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Bluebook 21st ed.

Nestor N. Pilar, Philippine Public Administration: From Classical, to New Public
Administration, to New Public Management, 52 PHIL. J. PUB. ADMIN. 308 (2008).

ALWD 7th ed.

Nestor N. Pilar, Philippine Public Administration: From Classical, to New Public
Administration, to New Public Management, 52 Phil. J. Pub. Admin. 308 (2008).

APA 7th ed.

Pilar, N. N. (2008). Philippine public administration: from classical, to new public
administration, to new public management. Philippine Journal of Public
Administration, 52(2-4), 308-318.

Chicago 17th ed.

Nestor N. Pilar, "Philippine Public Administration: From Classical, to New Public
Administration, to New Public Management," Philippine Journal of Public
Administration 52, no. 2-4 (April-October 2008): 308-318

McGill Guide 9th ed.

Nestor N. Pilar, "Philippine Public Administration: From Classical, to New Public
Administration, to New Public Management" (2008) 52:2-4 Phil J Pub Admin 308.

AGLC 4th ed.

Nestor N. Pilar, 'Philippine Public Administration: From Classical, to New Public
Administration, to New Public Management' (2008) 52(2-4) Philippine Journal of Public
Administration 308

MLA 9th ed.

Pilar, Nestor N. "Philippine Public Administration: From Classical, to New Public
Administration, to New Public Management." Philippine Journal of Public
Administration, vol. 52, no. 2-4, April-October 2008, pp. 308-318. HeinOnline.

OSCOLA 4th ed.

Nestor N. Pilar, 'Philippine Public Administration: From Classical, to New Public
Administration, to New Public Management' (2008) 52 Phil J Pub Admin 308
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 Philippine Journal of Public Administration, Vol. LII Nos. 2 - 4 (April - October 2008)

Philippine Public Administration:

From Classical,
to New Public Administration,
to New Public Management
NESTOR N. PILAR*

This article asserts that there is really a Philippine Public

Administration. It chronicles the development of the study and
practice of public administration in the country as it tries to
compare the changing nature of public administration from
Classical, to New Public Administration, and to New Public
Management. The article closes with a challenge to PA
academics and practitioners as they follow and participate with
the trends and streams of public administration and governance
in a complex environment - not only in government, but also in
business and the community.

Situational Overview

The theme invoked for colloquium writers, "Is there a Philippine

Public Administration (PPA)?" seems to proceed from a position of
uncertainty about the identity of PA. Unbelievable, but true, after
centuries of practice and a half-century of formal study.

One recalls that early on, when a PA student identified his course in
college as "public administration," the usual reaction was "what is that?"
Apparently, public administration students are still subjected to this
question. It was a normal reaction, considering the proliferation of courses
in administration - postal, customs, jail and the latter-day fields of
educational, hospital, judicial, and provincial/city/municipal
administration. In fact, I was amused to realize that in seeking
administrative assistance from the City of Los Angeles, California to ship
the remains of a compatriot to Manila, I had to deal with the Office of the
Public Administrator. Since then, I was convinced that the field of PA
encompasses human concerns from womb to tomb.

*Retired Professor of Public Administration, NCPAG, UP and currently Vice

President for Academic Affairs, National Defense College of the Philippines.
Paper presented for the public colloquium on "Is There a Philippine Public
Administration: A Timeless Issue" held on 26-27 June 2008 at the National College of
Public Administration and Governance, University of the Philippines Diliman.
FROM CLASSICAL, TO NEW PA, TO NPM 309

One side of the early struggle was to come to grips with the "identity
crisis" of public administration as a discipline. That question should have
been settled by the works of Danilo R. Reyes (1979).

Moreover, the identity of PA as a social science is bolstered by the

fact that it has been accorded membership in the Philippine Social Science
Council (PSSC) along with history, anthropology, psychology, sociology,
political science, economics, linguistics, and even ahead of other "applied"
fields such as demography and mass communications. PSSC membership
requires a strong academic (teaching and research) program and the
publication of a professional journal with the alumni or professional
association.

