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UNDERLYING PROBLEMS OF PHILIPPINE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 1

Underlying Problems of Public Administration


Since time immemorial, the country has been facing massive problems that had put the different
administrations in the limelight to be criticized by the judging eyes of the Filipino people. What has led to
this problems, different reasons are being stated and blamed for what is happening with the public
administration in the country. These problems not only tested the competence of the current
administration but also resulted to the loss of public trust. Because of this, a greater challenge is now
faced by the public administration, a challenge to prove that these problems could be solved and also to
prove to the Filipinos that these solutions are not just merely short term or so-called band-aid solutions
but are long-term and effective solutions to address the existing problems and earning back public trust
as well. This paper will tackle the main problems that are commonly identified with the public
administration and then it will delve into the underlying problem/s that comes with it with a focus on the
Philippine Public Administration.
Public Administration entails civil servants implementing a specified policy within the confines of a
government executive framework. (PublicAdministration.net, 2014) It serves as a body primarily
concerned with implementation of government policies. It involves all the activities of the government. It
should enact what is expected from it by the people, it could be a social service for the basic welfare or
an act of providing security for the people. According to Woodrow Wilson,
Administration is the most obvious part of government; it is government in action, it is the executive, the
operative and the most visible side of the government.
It is true that it is the most judged part of the government. Criticisms never end for the administration
as it is the branch in which people could easily tell if its doing something or not. However, it is
acknowledged that public administration is often misjudged by the people due to high expectations from
it. There are many problems that concern the Philippine Public Administration so I decided to discuss the
problems which encompasses all the others. The problems were trimmed down into the following: graft
and corruption, red tape and padrino system. These are also the most commonly associated in almost all
branches of public administration. According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, corruption means a
dishonest or illegal behaviour especially by powerful people (such as government officials or police
officers), it is also the act of corrupting someone or something. Surprisingly, even the dictionaries prove
how deeply-embedded corruption is in the different cultures and how the people perceive what
corruption is. According to Investopedia,
Dishonest behavior by those in positions of power, such as managers or government officials. Corruption
can include giving or accepting bribes or inappropriate gifts, double dealing, under-the-table transactions,
manipulating elections, diverting funds, laundering money and defrauding investors. One example of
corruption in the world of finance would be an investment manager who is actually running a ponzi
scheme.
(Investopedia US, A Division of IAC. , 2014)
Corruption is the most non-tolerable type of administrative problem as it involves unethical usage of
public funds for private purposes. It goes from as simple as bringing home of excess supplies from
government offices to as grave as creating ghost projects for ghost beneficiaries and hiring ghost suppliers
which costs millions of public funds. It has been a result of the administrative lack of required transparency
which lets the government officials have their own discretion when it comes to the use of public funds.
These funds are wasted and instead of being used to help uplift the lives of the poor by allocating the
funds to basic social services, are now being used to fund the luxurious lives of the children of politicians
and their accomplices which include private jet trips for fun, around the world tours, luxury cars, designer
clothes, shoes and bags and Grammys and Oscars tickets. The next administrative problem is the existence
of red tape system in the administration. Red tape is the excessive bureaucracy or adherence to rules and
formalities, esp. in public businesses. It hinders the administration or a certain bureaucracy from
functioning fast as the processes are long and must be followed when sometimes, the conditions does
not even apply. An example of this would be the steps followed in the Bureau of Internal Revenue when
it comes to people requesting for a Certificate of Non-Filling of Income Tax Return. As this document is
seldom requested due to fact that this is only needed as a requirement in some Scholarship granting
institutions, the Bureau does not pay attention to it and havent devised a separate framework consist of
the processes and requirements in order to request one. In this case, people who request such a
document are either told that the Bureau does not cater to such request and people are told to go to their
respective Local Government Units because according to them, it is the LGUs task. Some, on the other
hand, are told that they have to complete certain requirements. The requirements list that is given to
them is a list of requirements for people requesting for an Income Tax Return. From here, we can predict
the next scenarios. Possible outcomes involve requirements which are not applicable to the person
requesting the document, a different document given to those who requested or worse, the people who
were told to proceed to their respective LGUs are told by the LGU officials that the document they need
should be requested from the Bureau of Internal Revenue. So they have no other choice but to go back to
the Bureau and request for the second time and they will be told the same thing again. Imagine the hassle
right?

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