“When the source of information is ignorant and insane, and the radio broadcaster is illiterate, the result is crazy and senseless public opinion.”
Here is how Dr. Cesar A. Majul assessed the thesis of Mr. Gerardo P. Sicat: “He presented in a careful and detailed account the various economic plans that have been prepared to implement a Philippine governmental policy of planned economic development. He discusses the factors leading to the declaration of such principle as governmental policy and demonstrates how the plans attempting to implement such a policy have generally failed. This means that he has been forced to deal with the role played by pressure groups in our country, the character of institutional patterns in our society, various aspects of the Philippine governmental structure, and ideological aspirations on the part of our leaders. I have sat with Mr. Sicat in two meetings for a total of five hours criticizing some points of his thesis, asking him to elaborate on others, and finally asking him to revise parts involving aspects of political theory.”
Dr. Raul P. de Guzman, icon of public administration
“Government institutions should be critical instruments in the attainment of justice and compassion in a society beset with competing and conflicting interests.” (Speech of Dr. De Guzman, delivered by his son, Ricardo de Guzman)
Dr. Raul P. de Guzman is an icon of the public administration discipline in the Philippines. His works continue to influence the discourse on public administration, development and administration, and local governance. In his very effort to establish discipline in the country, De Guzman is regarded as the father of the Philippines Public Administration.
He was appointed Professor Emeritus after spending more than 43 years of his academic career on the campus of the University of the Philippines. He rose through the ranks starting as an instructor in 1952 after receiving his B.A. Foreign Service (magna cum laude) degree from the University of the Philippines. Later, he earned his MPA and a PhD in Government from Florida State University. He served as Dean of the IPA and continued as dean when it was elevated to a college in 1973.
Throughout his deanship, his advocacy of public interest towards the public administration discipline motivated him to organize the following: Association of Schools of Public Administration in the Philippines (ASPAP), Philippine Society of Public Administration (PSPA), and UP Public Administration Research and Extension Services Foundation (UPPAF). He was also the brains behind the Local Administration Development Program (LADP), now the continuing program of the Center for Local and Regional Governance of UP-NCPAG.
Dr. Francisco “Dodong” Nemenzo’s unconventional politics is widely accepted and often controversial. It involves using strategies like marching, boycotting, refusing to obey rules, and protesting in general.
Without individuals expressing their preferences and concerns modern democracies would not exist.
The most conventional form of political participation is voting in an election, thereby giving preference for what a particular candidate or party has to offer.
Preferences and concerns can also be communicated by signing a petition, through protest, or by directly working within the confines of a political party or group to change policies or articulate concerns. It has been suggested that political action is changing in form, from consisting mainly of election-based activities to encompassing a wide repertoire of both these more traditional, institutionalized activities and extra-institutionalized, direct forms of political action.
In addition to this widening of the political action repertoire, more individuals than ever are said to take in some or other political participation in advanced industrial democracies.
While voting levels have marginally declined, there is evidence suggesting that levels of petition signing, demonstrating, and boycotting in particular have been rising. The reasons for these developments include changes in the socio-economic composition of the population, as well as sweeping waves of cultural change brought on by societal modernization.(To be continued)