Corruption and policy implementation in the philippine a comparative analysis of the teacher training and textbook delivery programmes at the department of education

CORRUPTION AND POLICY IMPLEMENTATION
IN THE PHILIPPINES:

A C
OMPARATIVE
A
NALYSIS
O
F
T
HE
T
EACHER
T
RAINING
A
ND

T
EXTBOOK
D
ELIVERY
P
ROGRAMMES
A
T
T
HE

D
EPARTMENT

O
F
E
DUCATION











VICENTE CHUA REYES, JR.
(MA (Hon), University of New South Wales)
(MPA, University of the Philippines)
(BA, University of the Philippines)







A THESIS SUBMITTED

FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY


DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE


NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE


2005




ii

Acknowledgements
This dissertation would not have been completed without the counsel, help and
encouragement from outstanding people.

My supervisor Prof. Jon Quah, demonstrated incredible patience and
commitment in generously sharing with me his valuable time and renowned expertise
in corruption and policy implementation. His words of advice and counsel were very
helpful most especially during the critical and trying times of PhD research and
writing.

Special thanks go out to the former Secretary of the Department of Education
(DepEd), Dr. Edilberto de Jesus for allowing me to conduct a nationwide study on the

biggest bureaucracy in the Philippines. My gratitude also goes out to Undersecretary
Juan Miguel Luz, who took time out from his busy schedule to share with me his
vision for a reformed and revitalized DepEd. I would also like to thank the IMCS
Executive Director, Ms. Socorro Pilor for allowing me to spend some time
interviewing and observing the functions of the Secretariat.

Many thanks to the Regional Directors, Division Superintendents, District
Officers, school principals and teachers from Nueva Vizcaya, Cebu City and
Zamboanga City. These administrators and educators unstintingly shared their time
and experience in helping me appreciate and understand better the contributions they
continually make to the DepEd.

Very special thanks also go out to Ms. Adora Perez and Ms. Cherry Santos of
AusAID Philippines. They unwearyingly explained to me the many issues and
challenges that confront international aid agencies in the country. Without their
assistance, I would not have been able to reach out to the programme respondents and
beneficiaries in the different case areas of the study.

My eternal appreciation also goes out to the PROBE fellows from Luzon,
Visayas and Mindanao who indefatigably perform a labour of love by training their
fellow teachers in the mountains and islands within their jurisdiction. They are a
source of constant inspiration.

Inestimable assistance was also extended to me by Prof. Lee Lai To, Prof.
Kripa Sridharan, Prof. Shamsul Haque, Stephanie, Zauwiyah, Mumtaj and Sani and
the other staff members of the Political Science (PS) Department. My fellow graduate
students at the PS Department – Shaofeng, Li Dan, Gu Jing, Shibuichi, Yaping, Wei
Jia, Rongbin, Thiam Chye, Bill, Andy, Jonathan, Tracy, Kerstein, Rosa, Jiang Yang,
Huang Wei, Linda and Jingru – gave me helpful assistance on countless occasions.

I pay homage to the most important persons in my life – Dad, Mom, my
younger sister Haydee, my younger brother Volt, and to the littlest one in the family
Vivian.

Finally, I dedicate this work to Jessie: who inspires me to be the best I can be.

To all my dear friends: Godspeed!



iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS II
TABLE OF CONTENTS III
ABSTRACT VI
LIST OF TABLES IX
LIST OF FIGURES IX
CHAPTER ONE 1
INTRODUCTION 1
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 1
D
EFINING THE
R
ESEARCH
P
ROBLEM
5
S

COPE AND
S
IGNIFICANCE OF THE
S
TUDY
6
METHODOLOGY 9
Key Participants 11
Case Areas 12
Comparative Case Study Protocol 15
Data Analysis Strategy 17
Outline of the Study 21
CHAPTER TWO 23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE 23
C
ORRUPTION
:

C
ONCEPTUAL
F
RAMEWORKS
23
P
OLICY
I
MPLEMENTATION
:

C

ONCEPTUAL
F
RAMEWORK
28
C
ORRUPTION AND
P
OLICY
I
MPLEMENTATION
39
Corruption and Policy Implementation: Dominant Paradigms and Political Culture in a
Philippine Setting 43
T
OWARDS AN
A
NALYTICAL
F
RAMEWORK
:

C
ORRUPTION
-I
MPLEMENTATION
N
EXUS
54
Corruption- Implementation Nexus 56
CHAPTER THREE 66

THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (DEPED) 66
PHILIPPINE EDUCATION HISTORICAL PANORAMA: CONTINUITY AND CHANGE 67
STUDIES ON THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: HISTORICAL TURNING POINTS 70
Crisis in Education: A Continuing Dilemma 72
Roots of Education Crisis: Discontinuities in American Colonial Policy 74
ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE DEPED 77
Mission 77
Legal Basis 79
Manpower 80
Organizational Structure 83
CORRUPTION AND POLICY IMPLEMENTATION: PARADOX OF THE DEPED 91
Determinants of Implementation 95
Operational Demands 95
Nature and Availability of Resources 103
Power and Shared Authority 112
CAUSES OF CORRUPTION 118
Monopoly Opportunities 118
Discretion and compliance 123
Accountability and Incentives 129
Anti-corruption efforts: Collaboration, networks and the impact of discretionary power 136


iv

C
ONCLUSION
144
CHAPTER FOUR: 146
THE NATIONAL TEXTBOOK DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME 146
THE TEXTBOOK DELIVERY PROGRAMME 146

TDP Project Workflow 150
Failure of the TDP 151
Failure of the TDP 152
CORRUPTION-IMPLEMENTATION ANALYSIS 153
Operational Demands 157
Nature and Availability of Resources 161
Power and Shared Authority 168
C
AUSES OF
C
ORRUPTION
173
Monopoly opportunities 177
Discretion Compliance 191
Accountability incentives 196
C
ONCLUSION
202
CHAPTER FIVE: 204
THE PROGRAMME ON BASIC EDUCATION 204
PROGRAMME ON BASIC EDUCATION 204
Successes of PROBE 209
CORRUPTION-IMPLEMENTATION ANALYSIS 212
Operational Demands 214
Operational Demands 215
Nature and Availability of Resources 217
Power and Shared Authority 222
C
AUSES OF
C

ORRUPTION
227
Monopoly Opportunities 230
Monopoly Opportunities 231
Discretion compliance 237
Accountability Incentives 243
C
ONCLUSION
248
CHAPTER SIX: 250
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS: TDP AND PROBE 250
DETERMINANTS AND OBSTACLES TO IMPLEMENTATION 250
Operational Demands 250
Nature and Availability of Resources 256
Power and Shared Authority 264
CAUSES OF CORRUPTION 272
Monopoly Opportunity 273
Discretion Compliance 284
Accountability incentives 294
Complex Linkages: Breeding ground for corruption 298
Stakeholdership networks: Platform for effective implementation and anti-corruption 306
C
ONCLUSION
309
CHAPTER SEVEN: 312
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 312
T
HEORETICAL
B
ASES OF THE

S
TUDY
312
ISSUES AND CHALLENGES: CONCLUSIONS AND AREAS FOR FURTHER STUDY 317


v

R
ECOMMENDATIONS
323
A
REAS FOR
F
URTHER
S
TUDY
331
BIBLIOGRAPHY 333



vi


Abstract

In the pursuit of the Philippines to achieve development, corruption has been a
perennial obstacle. This dissertation is directed at political scientists and area studies
specialists who are interested in comprehending implementation within a setting of

widespread corruption in a Philippine context.
The Philippine Department of Education (DepEd) is considered to be one of
the nation’s most corrupt agencies. Two existing DepEd policies possess striking
similarities yet reveal diametrically-opposed implementation outputs. The Textbook
Delivery Programme (TDP) has been described a failure while the Programme on
Basic Education (PROBE) has been hailed a success.
This study accounts for the contrast of implementation performance with the
extensive use of local perspectives via the “narratives of implementation actors.”
Findings brought to light in the study provide insightful lessons on: (1) the issues and
challenges that accompany the evolution of the educational bureaucracy in the
Philippines; (2) the utility of network actor perspectives in appreciating the myriad
concerns that determine and impede implementation performance and (3) the causes
and impact of corruption and policy implementation on government programmes in
the Philippines. The study was primarily qualitative. The main data sources for the
study were the interviews undertaken with key actors of the TDP and the PROBE
complemented by official government reports and external studies related to
corruption and implementation. Three case areas corresponding to the three main
islands of the Philippines: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao were selected for the study.
This study was designed to be diachronic, as it explored the continuities and
changes that have characterized the transformations of the Department of Education


vii

(DepEd) from 1901 to the present. One of the key findings from the historical analysis
is the dominance of centralized bureaucracy and the resulting concentration of power
in the highest level that has persisted starting from the time of colonial America until
the present. Two other key conclusions derived from an historical analysis of the
education bureaucracy are: (1) the outpacing of demands for education versus supply
and (2) the unwavering—albeit unrecognized—importance of teachers in the