The other aspect of the quest for identity is the establishment of a

national distinctiveness. This is the question which the iconic works of
Raul P. de Guzman (1986) and Onofre D. Corpuz (1986) answered so
authoritatively in 1986 and which question is being revived more than two
decades later.

Is There a Philippine Public Administration?

Yes, there certainly is a Philippine public administration, as there is

an American or French variety as asserted by Raul P. de Guzman (1986).

CurricularPrograms

Backing for that claim may be found by chronicling the development

of curricular programs that straddle all levels: undergraduate (bachelor's)
and graduate (master's and doctoral) degrees.

Consider the curriculum which the Institute of Public Administration

(IPA) initiated at the baccalaureate level, followed later by the Master of
Public Administration (MPA) and the Doctor of Public Administration
(DPA) programs after the establishment of the Graduate School of Public
Administration (GSPA) which succeeded the IPA.

True, there was a strong American flavor to the early curriculum,

the University of the Philippines having collaborated with the University
of Michigan to establish the IPA in 1952 under the terms of the Bell
Mission. Shortly thereafter a faculty development program produced PA
scholars who, after replacing their expatriate counterparts, taught and
pioneered the works by Filipinos on Philippine Public Administration
(PPA) issues. These works initially focused on government reorganization,

2008
310 PHILIPPINE JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

personnel administration, and fiscal administration. As the School grew

into the College of Public Administration (CPA), its thrusts expanded into
local government administration, which spawned the Local Government
Center (LGC), now the Center for Local and Regional Governance (CLRG),
and executive development which similarly led to the establishment of the
now-defunct Philippine Executive Academy.

As the CPA expanded in response to a rising market demand, the

MPA curriculum metamorphosed into several varieties: an academic
stream requiring a thesis (MPA Plan A), a professional stream, with
specializations in organization studies, fiscal administration, policy and
program administration requiring a comprehensive examination hurdle
(MPA Plan B), and an administrator stream requiring neither a thesis nor
a comprehensive exam, but the defense of a "star" paper (MPA Plan C).
Another innovation was to add a specialization in voluntary service
management (VSM), designed for Non-Government Organization (NGO)
clientele. Further still, to locate PA in the mainstream of the
technological revolution, a program in Spatial Information Management
(SIM) was developed jointly with the ITC of the Netherlands. Finally, an
MPA program with specialization in local government administration was
offered as part of the UP Open University (UPOU) in Los Bafios.

Meanwhile, the doctoral curriculum dwelt on national development,

with focal points on the following: administrative theory, political,
economic, and social development.

The spread of public administration education throughout the

country was abetted by at least two mechanisms. The first was the UP
Management Education Council (UPMEC) which developed an
interdisciplinary graduate course in management, Master of Management
(MM). The said course offered opportunities for specializing in business,
educational or public management (with the assistance of the Colleges of
Business Administration, Public Administration, and Education). It
allowed for specialized education according to the disciplines, yet providing
common courses (e.g., Research, the Ecology of Administration, and
Human Behavior in Organization (HBO). UPMEC provided the forum for
developing textbooks in these common courses. The MM program was
delivered to regional units of the University of the Philippines System in
Baguio, Clark, Los Bafios, Tacloban, Iloilo and Cebu.

It was also the MM program which became the vehicle for CPA to
extend technical assistance to other schools offering the MPA program,
the precursor of what is now the Association of Schools of Public
Administration in the Philippines (ASPAP).

April-October
FROM CLASSICAL, TO NEW PA, TO NPM 311

In relation to proliferation of programs, their robustness should be

examined. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Fund
for Assistance to Private Education (FAPE) conducted an evaluation of
graduate education in the Philippines (EGEP) in 2003. PA appeared to
exhibit robustness along several measures, including enrolment; however,
one must take another look at current trends, as enrolment in PA
graduate and undergraduate programs may have been overtaken by that
in nursing and caregiving programs.

From the 1970s, the offering of a combined public cum business

administration such as the Master in Business and Government
Administration program was pioneered by the Ateneo de Manila
University (ADMU) Professional School. Later, Ateneo was to open its
School of Government, and so did Dela Salle University (DLSU) and the
Asian Institute of Management (AIM) initiate programs in public
management or government. The state-run Development Academy of the
Philippines (DAP) also came up with a Master of Public Management
(MPM) program.

