to health. For example, the 2008 Appropriations Act contains P100-million allocations for autoclaves, vital equipment for the sterilization of hospital instruments and disposal of hospital waste.
One can imagine the number of babies, mothers, elderly and other patients whose lives will be spared because they will be protected from infection!
GMA’s priorities are not necessarily the people’s priorities. These are fairly simple: education for all, reduction of infant and maternal mortality, increase in agricultural productivity and protection of the environment.
Predictability
Citizens expect government policies to be stable and predictable. In particular, the business sector needs to plan and strategize within a framework of predictable policies. The citizens likewise expect a stable political environment.
Promises, promises
Citizens have not forgotten GMA’s promise not to run for reelection in 2006. Her contrite “I am sorry” still rings in their ears. Her refusal to keep these promises has resulted in loss of trust and confidence in her. Thus, policy pronouncements and promises are viewed with suspicion and skepticism. The atmosphere of unclear public policies creates an unstable environment for political as well as economic decisionmaking.
Transparency
Filipinos take pride in declaring to the world that the Philippines is a vibrant democracy. Transparency is a bulwark of a democratic system. The people’s right to public information is enshrined in the Constitution.
GMA’s executive order requiring presidential clearance for her Cabinet members to appear before the Congress is a blow to transparency. This has served as a signal to the various executive offices to withhold information from the citizens they are supposed to serve.
Lack of transparency exacerbates the propensity for gossip and speculation. Media, researchers and serious students of government have to expend energy and creativity in accessing data which they are entitled to, in the first place. Often, multilateral institutions have more information on government operations.
Because the public does not have access to public information, scandals erupt when these could have been prevented by public monitoring and action. The World Bank decision to delist specific contractors from its projects illustrates the need for transparency.
Accountability
Accountability is closely linked to people participation, predictability and transparency. At the end of the day, the government has to be accountable. The Philippines has earned the dubious reputation of being one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Ask Transparency and Accountability Network. Ask the multilaterals. Ask the taxi and “padyak” drivers.
At the end of the day, it’s not “beat the odds” which will reveal the state of the nation. One can see it in the number of babies and mothers who die of preventable causes, the children who are unable to go to school, the increasing number of unemployed, the hungry, and those deprived of human rights. It is all about governance.
By Business Mirror
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