implementation of programmes within the bureaucracy.
This dissertation critiqued the dominant paradigms in the study of Philippine
politics. (ie Patron-client approaches, a class of powerful oligarchs, and the
proliferation of local and national bosses ) The notion of complex linkages found in
dysfunctional bureaucracies was an attempt to explore the utility of viewing
Philippine public administration not solely from the dominant “elitist” perspectives.
Two of the key findings of the thesis are (1) the existence of complex relationships
across the educational bureaucracy that are prone to collusion and corruption—which
may or may not necessarily be an offshoot of patron-client ties and (2) the existence
of empowered local actors—who may or may not necessarily be helpless against local
or national bosses nor oppressed by elite oligarchs. These complex linkages within
DepEd could be delineated in general terms between discordant and dysfunctional
pockets and stakeholdership networks. The dysfunctional pockets contribute to failure,
while the stakeholdership networks allow successful implementation to happen.
The study highlighted that the documented corruption linkages in TDP are
alarmingly high. Collusion and circumvention of procedure for private gain occurs
primarily through linkages between private publishers, unscrupulous officials from
the field offices and the school-based supply officers. The corrupt practices that occur
through these linkages usually deal with (i) falsification of records in order to obtain


viii

substantial money transactions to the disadvantage of the government; (ii) delivery of
substandard textbooks, delay in actual deliveries and of the insufficient amounts to the
disadvantage of the end-users and (iii) the misuse and diversion of resources
earmarked by the national government for specific programmes, projects and uses to
other unauthorized areas. Some other allegations of corruption such as nepotism,
favouritism and non-transparency of the use of funds have likewise been reported
though to a lesser extent in the case of the corruption linkages in PROBE. The highly-

centralized and highly-coordinated operating style of PROBE prevented corruption
from proliferating in PROBE.
The study put forth specific policy recommendations to address
implementation shortfalls and to counteract the corruption linkages within the DepEd.
A general recommendation is to use the findings as a viable source of organizational
reflection. The TDP which has been besieged by failure in certain key aspects
provides a suitable analytical starting point in diagnosing organizational and
implementation actors’ strengths and weaknesses. On the other hand, the successes of
PROBE—made more remarkable as it exists in a dysfunctional bureaucracy plagued
by corruption—provides an appropriate case study of how actors and systems can
overcome obstacles and tap on the strengths they possess in accomplishing positive
implementation results.









ix

List of Tables

Table 1: Distribution of Key Participants by Geographic Area and Group Category 12
Table 2: Simplified Version of Chase’s Assessment of Implementation Difficulties 32
Table 3: History of the Philippine Department of Education 70
Table 4 Comparative Wages In Selected Asian Countries As of July 26, 2005 82
Table 5: Comparative Analysis of No. of Teachers/Population Density 90

Table 6: Status of Implementation and Incidences of Corruption (Zero Order Table) 94
Table 7: Implementation and Corruption with controlling variable Complex Linkages 99
Table 8: Implementation and Corruption with controlling variable ROLE 108
Table 9: Implementation and Corruption with controlling variable LOCALE 113
Table 10: Cases Filed with the Office of the Ombudsman 135
Table 11: Total Workload and Status of Cases Filed with the Sandiganbayan 136
Table 12: Status of Implementation with TDP Membership 154
Table 13: Status of Implementation with PROBE Membership 213
Table 14: Comparative Perspective of TDP and PROBE 271
Table 15: Implementation and Corruption with Program Participation 273
Table 16: Implementation and Corruption with Complex Linkages 299
Table 17: TDP and PROBE Causes of Corruption 309


List of Figures

Figure 1: Data Analysis Approach of the Study 21
Figure 2: Dimensions of Policy Implementation 29
Figure 3: Determinants and Obstacles to Implementation 62
Figure 4: Causes of Corruption 63
Figure 5: Conceptual Map in analysing corruption and implementation 64
Figure 6: Organizational Setup of the DepEd 85
Figure 7: National Textbook Delivery Programme Workflow/Feedback 151
Figure 8: TDP Authority Flow 156
Figure 9: TDP Authority and Coordination Linkages 162
Figure 10: TDP Authority-Coordination-Service/Delivery Linkages 169
Figure 11 TDP Authority-Coordination-Service/Delivery-Corruption Linkages 176
Figure 12: Philippines-Australia PROBE 209
Figure 13: PROBE Authority Linkages 214
Figure 14: PROBE Authority-Coordination Linkages 218

Figure 15: PROBE Authority-Coordination-Service/Delivery Linkages 224
Figure 16: PROBE Authority-Coordination-Service/Delivery-Corruption Linkages 230



- 1 -


CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Introduction and Background of the Study

The original Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) founding members or
ASEAN 5 as an entirety has experienced phenomenal economic performance from the
1970s to the present. These developing countries have also been proclaimed as
models of social development. Most of the countries in the region have been lauded
for exemplary performance particularly in the implementation of economic and social
development policies. However, one particular country within the region experienced
an ambivalent performance as regards policy implementation – the Philippines. Once
heralded as a very promising nation in the 1960s and 1970s, the country today has
been often referred to as the “sick man of Asia.” Not only has it suffered from chronic
deficits in the effective implementation of economic policies; it also has lagged
behind most of its neighbours in implementing vital redistributive social policies.
A recent study by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated that “among
its ASEAN neighbours, the Philippines is notable both for its very high poverty
incidence, especially when measured relative to total basic expenditure rather than
just expenditure on food, and for its very slow progress in reducing the rate of
poverty.”

