Central issues in dysfunctional governance

Ours, in particular, is a changing society, the resultant order of which is beyond any ordinary man’s imagination. There was looting that breached the trillion-peso mark in what should have been public funds in the safe custody of the national treasury.

But men in black suits and in high places appeared to be the very ones with direct and indirect involvement in this grand scam and, ironically, even the High Tribunal proved slow to the draw thereby blurring what should be the well-defined separation of powers, more so the checks and balances in the tripartite setup of the government, viz., the executive, legislative and the judiciary.

Now, changing societies likely proceed where economic development and political development are in lockstep with each other. Statistically, poor economies exhibit high levels of wicked governance, dysfunctional if you will, with regard to the manner they dispense with public funds to deliver various goods and services at the national and subnational levels.

Dear readers, this writer foregrounds three central issues in dysfunctionality, governance-wise.

One, professionalism in the civil and military establishments is found wanting. Two, heightened dynastic tendencies invade both elective and appointive positions in government. Three, overdependence on a Supreme Court as the “clearinghouse” of moral, legal, judicial conflicts, particularly between the public and private sectors.

It should be imperative for pracademics (practicing academics) in the public administration discipline to rethink governance in general given certain peculiarities in the Philippine administrative system in order to find a way forward for desired public sector reforms.

Issues must answer whether recruitment in either or both civil and military exhibits a level playing field; whether elective and appointive positions reflect a revolving door policy; and to show who wins or who loses when a High Tribunal renders a verdict over what isn’t a legal issue but a management one.

Dysfunctional governance is an anachronism in public administration as a modernizing field, albeit “wicked” is the term used in the lingua franca. Identifying the barriers and drivers in the gospel of efficiency would be a step toward providing no-nonsense relief to issues in the public sector that usually drag for a long period of time.

Worse, a coverup in the flood control corruption is in the works with the aim of making it a thing of the past and swept into the dustbin of oblivion.

Realizing the painful truth when Peter Kobrak propounded that “public managers are not angels” and further affirmed by James Madison when he said, “If men are angels, no government would be necessary,” we fathom its possible consequences on bureaucratic life and by some metrics to determine how far economic development gone apart from political development.

Our economy is nearing fiscal collapse by all economic standards of viability leaving little space for growth in infrastructure and significant frontline social services such as in health, labor, education, wages, public enterprises.

However, both economic and political development areas must mix and blend. Put another way, the corpus of knowledge generated from official pronouncements, policy statements and legislative committee reports in various sectors must be triangulated — presented in graphs or tables to effectively communicate and articulate whether or not this country could still reach a level of efficiency in governance processes and government affairs.

The leadership may still possess that grit necessary for national survival but reality beckons that everything is on the edge. Incidentally, in a fast-changing world, societies largely depend on each other through collaboration, agreements, bilateral or multilateral relations in the fields of economy and geopolitics.

While global politics advocates a borderless landscape, societies are like ships navigating in the high seas that belong to no one but humankind. There ought to be a unifying world order to which societies and economies within the region and beyond subscribe — and when such norms, protocol, or conventions prescribe, no country should veer away from its reach and clutch.

When societies are given the same set of stimuli to trigger growth and prosperity, it will be the great equalizer for both developed and developing economies.

Meanwhile, it is the business of individual bureaucracies to frame their own development agenda given their own agency, resources, system of governance, and bottom line.

On that note, DAILY TRIBUNE, for years in a row, has served as the indefatigable watchdog for informed civic awareness.