Going to Germany

Two participants of the Liberal Leadership Training held at the AIM will spend a week in Gummersbach, Germany on October 27 to November 3, 2006 to learn more about the New Public Management (NPM), a novel approach to public administration that seeks to make bureaucracies leaner and more responsive to the needs of constituents.

Iloilo provincial administrator Manuel “Boy” Mejorada and legislative aide Rommel San Gaspar of Laguna will join 24 other public managers from Asia, Latin America and Africa to share experiences and study proven strategies in NPM so they, too, could apply the new knowledge to their home countries.

This is the 2nd seminar conducted by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and the e-Academy for Leadership. It began with a month-long online seminar in which the participants contributed to discussion fora on critical issues related to public administration.

Another LLT participant, Ted Francisco, was part of the first batch that took part in the Germany seminar earlier this year.

Liberal Leadership Training Pictures and Presentations

You can now download all pictures (flickr.com) and powerpoint presentations (box.net) by clicking the following:

1. Liberal Leadership Training photo gallery

2. Dr. Alex Brilliantes Jr. Powerpoint Presentation – An overview of Philippine Local Government

3. Dr. Milwida Guevara Powerpoint Presentation – Local Finances: Where does the money come from; where does it end up?

4. Dr. Jose Abueva Jr. Powerpoint Presentation – Constitutional change and local autonomy. The pros and cons of constitutional change with an emphasis on local government reform

5. Vice Mayor Francisco Ranches Jr. Adobe Acrobat file – Protection of environment and cultural heritage

6. Commissioner Angelo Timoteo M. Diaz De Rivera Powerpoint Presentation – Information technology

7. Ms. Liberty M. Toledo Powerpoint Presentation – Local budget and public services

8. Mayor Jesse Robredo Powerpoint Presentation – Case study: Naga City

9. Mr. Erwin Santos Powerpoint Presentation – The concept of new public management: International and local experiences

Cosmetic surgery

President Gloria Mapacagal Arroyo was in Guimaras for the third time in a month’s time yesterday to preside over a meeting of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) on the government’s response to the giant oil spill caused by the ill-fated vessel, M/T Solar I.

he President’s flurry of activities for Guimaras came only after local officials raised an uproar over the slow reaction of Petron Corp. and national agencies in containing the oil spill and carrying out relief operations to assist fisherfolk whose livelihood was disrupted.

It was only after 11 days that the President declared the oil spill as a national calamity and visited the affected areas.
Unfortunately, the President seems to be more interested in applying cosmetics on the situation to downplay the impact of the problem.

For instance, she ordered that the accident no longer be referred to as the Guimaras oil spill, but the “Solar oil spill.”
Her justification: Let’s not give Guimaras a bad name by relating it to the oil spill. It’s as if she can will the problem to go away by just saying so.

She also spent a night at a beach resort to show tourists that not the whole of Guimaras was affected. Then she found out that the beach was reached by the oil spill, only that cleaning up operations had been made.

She blew her top!

Why was she brought to the place? Well, it’s her fault. She wanted to go to a nice resort, and the nice resorts were badly hit by the oil spill.

Right now, government seems to have no firm direction on what needs to be done about the sunken vessel which still contains a load of 1.8 million liters of bunker fuel.

This is an ecological time bomb that could trigger a much bigger problem if that bunker fuel is not removed from the bed of the sea.

Why is President Arroyo more concerned about the image of Guimaras? The problem is the oil spill and the bunker fuel still in the cargo holds of the M/T Solar I. What is she going to do with that? What is she doing with the people who are getting sick? How will she provide livelihood for the fishermen?

The President should stop her practice of running the affairs of government through press releases and photo-ops. She should exercise leadership. She should place responsibility where it should fall. This could be her defining moment. Action is what we need. Not just posed photographs and empty orders.

Draft Resolution

Dear all,

Hope everyone had a great weekend (despite some catching up at work).

Posted below is a rough draft of the resolution calling for the review and amendment of the Local Government Code. Please feel free to revise.