1
The IMF study aptly implied the ineffectiveness of existing economic
policies in addressing the fundamental challenge of poverty in the country. Faulty

1
Philip Gerson, "Poverty, Income Distribution and Economic Policy in the Philippines," Finance and
Development, Vol. 35, No. 3 (1998): 4.


2

economic policies (i.e. the unsuccessful and imbalanced import substitution policy of
the 1970s) and a highly entrenched elite class unwilling to relinquish vast amounts of
property for a more socially equitable wealth distribution (i.e. the faulty and
incomplete implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Programme –
CARP) have been identified as two of the causes for the continued lackadaisical
economic growth of the country. The same report states that “looking beyond peso
income and expenditure, the performance of the Philippines in improving human
development indicators has also been slow relative to other Asian countries.”
2
Not
only does the IMF report identify economic policy as ineffectual; it also declared that
policies designed to uplift human development have been dismal as well.
A succinct analysis of one of the major implementation pitfalls besieging the
Philippines is that “it operates under conditions of extreme scarcity.”
3
The size, scope
and vast differences that characterize the geographic and cultural landscape render the
bureaucracy in a situation where it experiences difficulties in delivering much needed
services to its populace. What makes matters more acute is that within a situation of

“extreme scarcity,” the Philippines has in the past – and most especially beginning
during the 1950s till the present – suffered from chronic and debilitating corruption.
Quah has even stated that the problem of corruption in the country “is a way of life.”
4

In the latest Transparency International’s study on the “Ten Most Corrupt Leaders,”
the Philippines earned the dubious distinction of having two of its ex-Presidents in the
list: Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Ejercito Estrada.
5
Quah adds that “corruption is a
serious obstacle to policy implementation because scarce resources are wasted on

2
Ibid., p. 7.
3
Jon S. T. Quah, "Public Bureaucracy and Policy Implementation in Singapore," Southeast Asian Journal
of Social Science, Vol. 15, No. 2 (1987): xiii.
4
Jon S. T. Quah, Curbing Corruption in Asia: A Comparative Study of Six Countries (Singapore: Eastern
Universities Press, 2003), p. 81.
5
Robin Hodess et al., Global Corruption Report 2004 (London: Pluto Press, 2004), p.13.


3

bribes and not on the prescribed activities, and delays are quite common and do not
contribute to the swift implementation of public policies.”
6
A serious attempt to

analyze policy implementation deficits in a Philippine setting requires an explicit
recognition of the almost ubiquitous impact of corruption.
It is this situation of scarcity experienced by the government – the primary
source of service-delivery in a developing country like the Philippines – and
exacerbated by the prevalence of corruption where it has become a “way of life”
where two other alternative agents of service-delivery emerge: international
organizations and civil society. Cariño states that the “delivery of public goods and
services is not limited to the government. Both the private sector and civil society are
actively engaged in the production, marketing and distribution of public goods.”
7
One
of the most dominant exponents of civil society in the Philippine context without
doubt would be the non-government organizations (NGOs). Chronic deficits in the
provision of services of the state have resulted in the emergence of NGOs as an
alternative delivery system for the state. Shigetomi states that “the existence of people
who have been left out by both the market and the state seems to be the most
fundamental factor behind the establishment and continued existence of NGOs.”
8

It is also within the context of an ineffective government perennially plagued
by corruption where international organizations enter the picture: “as economic
globalization proceeds, and as political and administrative relations between countries
grow closer and stronger, issues concerning development, which were once domestic
problems, are being affected ever more profoundly by international agreements and

6
Quah, "Public Bureaucracy and Policy Implementation in Singapore." p. 89.
7
Ledivina Cariño, "The Concept of Governance," in Public Administration in the Philippines: A Reader 2
nd

Edition, ed. V. Bautista, et al., (Quezon City: National College of Public Administration and Governance,
2003), p. 70.
8
Shinichi Shigetomi, "The State and NGOs: Issues and Analytical Framework," in The State and NGOs: A
Perspective from Asia, ed. S. Shigetomi, (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2002), p.2.


