p i development research news · 2009. 12. 4. · vol. xxvii no.4 july - august 2009 issn 0115-9097...

Vol. XXVII No.4 July - August 2009 ISSN 0115-9097

P H I L I P P I N E

I N S T I T U T E F O R

D E V E L O P M E N T

S T U D I E S

Surian sa mga Pag-aaral Pangkaunlaran ng Pi l ip inas

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Editor's Notes

What's Inside

The 1987 Philippine Constitution upholds the right of every Filipinochild to free education. Every year, millions of Filipino children claimthis right, literally flooding schools all over the country to obtain pri-

mary education.

Schoolchildren’s first-day-of-school experiences, however, are greeted withovercrowded classrooms and shortages of teachers and textbooks. High drop-out rates and poor performance in national and international achievementtests continue to hound the country’s education system.

In response to these, the Department of Education (DepED) has focusedon addressing shortages which it sees as the root cause for the poor perfor-mance of students. Hence, the preoccupation with new classroom construc-tion, teacher hiring, and textbook procurement. Various studies, however,look at this preoccupation with shortages as dealing with the symptoms andnot the causes of underperformance by the education system. More criticalhave been the policy discontinuity brought about by frequent changes inleadership of the Department, coupled with poor governance of the system.

Juan Miguel Luz, Associate Dean at the Asian Institute of Management,posed the dilemma in the form of a question: “Is Philippine educationappropriately governed by its (current) highly centralized and top-downstructure?” (2008/2009 Philippine Human Development Report, “Governance ofthe Education Sector”)

Performance indicators in educationThe country is a signatory to the UNESCO Education for All (EFA) frameworkthat advocates the right of every child to basic education. EFA is primarilyconcerned with primary schooling and focused on participation, reten-tion, and achievement as the set of indicators to measure the performanceof a country’s education system.

Parents often tell their children “edukasyon lang ang

maipapamana namin sa inyo” (“education is our only

inheritance to you”). Despite the seeming apologetic

words, the pride in their voice as they say it is unmis-

takable and largely based on their belief that the kind

of education that their children will get can carry them

to better times and stations in life. And as such, will be

their best gift to their children.

But education in the Philippines, for many years now,

has suffered much in terms of quality that the value of

such gift might be quite diminished.

True, access to education may no longer be an issue

today but students’ retention rate in school and learn-

ing achievement continue to worsen, as shown from

the results of various studies and national and inter-

national examinations.

What brings about such situation? Are shortages in

school buildings, teachers, and textbooks the rea-

son? Or are they simply the symptoms of a more

serious and underlying cause?

7 Philippines must utilize East Asia’s response to

global financial crisis

9 PHDR 2008/09 road shows: bringing the

results to the people

13 11th PIDS Corner opens its gate to Eastern

Visayas

14 1st PIDS Corner in Cordillera Region set up at

UP Baguio

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Governance in theeducation sector

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DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH NEWS July - August 20092

Access to primary schoolingIn the Philippines, almost all school-agedchildren will attend Grade 1 whether at age6, 7, 8 or older. Access to elementary school-ing is not a major problem for the country’seducation system. Pre-schools, both publicand privately run, are also growing in num-ber although this level of schooling is notcompulsory and not readily available for allchildren in the country. As stated in thePHDR, access to education is no longer anissue as shown by the numbers.

RetentionWhat the major concern is, is retention:keeping children in formal schooling un-graduation. The high dropout for both theelementary and secondary levels is a continu-ing problem.

Tracking school age cohorts over the past twodecades reveals a pattern that has barely im-proved over that period of time. The pat-tern reveals that for every 100 children whoenter Grade 1, only 86 pupils will continueto Grade 2. By Grade 4, 76 will remain inschool. By Grade 6, only 67 of the originalcohort of children are enrolled, with 65graduating from elementary school. Of the

65 who graduate, 58 will move on to highschool. This is effectively a dropout rate (be-tween Grade 6 and HS I) of 11 percent, thesecond highest dropout rate in the cycle. Ofthe 58 students who enter secondary school,only 42 graduate from high school.Thiscompletion rate of 42 percent of the originalcohort is too low for a middle-income country.

Over the past three decades, the cohort sur-vival rate has improved by less than 1percent ayear. In 1975, the elementary cohort survivalrate was 45 percent. This rose to 55 percent in1985 and to 65 percent by 2005. Compared toother countries which started at the same levelor lower in the 1950s (Korea, Taiwan, Thai-land, Malaysia), this rate of improvement isminiscule and has left the country far behind.

AchievementAchievement is the attainment of universallyaccepted learning competencies. For ex-ample, for students aged 8–9 years old(Grade 3), it is expected that they can read(have literacy) and can do the four opera-tions of arithmetic (numeracy).

