Governance Challenges in the Philippines
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Jacob BataquegGovernance Challenges in the Philippines
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Jacob BataquegJACOB M.
BATAQUEG
BAPS 4-B
ASSESSMENT
ASIDE FROM WHAT IS DISCUSSED, WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE OTHER ISSUES AND
CHALLENGES CONFRONTING GOVERNANCE? WHY DO YOU THINK THESE OCCUR?
I believe that the most dominant challenge confronting governance is corruption. Corruption is
the way of living of many politicians here in the Philippines. They feed their children through the money
of the people that they pocketed through unliquidated projects. It is only here in the Philippines that we
can see a road that is not even destroyed but get fixed. This is why a good governance is most like
unachievable here in the Philippines due to the rampant corruptions from the highest position down to the
position of Brgy. Tanod. Corruption in the Philippines has become a tradition already. This means that
even though there are pile of laws that prevents corruption, politicians will always find a way to do it.
The second challenge that I think governance is facing is that the people has lost their trust in the
government. We can’t blame the people anyway because it is the politicians that do the dirty job. They
are the public officials that are mandated to serve the interest of the people, however, it turned out that
they are only serving their own interest. This is a dangerous challenge because once the people has lost
their trust in the government, this would bring disorder and that the people will barely participate in the
economic and social development as well as political development of the state. This challenge occur
because majority of the public officials especially here in the Philippines are opt to no good. They rob the
money of the people, the stain the dignity of their oath, and they relinquish their mandates as public
officials. Hence, people will lose their trust in the government.
The third challenge that governance is experiencing is unemployment. Due to the high
unemployment rate, it drags people to poverty, and when this happens people will most likely resort to
illegal activities just to survive. This also causes the crime rate to spike because if the unemployment rate
is high, the chance is that many people will do crime just to have something in their stomach. This
happens because the government does focus on the interest of the people. There are plenty graduates with
high qualifications and yet they cannot even get a job due to the inability of the government to produce
jobs. Sometimes you can only get a job when you have a backer or the money to be used as a bribe.
All of these are only a portion of all the challenges that governance is facing. I exampled the
Philippines because we have a lot of issues here in our country that needs to be addressed properly and
adamantly.
WHAT ARE THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES AND REFORMS EMPLOYED
TO COMBAT THESE ISSUES AND CHALLENGES? HOW EFFECTIVE ARE THESE
REFORMS?
With corruption as a challenge in governance in the Philippines, the government has the law
which is the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act that penalizes a corrupt person that includes
imprisonment of up to 10 years, a fine, removal from office, and confiscation of properties. However, I
believe that these law is not strong enough to prosecute those corrupt officials especially those who are in
the high position that has the influence and power. This law is only effective with smaller profiled people,
but those high profiled are exempted from it because they have the means. However, there are cases that
those high profiled corrupt officials are prosecuted, but it is rare.
In terms of the lost trust of the people to the government of the Philippines, I believe that there is
no exact initiatives of the government to cure it. However, the constitution provides that a public office is
a public trust, and that a public official is entrusted with the public power by its people and shall not
conduct their own affairs to infringe the public interest. These people clothed in power should be guided
by this paramount concept of public office at all times. But based on my observations on cases involving
this issue, it is not that effective to cure the lost trust of the people to the government.
Third is the unemployment rate in the Philippines. There are plenty of programs of the
government in combating unemployment rate. But the question is, are they really effective? One of the
program of the government is the AYUDA Employment Program for workers displaced by pandemic.
Beneficiaries will render work on roadside maintenance such as street sweeping, cleaning of street signs,
hauling waste materials, and planting of concrete barriers. This is a good program for jobless people
during this pandemic. However, the government must compensate these workers properly in order to have
this program work well not only to the workers but also the government.
WHAT CAN YOU SUGGEST TO FURTHER IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE OF
GOVERNMENT IN GOVERNANCE PROCESSES?
The first thing that is best to improve in the services of the actors of governance is the rule of law.
This means that all the actions of the government must be founded in law and that the people are
protected by it. No one should act bypassing the law in order to have what we call reliability in the
process of governance. Secondly, it is also necessary to have a more transparent and open information
systems in governance in order to prevent any mischiefs that can happen. This will also increase the trust
of the people and boost their participation in economic and social development, as well as political
participation. Thirdly, it is crucial that the government must have the accountability. Being accountable
speaks of going towards the development of more efficient and effective organizations. This will reflect
someone’s performance and makes sure that that person is doing its duty and mandate in the realms of
governance. All of these are characteristics of good governance, however they must be further emphasize
because in order to have a more efficient and good governance, and I believe that it will increase the
economic, social, and political development of the society.