The Curious Cases of Philippine Civil Society and Decentralization 181 22 http://www.dilg.gov.ph/PDF_File/issuances/joint_circulars/DILGJoint_Circulars-20101027-8695fc59c5.pdf 23 These cases, of Nueva Ecija spending 65 centavos more for every peso collected from real property taxes or of Quezon City attaching the property of machinery to increase the tax to be collected from properties improved, were cited in the World Bank-Asian Development Bank, Decentralization in the Philippines: strengthening local government financing and resource management in the short-term (May 2005). From http://pdf.ph/downloads/decentralization/Study%20on%20Decentralization %20(Strengthening%20LGU%20Financing).pdf We should add here that the level of idle land tax should be higher than the statutory ceiling of 5% inasmuch as the assessed value of agricultural lands alone are low. 24 To counter the monopolistic, budget-maximizing local politicians and bureaucrats, strategies to improve accountability and transparency should be set in place. 25 The document notes that, at both the local and the national level, the subjugation of public administration has led to (i) a loss of civil service status and morale, (ii) a complex and enduring web of connections between political executives, civil servants, and business interests, (iii) dramatic and turbulent changes during the transition from one administration to another and the institutionalization of 'courtesy resignations' at transition, (iv) a blurring of the distinction between career and non-career officials, and (v) civil servants' own inability and unwillingness to use the protection of the laws. 26 Hutchcroft characterizes the Philippines as a patrimonial oligarchic state. It is important to heed one of his observations that “piecemeal reforms are often inhibited both by the lack of bureaucratic coherence and by the tremendous power of oligarchic interests.” Although there are clearly instances when regimes might benefit by selective measures of reform, there has been little assurance that the weak bureaucracy can implement them over the objections of various entrenched interests long accustomed to particularistic plunder of the state apparatus. 27 Several studies have examined the factors that brought forth exemplary local governance and the participation of civil society organizations in Naga City. Takeshi Kawanaka analyzed the factors that led to innovations in Naga City (Power in a Philippine city, IDE Occasional Paper Series. 2002). Racelis ('Anxieties and affirmations: NGO–Donor partnerships for social transformation', in Bebbington, Anthony J. et.al, Can NGOs make a difference: the challenge of development alternatives. 2008. Pp. 205-208), documents a case of a collaborative engagement between an urban poor federation, the Naga City government, and the World Bank. The case provides evidence of the strength of civil society in Naga City, specifically the Naga City Urban Poor Federations, Inc. and its NGO partner, the Community Organization of the Philippines Enterprise Foundation (COPE). 28 Joel Rocamora, Email response to emailed questions. February 7, 2011.