4

international consensus.”
9
Haque arguing about the decreasing “publicness” of public
bureaucracies says that international organizations have played a “significant role in
popularizing the ‘miracle’ of market forces and reinforcing an unfavourable public
perception of state agencies.”
10
In a period of increased globalization, international
organizations have thus become a major factor in the implementation of domestic
issues of development concerning nations. Galicia has noted that the Philippines,
which is indebted to the IMF,
11
provides numerous examples of varying degrees of
interventions of international organizations like the IMF, in the implementation of
national development goals.
12

It is within this context that this proposed study is situated. One of the
challenges posed by experts on the future of the region is the ability of most of its
nations, known to be traditionally state-centred, to be able to increase understanding

and collaboration with international institutions which are above the level of the state
and with civil society that are below the level of the state. This study seeks to study
the dynamics of policy implementation, corruption and the interaction of government,
civil society organisations and international institutions. More specifically, the project
explores and analyzes corruption and policy implementation within a Southeast Asian
setting—with a specific concentration on the Philippines—and how government
interacts with civil society and international institutions.


9
Ibid., p. 22.
10
Shamsul Haque, "The Diminishing Publicness of Public Service under the Current Mode of
Governance," Public Administration Review, Vol. 16, No. 1 (January / February 2001): 73.
11
Debt service is the single highest budgeting item in the resource appropriations of the government.
Although the Philippines’ allocation has shrunk in the 1990s (in contrast to the 1980s, when the world debt
crisis broke out), it still remains, the top item in the national budget, with an average share of 33 percent
between 1990 and 1997, implying that the national budget has scanty resources for use elsewhere. See R.
C. Galicia, "Deep in Debt, Staggering in Debt Payment," Community and Habitat, Vol. 7 (2000): 42.
12
An example of this would be the Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP) advocated by the IMF that
called for spending cutbacks by the Philippine government. See Galicia, “Deep in Debt, Staggering in Debt
Payment”, p. 43.


5

Defining the Research Problem
The Philippine Department of Education (DepEd) is considered to be one of the most

corrupt national agencies of the Philippines.
13
Two existing DepEd policies possess
common characteristics. The National Textbook Delivery Programme (TDP) and the
Programme on Basic Education (PROBE) are programmes that involve three
dominant policy actors, namely: (1) the government (which for this particular study
can be broken down to the state bureaucracy; the local government units and the
legislature); (2) international organizations and (3) civil society represented by NGOs
or private organizations. Despite their similarity, the implementation performance or
effectiveness of both programmes is very different. The TDP has been described as
suffering from chronic malfunction, whereas the PROBE has been acknowledged as a
triumphant example of implementation. The study accounts for the stark contrast of
implementation outputs between two programmes whose elements assume striking
resemblance within the same corrupt national agency. Specifically, the study
addresses three main questions, namely:
1. What is the status of implementation of the TDP and PROBE?
2. What are the causes and consequences of corruption to
implementation?
3. What are other causal factors that determine the success or failure of
implementation in both programmes?
The study argues that the linkage between the variance in the outputs of TDP
and PROBE is linked to what the study refers to as the processes or the determinants
and obstacles to implementation. In other words, the success and failure of TDP and

13
Ledivina Cariño et al., "Initiatives Taken against Corruption: The Philippine Case," in Programme for
Accountability and Transparency (Pact) of the Management Development and Governance Division (New
York: United Nations Development Programme, 1998), p. 28.

6

PROBE as the dependent variable is caused by the degree of cooperation and conflict
present in the independent variable identified collectively as the determinants and
obstacles to implementation. More importantly, the study contends that the causes of
corruption, as intervening variables, exacerbate or mitigate the policy implementation
outputs of the dependent variable.
Scope and Significance of the Study
The study addresses some of the salient points that Lester, Bowman, Goggin and
O’Toole describe as the desired implementation studies of the next generation. Lester
et al. describe that “future research on policy implementation can benefit from
utilizing research designs that are genuinely comparative (i.e. across the fifty
American states), diachronic (i.e. across periods of a decade or more) and across
policy types (i.e., distributive, redistributive and regulatory).”
14

The particular area in public administration that is addressed is corruption and
policy implementation and its relation to the increasing tension between international
organizations and civil society organizations represented by private organizations and
domestic and global NGOs. Two different policy types (distributive and
developmental) that have been afflicted with the negative impacts of corruption in the
implementation of policy are the foci of the project. These are: (1) policies to effect
the delivery of essential public goods – textbooks for approximately 15 million
Filipino school children; and (2) policies to promote education reform unfettered from
corruption scandals – teacher training for public school teachers. In a developing
nation like the Philippines the need to shore up its material resources and to undertake
massive investments in human capital are paramount. Consequently this study focuses

14
James P. Lester et al., "Public Policy Implementation: Evolution of the Field and Agenda for Future

Research," Policy Studies Review, Vol. 7 (Autumn 1987): 211.


