Introduction to Politics and Governance Maria Elissa J. Lao
Summary
Politics
of Lecture
Politics as the art of government Politics as Public Affairs Politics as compromise and consensus Politics as Power
Politics in the Philippine Context
Legitimacy, Authority and the ED S A revolution(s)
National
Budget
How do you spend 1.414 trillion pesos?
P158,210,142,000 Department of Education (DepEd (DepEd)) P129,890,023,000 Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH P62,937,459,000 Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) P56,483,128,000 Department of National Defense (DND)
10 B Economic Stimulus Fund (ESF)
P302.65 billion, or 21% of the P1.4P1.4-trillion budget will go for interest payments of outstanding debts
P378.87 billion earmarked as offoff -budget allocation for principal amortization of debts, which will ³rolled over´ by P437.086P437.086-billion worth of new borrowings
The
Power of Impoundment - Section 38, Book VI of the budget law as derived from Section 43 of PD1177 ensures that the President can refuse to alloca te the money Congress appropriated. The
Power to Reallocate ³Savings´ - Section 39, Book VI of the budget law as derived from Sections 44 and 45 of PD 1177, empowers the President to channel savings to cover deficits of other items in the budget. The
Power to Line-Veto - Article VI, Section 27(2) of the 1987 Constitution, which is similar to Article VIII, Section 20(2) of Marcos¶ 1973 Philippine Constitution, guarantees the power of the executive to veto specific items of the budget while retaining the others. The
Power to Reenact Budget through Vetoing - Article VI, Section 25(7) of the 1987 Constitution, which is similar to Article VIII, Section 16(6) of Marcos¶ 1973 Philippine Constitution, allows the President to reenact budgets shoul d Congress fail to override a presidential veto of the budget. The
Power to Unilaterally Contract Loans - Article VII, Section 20 of the 1987 Constitution, which is similar to Article IX, Section 15 of Marcos¶ 1973 Philippine Constitution, allows the presidency to raise as much money as she can, using future revenue-generation capacity as collateral.
National Government Debt per Filipino (using end-Oct 2007 NG Debt and NSO projected 2007 population)
P 42, 819.42
Debt Servicing per minute (using data on Interest and Principal payments on 2007) External Debt as % of GDP (using NSCB 2007GDP data and external debt data as of Sep 2007 from BSP)
P 1,165,898.02
in billion pesos
per capita
Debt Service 612.80
P 6,908.15
303.30
P 3,419.11
309.50
P 3,489.03
164.10
P 1,849.96
18.36
P 206.93
8.83
P 99.52
35.55
P 400.79
55.3
P 624.27
2.5
P 28.33
53.81
P 606.55
Interest Payments Principal Amortization Education, Culture and Manpower Development Health
Natural Resources and the Environment
Agriculture and Agrarian Reform Social Security, Welfare and Employment Housing and Community Development Military
Public/Private divide
Public
Private
Sovereign
Voluntary
Political
Contractual
Government
Market
Imposed
Consensual
Unilateral
Multilateral
Constrained by Political Authority
Constrained by economic authority
Criteria
Public Ad
Private Ad
Goal/mission
Public service
Profit
Relations to environment
to public scrutiny, demands, expectations, pol. pressures
Less exposed to public inspection, internal processes are kept from public, response to public guided by market
accountability
Accountable to public, transparency in transactions is expected
Management accountable to owners of firms/corporations
Measure of performance
Performance difficult to measure, GP satisfaction is the gauge, improvements in Q of life
Profits is the bottomline
Public goods ± basically open to all
Private goods ±availment based on one¶s ability to pay
Nature of
goods/services
Subject
Politics is a Form of Decision Making
Politics is concerned with power
In larger systems, it is concerned with government
The
most important political decisions are concerned with the ordering and regulating of society itself
Political Decision Making Devices
Disagreement or conflict
Goals and values
Means to achieve it
Shared
values (especially a belief in the need to preserve the system itself)
Effort to build a consensus, or a push to reach an accommodation, compromise, or some sort of agreement on policy decisions
³Political systems are characterized by a general consensus that the system itself is worth preserving´
Value is enough
System
is malleable
Political Decision Making Devices
Competing groups
Groups and alliances
Levels/units of analysis
POWER
In a political process, the relative power of the people and groups is as important to the final outcome as the appeal of the goals they seek or the cogency and wisdom of their arguments
1. No window hours: Makati, Malabon and Las Pinas. Number Coding is in effect from 7 am to 7 pm! No number coding: Taguig, Marikina and Paranaque. So, feel free to 2. roam around these cities anytime. 3. Pasig City has window hours of 9 am to 4 pm (note the 1 hour additional to the normal 10 am-3 pm window). <> San Juan has window hours now according to MMDA website. 4. 5. Pasay City is implementing Number Coding except on the following roads: Ninoy Aquino Avenue, MIA Road, Domestic Road, Portions of Airport Road, Sales Road, Tramo. 6. EDS A, C5, Pres. Diosdado Macapagal Avenue, Roxas Blvd (Pasay) have window hours regardless of the city (meaning one can drive via EDS A in Makati any day). 7. For the rest of Metro Manila (Caloocan, Mandaluyong, Manila, Muntinlupa, Navotas, parts of Pasay, Pateros, Quezon City, Taguig, and Valenzuela) number coding is in effect (window hours of 10 am-3 pm is also observed).
6. MMDA officers are not allowed to group together in order to apprehend. They are not even allowed to stand together in groups of 2 or more. The only time they are allowed to work together is for special operations (probably when they apprehend groups of buses for smoke belching) Swerving IS NOT a traffic violation. Moving one lane to the left or 7. right is not swerving, no matter where on the road you do it. And it is even less of a violation when you do it with a signal. Swerving is defined as shifting 2 or more lanes very quickly. So you can argue your way out of this, and call the Metro Base for help. Sadly, using the yellow lane is a traffic violation and will get 8. you a ticket. However, buses are really not allowed to go out of the yellow lane, so if you see selective apprehension of private cars only, you may complain. 9. MMDA has confirmed that your license MAY NOT BE CONFISCATED at a traffic apprehension. The only time they can do so is if you are part of an accident, or it is your third violation and you have not settled your fines yet. They are only allowed to give you a ticket, which you can contest. He recommends actually receiving the ticket in some instances, so that you can report the officer who did it. 10. Also, you are free to ask any of these officers for their "mission order", which is written by their supervisor. If they apprehend you for a violation that is not in their mission order for the day, you can report them and they will receive disciplinary action.
Politics as Power
Public failure occurs when core public values are not reflected in social relations, either in the market or public policy
Equality, justice, democracy
Issue areas
Monopolies, dynasties, cartels
Goal of public policy
To
solve problems that cannot be solved privately
³public life´ ± ± life lived in recognition of the consequences of, and potential in, our relations with others, both direct and indirect, over extended time.
Government
Private Sector
Civil Society
Governance ³stakeholdership´
Politics in the Philippine Context
Authority exists because it is generally agreed on and that most people believe it exists. The existence of this sort of feeling to the extent that it does exist is called legitimacy legitimacy..
Charismatic - based on exceptional qualities of a person Traditional
- rests on the sanctity of tradition
Rational/legal ± ± rests on legality and legitimacy of rule based on accepted patterns of normative rule of leadership.
Politics in the Philippine Context
Legitimation crisis: revolutions
Marxist
Non
marxist
Disequilibirum of the political system
The
EDS A revolutions
EDS A I
EDS A II
EDS A III