Damcelle

RESOLUTION URGING THE CONGRESS OF THE
PHILIPPINES TO REVIEW AND ACCORDINGLY AMEND REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7160, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE OF 1991, TO MAKE IT RESPONSIVE TO THE NEEDS OF THE FILIPINOS AT THE LOCAL LEVEL

WHEREAS, Article II, Section 25 of the 1987 Constitution provides as a state policy that “(t)he State shall ensure the autonomy of local governments”;

WHEREAS, Article X of the Constitution grants local government units autonomy, the power to tax and raise revenues, and the right to a just share in national taxes, among others;

WHEREAS, Article X, Section 3 of the Constitution mandated the Congress to “enact a local government code which shall provide for a more responsive and accountable local government structure instituted through a system of decentralization…”

WHEREAS, in 1991, Congress enacted Republic Act No. 7160 (“R.A. 7160”), entitled An Act Providing for a Local Government Code of 1991;

WHEREAS, Section 521 of R.A. 7160 provides for “mandatory review of R.A. 7160 at least once every five (5) years and as often as it may deem necessary, with the primary objective of providing a more responsive and accountable local government structure”;

WHEREAS, local government units, its officials and constituents have long clamored for changes in R.A. 7160, including but not limited to the allocation and distribution of the Internal Revenue Allotment, the power of taxation and the administration and delivery of devolved services;

WHEREAS, to date, although a number of bills amending R.A. 7160 have been filed in the Senate and the House of Representatives, the Code remains unchanged and unresponsive to the present needs of the local government units and their constituents;

NOW, THEREFORE, resolved as it is hereby resolved that the participants of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation First Liberal Leadership Training Workshop strongly urge the Congress of the Philippines to review and accordingly amend the Local Government Code of 1991 to make it responsive to the needs of the Filipinos at the local government level;

ADOPTED,

PARTICIPANTS OF THE FRIEDRICH NAUMANN FOUNDATION

FIRST LIBERAL LEADERSHIP TRAINING WORKSHOP

1 September 2006

Always a better way to do it

Tomorrow, September 4, 2006, we will be going back to our jobs after the three-day Liberal Leadership Training seminar at the AIM.

ost of us are bursting at the seams with new ideas and novel approaches to the routine we’ve gotten used to through all these years.

Let’s not attempt something too big. Start small. That way, we don’t end up feeling frustrated.

Always keep in mind the principle that guided Mayor Robredo: There is a better way of doing it.

With this guiding principle, I am sure you will discover innovations that have been hanging there in your head all these years. One click of the fingers, and presto! The idea is there right before you.

We would certainly want to hear about such innovations and reforms you bring to your organization. Write a brief note about it on this blog. Before long, the idea will be expanded and enhanced, and it will come back to you a much better idea.
What are you waiting for?

“Why Run For Barangay Captain?”

Why run for barangay captain?

That is the common response I got from a couple of batchmates from the FNF Liberal Leadership Seminar when I tell them of my plan to run for barangay captain of Poblacion Lala in Lanao Norte.

Me thinks that their statement is more of a surprise remark than a question. Or is it? Whatever.

They seem to believe that I am better qualified for some higher office like councilor or vice-mayor. For that I am humbled. Really.

I have a 16-year stint in government service at the national level. I worked for the late chief justice Marcelo B. Fernan at the Supreme Court. I also served as one of this executive assistants when he was Senate president. Presently, I am the correspondence and political affairs officer at the Office of Senator Kiko Pangilinan.

Equipped with trainings from the Asian Institute of Management on Leadership and Development Management for Young Legislators (June 2006) and from this first ever FNF Leadership Manila Seminar, add to that my 16 years of government experience, why run for barangay captain?

My humble answer is simple: everything I need to learn about New Public Management in the national, provincial and municipal level, I can learn and apply them at the barangay level.

I firmly believe that our barangay deserves a great liberal leader. Though it is at the bottom of the LGU hierarchy, it is a potent force just the same — being a self-sustaining unit. (think of the concept of the “cell”)

So, why run for barangay captain only? My final answer is: why not?

I believe that the best way to ascend is to descend. I want to bring New Public Management to the barangay level and help build a strong and highly decentralized Philippine Republic.

Patrick Procianos

2006 September

Toward a citizen’s charter

It’s an idea that Prime Minister John Majors introduced in Great Britain in 1991 to streamline all government agencies and make them more efficient.

Encouraged by the success of the program in the homeland, the Embassy of Great Britain is exploring the possibility of adopting it in key LGUs of the Philippines with one purpose in mind: to make them more efficient and use it as a tool to curb corruption.

The “Citizen’s Charter” is now being piloted in six cities of the country in an earnest effort to provide citizens with a measuring standard against which performance of the LGU would be gauged, according to Erwin Krishna Santos, Senior Technical Staff, Development Academy of the Philippines.