7

on these two imperatives: strategic use of scarce wealth and efficacious investment in
human development. The DepEd is the site of these two policies. In this research, a
diachronic scrutiny of the organizational highlights of the agency as it evolved from
the original Department of Public Instruction in 1901, to the DepEd in 1947,
subsequently to the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) in 1991 and
back to its present form of DepEd since 2002 will complement the policy
implementation analysis.
15
This study is comparative as it undertakes an evaluation of
the effectiveness of policy implementation across the three main islands of the
Philippines. More importantly, qualitative case studies of the two different policies in
action are emphasised as they occur in different geographical contexts within the
archipelago.
The study also seeks to supplement a gap in implementation studies as most
of these are non-Asia centric since they are dominated by North American and
European literature.
16
It undertakes a comparative policy implementation analysis
from a Southeast Asian perspective by using the Philippines as the focal study area. It
scrutinizes the influence of international organizations, civil society represented by
private organizations and non-government organizations as well as the government:
national agencies; members of the legislature and local government units in
implementing policy within a setting of systemic corruption. The study also intends to
interrogate current perspectives in Philippine politics.
Finnemore and Sikkink

17
point out the importance of professional interactions
between international organizations, bureaucrats and networks of NGOs in the

15
Tessie Oreta, "Can a 20
th
Century Bureaucracy Meet the Challenges of a 21
st
Century Learning
Revolution?" The Human Development Legislator, Vol. II, No. 6 (June 2001): 3.
16
Quah, "Public Bureaucracy and Policy Implementation in Singapore." p. viii.
17
Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink, "International Norm Dynamics and Political Change,"
International Organization, Vol. 52, No. 4 (Autumn 1998): 887-917.


8

promotion of norms in organizations. Both writers also emphasize the impact of states,
international organizations, civil society and networks of NGOs as agents of
socialization.
18
Checkel underscored that in many instances international
organizations and civil society groups can “trump states and their powers.”
19

Ortiz provided an insightful glimpse of the increasing relevance of studies
targeted at exploring the interaction of state, civil society and international

organizations. Her study was an in-depth analysis of participatory development
planning among various levels of local chief executives, NGOs and multilateral
international institutions in the Bondoc peninsula of the Quezon province. She
discovered two dominant patterns: “One pattern noted was that the mechanisms for
civil society participation in governance through local special bodies as mandated by
the Local Government Code (LGC) had begun to be institutionalized. Another pattern
that emerged was that local governments in the area became more open in seeking out
more effective ways of collaboration and cooperation with other sectors.”
20
In
exploring the possible trajectories in Philippine political perspectives, the localized
arena of government emerges as a promising field that this study explores in greater
detail.
Ortiz hinted at an emerging pattern of systematized and institutionalized
collaboration and cooperation between civil society and other sectors in the field of
governance in the Philippines. She explained that the enactment of the LGC had
provided an initial enabling environment for the cooperative and collaborative setup
to take place. The DepEd as the largest bureaucratic organisations in the Philippines

18
Ibid., p. 887.
19
Jeffrey Checkel, "The Constructivist Turn in International Relations Theory," World Politics, Vol. 50,
No. 2 (January 1998): 324-348.
20
Jacqueline Ortiz, "Participatory Development Planning: The Bondoc Development Programme
Experience", (Ph.D Dissertation, National College of Public Administration and Governance, University of
the Philippines, 2002), p. 332.

9

has also been significantly affected by the enactment of the LGC. This study intends
to build on and validate some of Ortiz’s findings.
In the pursuit of the Philippines to achieve its development goals, graft and
corruption has been a perennial stumbling block. The report of the Ombudsman of the
Philippines in 2002 observed that: “Graft and corruption continue to be pervasive in
the Philippines, the government has lost an estimated $48 billion to corrupt practices
over the last twenty years.”
21
The study intends to make a contribution in
understanding better the issues of corruption and its impact on the implementation of
policies in the Philippines.
The study is envisioned to address an audience of political scientists,
researchers on corruption and area studies specialists interested in probing the
influence of civil society, particularly NGOs, and international institutions to
implementation issues in a Philippine perspective. Political science literature has
produced a plethora of descriptions of the exchanges between governments,
international institutions and non-government organizations. Studies on the impact of
these exchanges on policy implementation within a context of systemic corruption
and with a focus on the impact of local political actors are only emerging. The study
hopes to make a contribution in understanding better the elements of implementation
that occur between these entities within a setting of widespread corruption.
Methodology

This study sought to complement existing scholarship on the implementation of
policy especially within an interactive context where the government, NGOs and

21
Office of the Ombudsman, "A Snapshot of Philippine Governance: Status Programs and Guidelines,"

Philippine Country Management Unit East Asia and Pacific Regional Office of the World Bank;
Combating Corruption in the Philippines: An Update, September 2001), p. 3.


