124 Chasing the Wind: Assessing Philippine Democracy Figure 1.Probability in meeting the MDGs Source: Cayetano Paderanga, Stakeholders' Step-Up Campaign Forum on the Millennium Development Goals, 8 September 2010, Dusit Thani Manila, Makati City, p. 31. The Report listed many challenges ahead and how to proceed forward. Among these challenges are sustained economic growth, better population management, greater focus on underserved areas, adequate safety nets, improved governance and transparency, peace and security, improved targeting, education, maternal health, and resources (Ibid. 275-78). Indeed, improving the quality of life of a people is a comprehensive and multifaceted endeavor. Many of these challenges are not covered by this study. It is to be hoped, however, that it can contribute to the challenge of improving governance and transparency. The Philippine Human Development Network, in its latest 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 significant in pursuing the country's development. However, this