The Never Ending Democratization of the Philippines
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for the Millennium Development Goals states that our GNP grew at an average
of 5% from 2000-2009. The Fifth Progress Report on the MDG notes the slight
increase of the average GNP to 5.2% (Fifth Progress Report on the MDG, 2014).
In spite of the high economic growth, reducing poverty had been slow, and
inequality in incomes had been high (Celia M. Reyes, et al. 2012 cited in Ibid.).
The government report also says that the country's achievements in regard
to the MDG are mixed. The probability of attaining goals 1, 2, 5, 7 and 8 in 2015 is
low. While the probability of attaining goals 3, 4, and 6 is high.
The Philippine Human Development Network, in its 2008/2009 report, has
focused on the role of institutions in describing and explaining why the
country's development has been nearly static in spite of reform programs
undertaken by the government. One senses from the report an exasperation
over the state of human development in the country. It aptly describes the
government efforts as “reforms that don't transform”. The report stresses the
principal role of political institutions in the push for development:
Greater progress in human development, therefore, requires one to focus
on rules and norms that affect the performance of government
organizations or agencies. The most important of those rules and norms
that directly motivate government employees, that determine the level
and management of agency funds, and that enforce other rules, provide
checks and balances, and exact accountability. (Philippine Human
Development Report 2008/2009: 10).
The above recommendations of the Philippine Human Development
Network are signicant in pursuing the country's development. However, my
study focuses on the actual executive-legislative-judicial interactions that show
how the executive hegemony dominates the other branches of government.
This dominance has weakened horizontal accountability making the
employment of delegative authority virtually unchecked. Moreover, my study
emphasizes the transparency and controllability aspects of accountability
rather than the answerability aspect which is very challenging because of the
strict procedural requirements of due process. This study believes that
horizontal transparency and controllability would help attain answerability or
to exact accountability. It is to be hoped, therefore, that this study will
contribute to the policy thrusts of the Human Development Network.
In regard to the perennial problem of poverty, the National Economic and
Development Authority recommends that “the government's anti-poverty
strategy must focus on agriculture and rural development through asset
reforms (agrarian reform, urban land reform and ancestral domain reform)
accompanied by reforms in the agricultural sector, such as investments in
productivity improvements and supporting infrastructure. The government
also should address; (a) poor governance of support services, e.g., lack of
accountability (Fertilizer scandal)” (Philippine Mid-Term MDG Report 2007: 212).
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