10

international organizations are involved and where rampant corruption exists. Three
main research queries, supported by specific questions, are enumerated below:
(1) What is the status of implementation of the TDP and PROBE of the
DepEd?
(i) What are the major organizational transformations of the
DepEd that impinge on the implementation of the TDP and PROBE?
(ii) What is the extent of the impact of the organization and the
environment of specific implementation sites on the implementation of both
programmes?
(2) What are the causes and consequences of corruption in the TDP and
PROBE of the DepEd?
(i) What are the causes of corruption in the implementation of
TDP and PROBE?
(ii) What are the issues and challenges faced by policy actors in the
two settings as consequences of corruption?
(3) What are the other causes that determine the success or failure of
implementation in both programmes?
(i) What are the processes that lead to successful or failed
implementation in the two policy settings?
(iii) What other factors could be identified as the causes of the
variance in implementation processes?
The study posits that the variance in the outputs of TDP and PROBE as the
dependent variable is linked to the independent variable identified collectively as the
determinants and obstacles to implementation. More significantly, the study further

11

highlights that the causes of corruption, as intervening variables, impinge on the
policy implementation output of the TDP and PROBE as the dependent variable.
The answers as well as the issues and challenges that would result after
engaging the above questions would be useful in re-examining the outputs and
processes involved in the implementation of selected programmes of the DepEd.
Key Participants
Sixty-three key participants (originally seventy-four were selected but eleven were
eventually discarded) were purposively selected for this study.
22
The interviews with
the respondents were semi-structured. The average duration for the interviews lasted
from an hour to two hours. Interviewees were encouraged to talk about their
experiences in relation to the implementation of the two selected policies of this study.
This approach was attempted to capture the personal narratives of the different actors
in the implementation process. This is the chief objective of the field work as an
alternative and potent method to discover the political processes involved in
implementation from the perspective of the actor. Hack underscores the utility of
personal narratives:
Personal narratives illustrate a central aspect of crises of authority; that
points of contention and so resolution often rest on questions of
identity, particularly on a sense of injustice which crystallizes identities
in opposition to the state, fuelling demands for autonomy, influence,
access to power and resources.
23

The key participants were classified into six main groups – corresponding to
the policy implementation actors identified for the study, namely: (1) DepEd
representatives (broken down to national, regional, division and district); (2)

22
In order to honour the confidence of those persons who were interviewed in the course of this research,
their names, and complete job designations are omitted here. Nonetheless, where data source is reported
from an interview, the interviewee is identified by their position.
23
Karl Hack, "Life Histories, Identity and Crises of Authority in Southeast Asia," IIAS Newsletter, Vol. 34
(July 2004): 20.


12

Legislator representatives; (3) Private Sector representatives (broken down to the
three main geographic areas); (4) Civil Society representatives (broken down to the
three main geographic areas); (5) International Organization representatives and (6)
Local Government Representatives (broken down to the three main geographic areas).
Table 1 below provides details of the interviewees.
Table 1: Distribution of Key Participants by Geographic Area and Group Category
Geographic Area Key Participants
National (13)
PROBE – (5)
TDP – (11)
- DepEd - 6
- Civil Society Organization - 1
- International Organization Rep. - 3
- Legislator - 2
- Private Sector Rep. – 1

- Local Government Rep. - 0
Luzon (17)
PROBE – (10)
TDP – (7)
- DepEd - 14
- Civil Society Organization - 1
- International Organization Rep. - 0
- Legislator - 0
- Private Sector Rep. – 1
- Local Government Rep. - 1
Visayas (15)
PROBE – (9)
TDP – (6)
- DepEd - 12
- Civil Society Organization - 1
- International Organization Rep. - 0
- Legislator - 0
- Private Sector Rep. – 1
- Local Government Rep. - 1
Mindanao (18)
PROBE – (9)
TDP – (9)
- DepEd - 15
- Civil Society Organization - 1
- International Organization Rep. - 0
- Legislator - 0
- Private Sector Rep. – 1
- Local Government Rep. - 1
(63) Key Participants
PROBE – (30)

TDP – (29
)
Notes:
1. Some of the key participants are both with PROBE and TDP
2. Most DepEd Key Participants belong to the school (School Teachers & Principals). The others
come from DepEd field offices and to Teacher Education Institutes (TEIs) attached to DepEd.
Case Areas

The three main islands of the Philippines, namely Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao are
the policy implementation sites of both the TDP and the PROBE. Two schools each
from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao were purposively chosen for the field work. The
PROBE programme only covered selected depressed regions in the Philippines. On
the other hand, the TDP covered all the public schools in the entire archipelago.
Consequently, the first stage of the purposive sample required the identification of
two PROBE schools from each one of the three main islands. For Luzon, Bayombong
municipality from the predominantly agricultural and impoverished province of
Nueva Vizcaya was chosen. For Visayas, the highly urban Cebu City which houses
both rich and destitute was picked. For Mindanao, the restive and coastal city of
Zamboanga, racked by successive terrorist attacks that have left its economy in
shambles was selected. The second stage of the purposive sample required the