Reading comprehension, intermediate rea-soning, and basic math and scientific inquiryare expected of graduates of elementaryschool (Grade 6 pupils between 11 and 12years of age). High school graduates (16–17years old) should demonstrate English, Sci-ence, and Math proficiency and be adjudgedto be ready for university or the world of work.

The outcome of High School IV NationalAchievement Tests in English, Science, andMath showed that only 6.8 percent of seniorstudents passed the English test, 12 percentpassed Math, and only 0.7 percent hurdledthe Science test (March 2004 NAT). (It isnot possible to determine if this has im-proved because DepED has taken out theHS IV NAT and replaced it with a career ap-titude test which is not comparable.)

The results in the Trends in Math and Sci-ence Survey (TIMSS), an international com-parative survey test conducted in 1998,placed the Philippines at number 36 among39 competing countries. In 2003, theTIMMS was conducted in 45 countries,where the Philippines ranked 41. In both

High drop-out rates continue to be one of the major problems in thecountry's education system. Various local and international studentexaminations have also shown poor results.

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DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH NEWS 3 July - August 2009

international tests, the country’s results weresignificantly lower than the international av-erage by two standard deviations.

In 2005, DepED carried out a survey of highschool seniors’ plans after high school gradu-ation. The survey revealed 58 percent of thegirls in the graduating class were interestedin pursuing a college education versus 52percent of the boys. More boys, on the otherhand, were interested in work, though overa quarter of both boys and girls were not surewhat they wanted to do. Given a higher highschool graduation rate among girls than boys,this translates into a higher college enrol-ment rate for girls than boys. While the restof the world is focusing its gender agendaon getting more girls educated, the oppo-site is true for the Philippines. More girlsare graduating from high school than boys;more girls are going to college and getting auniversity degree than boys.

What is the root cause for the country’s pooreducation system performance? How canquality education be ensured and what canbe done to curb, if not totally eradicate, highdropout rates? For Luz, the answers lie ongovernance of the education system.

Management indicators in educationGovernance is the manner by which a systemor organization is managed with accountabil-ity, transparency and outcomes. In an edu-cation system, this can be analyzed in termsof spending, structure, and outcomes.

SpendingFor the Philippines to be competitive, it mustcontinue to produce educated and skilledindividuals who would be competent work-ers in or outside of the country. One of theways to achieve this is to allocate a bigger bud-get for education.

For DepED, there is the immediate demandto address the shortages and overcrowdingof public schools (e.g., construction of class-rooms, teacher hiring, textbook procure-ment, procurement of school furniture, sup-plies, materials and equipment).

For Luz, who served as undersecretary for fi-nance and administration in DepED from

2002–2005, there is a mismatch between thenational budget cycle and the DepEDschoolyear. This is a structural problem thathinders education spending.

The national budget is based on the annualcalendar year starting in January. Theschoolyear, on the other hand, starts in June.While the national budget cycle is 12 months,the DepED cycle from budget preparationto presentation until the initial release ofthe funds is 18 months. Because of this mis-match in cycles, there is no way to link bud-get inputs to education deliverables. Hence,the short cut of the bureaucracy is to lookonly at the input side of building classrooms,hiring teachers, and procuring books. Thisis the easiest to measure and therefore be-comes the focus of governance.

In 2004, DepED – after undertaking a bud-get simulation study funded by the WorldBank and assisted by PIDS – proposed to theDBM and the Development Budget Coordi-nating Committee (DBCC) under NEDA amulti-year budgeting system. By linking out-comes to budget proposals, DepED hopedto “condition” the national budget authori-ties to allot higher annual budget ceilings tothe Department. By 2008, this was realizedwith the DepED budget growing by around8 percent per year versus an average of 1-1.5percent before the proposal.

StructureIn operating 37,807 elementary and 6,488secondary schools, DepED is the largest bu-reaucracy in the country. It is organized into176 school divisions under 17 regional of-fices. The entire system has 356,381 elemen-tary and 148,362 high school teachers in thenational payroll. As of schoolyear 2007-2008,non-teaching staff numbered 65,312. Theseinclude principals, education and districtsupervisors, division superintendents, re-gional directors, school nurses, doctors, den-tists, librarians, clerks, and central and re-gional office staff.

Amid highly centralized policy, instruction,and implementation processes, schools, onthe other hand, are scattered all over thecountry. Thus, it affects the timely communi-cation between the central office and the


schools as well as the delivery and implemen-tation of programs and projects.