This trend may have influenced other institutions to offer similar

graduate curricula, but all these are being said to document the
phenomenon of the 1990s and the new millennium in relation to the
advocacy for state-market-community collaboration in "governance" to
address the complex issues and problems in the changing environment.

Teaching Materials Written by Filipinos

Further backing to the claim, "yes, there is a Philippine PA," is

provided by contrasting the contents of teaching materials from the 60s to
the present, from the classical scientific management thrust, to the
present-day public management or governance.

Three locally-produced volumes depict the shifting emphases of the

field of PA. Their contents reflect the focal point of the discipline at the
time of writing.

The Management Imperative

Arsenio P. Talingdan's Public Administration and Management in the

Philippines reflects the Classical PA approach (Talingdan 1966).

The volume highlights the application to the Philippine situation of

concepts and techniques of PA practiced in the United States, Canada and
England which the author imbibed from the MPA program. The contents

2008
 PHILIPPINE JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

reflect the blend of Western PA principles as applied in Philippine

government reorganization efforts under the Government Survey and
Reorganization Commission (GSRC) in the 1950s. The consultants to the
GSRC initiative included Kroeger and Associates, and Booz, Allen and
Hamilton.

There was a true belief at the time that scientific management was
the answer to incompetence, red tape, and corruption in the Philippine
government.

The problems of Philippine PA at the time were recognized as:

circumvention of civil service rules; the spoils system

engendering inefficient management and demoralization
among the ranks
• rampant official corruption
* defects in development planning
* lack of coordination
* low standards of administrative leadership
* centralization and "passing the buck" upwards.
* weak local governments.

The prescription for administrative reform is then included:

• executive leadership, local automy, integrity and discipline

* economic development-tax structure, revenue
administration
• fiscal management
• personnel management
• organization and methods.

True to the classical approach, the formula for administrative

efficacy consisted of the importance of bureaucracy. The prescription
consisted of reforms in the management process, dynamics of leadership,
and strengthening the role of the bureau director as administrator.

The Political and Social Setting

Jose V. Abueva and Raul P. de Guzman (1969) edited a volume,

Foundations and Dynamics of Filipino Government and Politics which
embellished the management-oriented curriculum with a social science,
particularly a political, dimension (Abueva and De Guzman 1969).

April-October
FROM CLASSICAL, TO NEW PA, TO NPM 313

The volume invited PA scholars to consider their understanding of

the field to include social and cultural foundations, politics and
development, civil rights, and attitude and behavior. It also dwelt into
such political institutions as political parties, interest groups, Congress,
the Presidency, the Judiciary, the bureaucracy, local government, foreign
policy, and more importantly, the link between national development and
public policy.

Public Policy, Public Choice, on to New Public Management

The second edition of the Introduction to Public Administration in

the Philippines:A Reader edited by Victoria A. Bautista, Ma. Concepcion
P. Alfiler, Danilo R. Reyes, and Proserpina D. Tapales reintroduced the
definition and scope of the field but more importantly it heralded the
advent of new public management - a tripartite approach to public
administration - as regards the state, the market, and the community
(Bautista et al. 2003).

The content of this volume redefines the scope of the study of PA and
introduces New Public Management (NPM) concerned with reengineering
or reconstructing the functions of government.

The areas or elements comprising the field now cover public policy
and its implementation, local governance, organization studies, fiscal
administration, and voluntary service management.

Corollary to the expanded content is the advocacy for adopting such

strategies as people participation, social access, and participative
governance. Much stress is laid on public service values: administrative
and political accountability, nationalism and good governance, and public-
private partnership in poverty alleviation.

What is "Philippine" about PPA?

Since the Philippines went through a long period of colonization by

Western powers, its legal, political and administrative systems were
patterned after those of the colonizers.

It is, therefore, not surprising that even the formal study of PA

originated from America under a technical assistance program. With the
program of assistance came a program of study, models, concepts and
techniques, instructional materials, and the initial administrators of the
program and faculty coming from the University of Michigan.