13

identification and the acquisition of the necessary approval of one elementary and one
high school from the three identified areas that were under PROBE. The schools and
the subsequent interviewees that were eventually chosen were the ones agreed upon
by the researcher, DepEd National as well as Regional Offices and PROBE. In
choosing the schools and interviewees, four criteria were constantly reiterated:
1. Purposive proportional quota sampling for the selected schools, in other

words there were equal numbers of TDP participating teachers and PROBE teachers
working in the respective schools chosen for the cases.
2. Accessibility of schools (i.e. quite a number of the PROBE schools were
isolated and not easily accessible)
3. Availability of school principals and teachers (i.e. DepEd National Office
sent out an official memorandum to all PROBE schools and those who responded
positively were short-listed) and
4. Representativeness of school sites (i.e. for each of the three case areas, one
school represented primary levels and the other high school levels).
A total of thirteen (13) key respondents from Metro Manila –coming from the
DepEd Central Office, and the main headquarters of the international organizations,
private sector partners and civil society groups were likewise included in the field
work. Below are details of the breakdown of the case areas:
a. National
(i) DepEd Central Office
(ii) Headquarters of Australian Agency for International
Development (AusAID) in the Philippines (for PROBE)
(iii) Headquarters of the World Bank in the Philippines (for TDP)


14

(iv) Headquarters of Civil Society Groups (Procurement Watch and
Transparency and Accountability in Government-TAG
Network)
(v) Central Office of Private Publishers
b. Luzon
(i) DepEd Offices (Regional, Division and District)
(ii) Nueva Vizcaya Central High School (NVCHS) and
Bayombong Elementary School

(iii) St. Mary’s University (Teacher Education Institute- part of
PROBE)
(iv) Provincial Office of Civil Society Group (National Movement
for Free Elections- NAMFREL)
(v) Provincial representative of private publisher
c. Visayas
(i) DepEd Offices (Regional, Division and District)
(ii) Zapatera High School and Punta Princesa Elementary School
(iii) University of San Carlos (Teacher Education Institute- part of
PROBE)
(iv) Provincial Office of Civil Society Group (National Movement
for Free Elections- NAMFREL)
(v) Provincial representative of private publisher
d. Mindanao
(i) DepEd Offices (Regional, Division and District)
(ii) Zamboanga City National High School and Tetuan Elementary
School


15

(iii) Ateneo de Zamboanga (Teacher Education Institute- part of
PROBE)
(iv) Provincial Office of Civil Society Group (National Movement
for Free Elections- NAMFREL)
(v) Provincial representative of private publisher
Comparative Case Study Protocol
The foremost source of data for the study was the in-depth interviews completed with
all the sixty-three key participants. The interview transcripts were used in the conduct
of exhaustive content analyses. All sixty-three key participants were provided copies

of the semi-structured interviews and the request for interviews that were sent to them
through the proper channels. The main areas of inquiry revolved around three central
topics: (i) the status of the TDP and PROBE; (ii) the variances in the outputs of
PROBE and TDP and the (iii) variances in the processes of the TDP and PROBE.
24

These questions were then re-arranged and re-phrased into five key query groups. The
details of the basic outline of the semi-structured interview questions varied in
accordance with the respondents’ position in relation to both the TDP and PROBE.
25

However, the questions followed a common design.
The five key query groups correspond to the general set of questions that were
raised during the in-depth interviews and participant-observation exercises. These are
arranged in the order below:

24
The impact of corruption was invariably dealt with in all of the interviews that were conducted.
However, in order to avoid generating “guarded” responses, this issue was never explicitly stated in the
official correspondence submitted to the DepEd requesting for interviews and observations of the three
case areas.
25
See Annex A: Questionnaires for Semi-Structured Case Interviews Set 1 and 2.


16

(1) The first key group of questions inquired on the duties and
responsibilities that the respondents played in the implementation of
policy.

(2) The second key group of questions probed on the functions they and
their organizations followed in implementing policy.
(3) The third key group of questions explored the mission – or what the
respondents thought were the mission and objectives of PROBE and
TDP.
(4) The fourth key group of questions surveyed the strengths and
weaknesses that the respondents encountered during the
implementation of policy.
(5) The fifth key group of questions formed on lessons learned,
suggestions and recommendations that the respondents may have
experienced or contemplated on in relation to the implementation of
policy.
Of the original seventy-four key respondents, three of the key respondents
(TDP respondents from the Visayas) expressed apprehension in allowing their ideas
to be used or quoted in the research and eight (five PROBE and three TDP
respondents from Mindanao) of the recorded interviews were done on substandard
audio cassette tapes, which could no longer be used. Thus, the final number of
respondents is sixty-three.

Threats to Internal and External Validity
The nature of the field research of this study and the specific case study protocol
presented above exposed two possible threats to internal validity: selection bias and