Santos was the last speaker for the three-day seminar and his lecture elicited positive response from participants who wanted a tool to really institute positive change in their LGUs and agencies.

The project is being carried out by the DAP with financial and technical assistance of the Embassy of Great Britain.
Santos said the draft of the Citizen’s Charter as developed for the six pilot LGUs is expected to be published in October this year.

He urged participants to adopt this novel document in their LGUs as a way to transform the bureaucracy into better performing units, where service is the product and efficiency is the credo.

“It can start with simple transactions as getting a birth certificate or a manual on market services being offered to the people,” Santos said.

The idea, he said, is that there is a mutually agreed upon document by which public services can be examined for compliance and allow constituents to give feedback.

Santos divulged that the DAP is now looking at adopting the “Citizen’s Charter” program for national agencies. “This is going to be more difficult,” he said.

View and download Mr. Santos’ Powerpoint presentation.

The Robredo success formula

Jesse Robredo was just 29 years old when he was first elected as City Mayor of Naga City in 1988. With no political experience, a hostile city council, and facing a high expectation from his constituents, Robredo fought all odds to make his city the model for an entire nation in search of reform.

obredo shared an hour with participants of the Liberal Leadership Training seminar of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation to discuss the battles he had to face to transform Naga City and highlight the principles that guided his leadership.

By his own admission, Robredo came to the job with hardly any idea of the philosophy and tools of New Public Management (NPM), which was the subject he discussed during the seminar.

“It’s just the city needed dramatic change,” Robredo said of his early days. “I was also able to mobilize the private sector into helping me carry out the reforms.”

One principle that guided Robredo’s work was simple: “There is always a better way.”

The first problem Robredo confronted was a City Hall that teemed with political appointees, most of whom merely reported every 15th and 30th of the month (that’s why they are called “15-30″) to collect their salaries.

“Old politics was also the dominant theme in the city, and this was aggravated by the fact that I owed a political debt of gratitude to the former mayor,” he said.

But he plodded on despite the obstacles, and before long, Robredo changed the attitudes of City Hall employees, instilling in them a high sense of professionalism and encouraging innovation to improve public service.

“We attacked the culture of mediocrity and planted the seeds of excellence among each of the officials and employees,” he said.

He decongested the business district, making the area more conducive to trade and commerce and changing the image of City Hall to make it “business friendly”.

Robredo also institutionalized the “i-Governance” program so that all areas of public service were enhanced and constituents were given a bigger voice and participation in running the affairs of the local government.

All these achievements earned Robredo the distinction as a “Ramon Magsaysay Awardee”, one of the more prestigious international awards for outstanding public service.

After his three terms forced him to leave office, Robredo went to Harvard University for an Edward Mason Fellowship where he spent a year to learn more about public administration.

His absence from office was just three years.

In 2001, Robredo was again elected as City Mayor, and he is confident that when he steps down again, the reforms he has nurtured will have become permanent, and no matter who occupies the position as city mayor, Naga City’s way of life will never again be changed.

View and download Mayor Robredo’s Powerpoint presentation.

Feel free to post a message

I’m sure there are more ideas just floating in your minds about what we have discussed so far in this Liberal Leadership Training seminar. The time frame given to each subject is rather cramped, and there’s never enough time to ventilate our views and ask questions. This blogsite is the avenue you can use to let go of those thoughts and contribute to the interesting dialogue on liberalism and local governance. Don’t be shy. Let’s unload. Post a message now!
- The Editor

Perceptions and Economic Development

The first lecture on the second day of the Training dealt with Economic Development and Poverty Alleviation. The lecture was delivered by Rep. Hermilando I. Mandanas of the 2nd District of Batangas. Congressman Mandanas brought a fresh perspective on the topic of Economic Development for Local Govenment Units, he being a three term Governor and now a national legislator.

His main thesis: Government should get out of business. It is not government’s role to compete with private business but to help a create an environment conducive for such businesses to thrive and grow.

One interesting point he proposed was about perceptions. It is his contention that development is but a matter of perception. If the outside world perceives that an LGU is progressive, peaceful and clean, there is a strong possibility that economic development in that LGU could indeed be hastened.

The Congressman emphasized that Local Government leaders must employ improvisation in the day to day management of their localities. Leaders must learn how to recognize their strengths and build up on it.

>Having served the Provincial Government of Batangas with the Congressman a few years back and being a co-Party mate, I am witholding my comments on his lecture and instead would be posting the same on my blog at admironnie.wordpress.com

(Atty. Ronnie Geron)