2008
314 PHILIPPINE JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

It has also been noted that the teaching of PA in the country went
through a process of adaptation. A faculty development program, also
under the terms of technical assistance, soon produced the PhDs who were
to take over from the expatriates. Gradually, the program administrators
and teachers were taken over by Filipinos, and the teaching materials,
through a robust research program, were indigenized.

Perhaps the most remarkable piece of evidence to prove the

"Philippine" in PPA is the complete "Filipinization" of the textbooks.
While the volume edited by Abueva and de Guzman in 1969 was a
compendium of articles and authors largely Western in origin, the second
edition of the PA Reader edited by Bautista et al. in 2003 had an all-
Filipino authorship.

This is not to say, however, that most of the literature in the field
will now be native. What will happen may be the reverse because of the
further reduction of our planet from a "global village" to what is being
labelled as a "global sala." Unrelenting technological advances and the
availability of electronic gadgetry (satellite communication, cable
television, mobile phones, laptops and the information technology (IT)
network now bring the world virtually into one's living room or bedroom.

Through various media, PA can get continuing updates and influence

from the external environment; thus, PPA cannot be purely Philippine but
will continue to be a curious blend of elements and components emanating
from its internal and external environment.

What's the Future Like?

Let us recall how we regarded the changing nature of PA not so long

ago.

In 1982, the 3 0 th anniversary of NCPAG (and of the discipline in the

Philippines) was observed with a national conference. One of the papers
presented (by this writer) was, "The Relevance of New PA to Philippine
Public Administration." (See the matrix on the next page.)

For a quick recall, the matrix suggests that paradigmatic change in

the discipline of PA may be a function of its environment, the values
advocated or sought, the structures established, and the processes
involved in the study and practice of the discipline.

April-October
FROM CLASSICAL, TO NEW PA, TO NPM 315

Classical PA New PA
Environment. Placid, Permanent Turbulent, Temporary

Values The 3E's: Efficiency - 3E's plus: Relevance

Economy Client-Orientedness
Effectiveness Social Equity
Structures Bureaucratic Non-Bureaucratic
Processes The Triptych of: Distributive
Organization & Management Boundary-Exchange
Personnel Administration Socio-Emotional
Fiscal Administration Politics of Love

Between the 1950s and the 1970s, the environment shifted from
relative peace and a sense of stability, to a turbulent, rapidly changing and
temporary one. What was the message? One cannot use yesterday's tools
for today's problems.

The values advanced by classical PA were the 3E's: efficiency,

economy, and effectiveness. The values advanced by New PA were the
3E's plus relevance, client-orientedness, and equity. The message? PA
programs should pass not only the tests of effectiveness and economy, but
also of relevance, access to services, and meeting client needs.

Structures in use earlier were monolithic and bureaucratic, but the

new temporary environment needed flexible, self-terminating
organizations. The message? Search for and design alternatives to
bureaucracy, like task forces and project teams.

The processes of classical PA entailed the core of the field-

organization and management (0 and M), personnel, and fiscal
administration corresponding to staff functions. In contrast, the processes
of New PA were distributive (decentralized, devolved), boundary-exchange
(emphasis on line functions), socio-emotional (transcending impersonality)
and politics of love (administrators supplanting/complementing politicians
in policy and program advocacy).

In the 1990s, the post-Reagan and Thatcher era called attention to

the failures of big government particularly in protecting the natural
environment. There were calls for government to reengineer or rethink
the functions of government, of unloading to the private sector, and
stressing the tripartite coordination of state, market and civil society in
governance.

2008
316 PHILIPPINE JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

A third column is then suggested to be added to the matrix:

New Public Management

Environment Hostile

Values Sustainable development

Structures State-Market-Civil Society accord in good governance

Processes Leadership Accountability

Participatory Governance

The additional column on the New PM recognizes that the

environment of PA has moved from bad to worse, as the turbulence
intensifies into hostility. Two factors account for hostility: first, the
seriousness of threats from terrorists and the escalation in the number
and intensity of kidnapping and bombing incidents perpetrated by
international and local terrorist groups; secondly, the melting of polar
caps, the rising ocean levels, climate change, and the frequency and
destructiveness of earthquakes, tidal waves, hurricanes and cyclones.

Thus, the study and practice of PA must necessarily include risk

management, dealing with crises caused not only by natural forces
mentioned above, but by human forces as well: military coups, weapons of
mass destruction (WMD) and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear
weapons.

Clearly, within half a century, the scope of the field of study of PA

has tremendously expanded, such that the manager or leader of tomorrow
must not only be an organization man; he must have a strategic
understanding of the complex environment wherein he moves - not only
government, but also business, and community.

Potential issues and problems

The shift from classical or traditional to new public management

theories and practices poses a challenge to PA academics and
practitioners. If, in the old administrative models coordination among
only state institutions (as between the executive and legislative branches,
or between central and local governments was difficult to achieve, it
would, in the new paradigm, even be doubly difficult to successfully
orchestrate the interventions of government, business and community. A

April-October
FROM CLASSICAL, TO NEW PA, TO NPM 317

classic example of non-coordination is the conflict between church and

state in population policy formulation, and the battle for truthfulness in
the election tallies between the state commission and the volunteer
groups. Changing the locale from the national to the regional and global
configurations, part of the challenge comes from the hostility and
ferociousness of the environment on the one hand, and the capacity of
governance to contain it, on the other hand. The devastation wrought by
a cyclone upon Myanmar last May 2008 illustrates how puny the state of
preparedness of poor countries is in dealing with crises of this nature.
The problem may further be aggravated by systems of governance (as by a
military regime) that obstructs, not facilitates, the entry of offers of
external assistance.

It now appears that PA must design mechanisms that advance accord

or harmony, and eliminate discord in the processes of participating
governance.

PA, perhaps the most imperialist of the social sciences, inevitably

and inexorably pushed its frontiers or boundaries on account of
globalization. The focus on "governance" meant transcending concerns
with matters of the state, into those of the market and the larger
community. Philippine PA's first venture to break through national
boundaries was marked with the success of the Philippines to organize the
Eastern Regional Organization for Public Administration (EROPA) in the
1960s. Currently, a parallel trend in the new millennium is to further
advance a regional configuration. The last PA conference held in Manila
in December 2007 was an international meeting, with the theme "Public
Administration and Governance: Dimensions, Dynamics, Dysfunctions and
Solutions," organized by NCPAG and the Network of Asia-Pacific Schools
and Institutes of Public Administration and Governance (NAPSIPAG).
Suddenly, the Association of Schools of Public Administration (ASPAP) has
a regional counterpart in NAPSIPAG.

Will it stop there? I am not sure, as current forces appear to lead to

regional administration (ASEAN Union?). And what if it does not stop
there? Administering a planet at risk. What's next? Interplanetary and
galactic management. God forbid!

2008
318 PHILIPPINE JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

References

Abueva, Jose Veloso and Raul P de Guzman eds.

1969 Foundations and Dynamics of Filipino Government and Politics,
Manila: Bookmark.

Bautista, Victoria A. et al. eds.

2003 Public Administration in the Philippines:A Reader. 2 ,,d Edition.
Quezon City: National College of Public Administration and
Governance, University of the Philippines Diliman.

Corpuz, Onofre D.
1986 Is There a Philippine Public Administration? Philippine Journal of
Public Administration 30 (4). October 368-374.

De Guzman, Raul P.
1986 Is There a Philippine Public Administration? Philippine Journal of
Public Administration 30 (4) (October) 375-381.

Fund for Assistance to Private Education

2004 A Quality Assessment of Three Graduate Programs: Teacher
Education, Business Education and Public Administration. Evaluation
of Graduate Education in the Philippines (EGEP). Manila: Commission
on Higher Education.

Pilar, Nestor N.
1993 The Relevance of New PA in Philippine Public Administration. In
Bautista et al. eds. Introduction to Public Administration in the
Philippines: A Reader. Quezon City, Philippines: National College of
Public Administration and Governance, University of the Philippines
Diliman.

Reyes, Danilo R.
1979 The Identity Crisis in Public Administration Revisited: Some
Definitional Issues and the Philippine Setting. Philippine Journal of
Public Administration. Vol. 23, No. 1 (January). 1-19.

Talingdan, Arsenio P.
1966 Public Administration and Management in the Philippines. Quezon
City: Alemar's.

April-October