In 2001, Republic Act (RA) 9155, also knownas “Governance of Basic Education Act”, re-articulated the objectives of public educa-tion and redefined the top-down structureof the department into a more decentralizedsystem focusing on “empowered” schoolsthrough school-based management and prin-cipal empowerment. In this setting, parentsand the local school boards can play a greaterrole in supporting schools. The new role ofthe central office is to be focused on policyreform, standards-setting and resource gen-eration. The regions, on the other hand,would reinforce the said standards, and moni-tor and conduct quality assurance of divi-sions and schools within their jurisdiction.The regional office is to provide critical sup-port services, including payroll preparationand servicing, in-service training, planning,management information systems, legal, andschools engineering.

School divisions are to be the first line ofoperations taking charge of instructionalleadership and administrative and techni-cal support to schools. At the local schoolboard level, divisions are to provide direc-tion and plans on how to utilize the specialeducation fund (SEF) provided by law.Schools are to be directly responsible for thedelivery of quality education.

Almost a decade later, though, the regionaloffices continue to exert control over schoolsand take on operational decisions thatshould be at the level of divisions.

To a large extent, the Department remainsthe same organization issuing “DepEdMemos” as the basis for action even for verylocal decisions. This is a culture of compli-ance that pervades in DepED.

How, then, can the system change when thestructure stays the same? For this to occur,Luz stressed that first, there is a need for com-petent managers who can think strategicallyand manage schools with firm authority andaccountability. And second, a culture of pro-fessionalism must be developed among thedepartment staff.

Wanted: competent managersTo have competent managers, Luz enumer-ated four realities that need to be addressed.

One, empowerment of principals is crucial.However, a number of schools do not haveprincipals. And for schools that have, theprincipals lack management expertise.

The Third Elementary Education Project(TEEP) funded by the World Bank con-cluded that high-performing schools areheaded by high-performing principals. Whatmakes a high-performing principal? Highvisibility in terms of instructional leadershipis one characteristic. He/she must be visiblein the community, respected, and followedas a leader. The principal must also have thecapability to raise additional resources forthe school, either in kind or in cash or both.Lastly, he/she should be someone who rec-ognizes the significance of faculty develop-ment and works to achieve it.

Luz put forward three proposals to support aprogram to build a corps of professional man-agers (e.g., principals) at the school level,namely: (1) introduction of a ProfessionalRegulatory Commission (PRC) licensureexamination for would-be principals to testtheir managerial capabilities; (2) separationof the principal rank from the school size todiscourage the setting up of extra largeschools which is the requirement for higherprincipal ranks; and (3) creation of an in-centive structure to motivate principals tomake decisions not for purposes of promo-tion in rank or salary grade but for genera-tion of additional resources to the school dueto high performance.

Two, the school division is the frontline for or-ganizing outcomes. Due to the traditional rolesof superintendents, however, they focus onprocedures rather than on management. Thisis the function of a lack of management train-ing for school division superintendents.

Some of the recommendations for reformscome from the Civil Service Commission(CSC). Here, the CSC (under then ChairKarina Constantino-David) recommendedreevaluating and rewriting the standards forschool division superintendents (SDS) fromrecruitment to selection.


Three, regions have yet to give up operationalconcerns and take on a supportive role vizschool divisions. Regional offices continueto exercise operational decisionmaking be-cause this is the level where managerial tal-ent is lodged. Regional offices, however, aretoo far from local schools to act effectively.They have fewer education supervisors whocould have a direct impact on school achieve-ments. More so, regional directors tend tofocus their attention upwards toward thecentral office rather than concentrate on theneeds of divisions and schools.

And four, the DepED central office remainsinvolved in direct management and opera-tions when it should be performing a direc-tive rather than operations role. Decisionsin procurement, health and nutrition,project management, physical facilities, andschool engineering remain lodged in thecentral office when much of these shouldalready be at the regional or division levels.

Culture of professionalismThe DepED culture remains rigid andheavily credential-driven. This is a culturethat is not unique to the department but alsopervasive throughout the bureaucracy, inlarge part because of staffing requirementsdriven by the CSC and DBM. Graduate stud-ies are prerequisites for promotion and teach-ers pursue this at all cost to be promoted evenif it means enrolling in graduate schools ofdubious quality.

LeadershipThe frequent changing of leadership atDepED, meanwhile, is one of the factors thathinders reform continuity. When a new Edu-cation Secretary is appointed, whether theperson is a political appointee or an aca-demic manager, administrators adopt a “wait-and-see” attitude for instruction and survival.This is particularly problematic when fielddecisions are held in abeyance while waitingfor “new instructions” from the top.

This also perpetuates an incentive systemthat is based on connections or survival ratherthan on professional conduct and merit. Overthe years, a discernible pattern has becomeevident. Secretaries of Education comingfrom an academic background tend to pri-oritize reforms in curriculum, achievement

testing, grading, and school-based manage-ment. Politically appointed secretaries, onthe other hand, favor additional subjects inthe curriculum, prefer diagnostic tests, andfocus on shortages through additional bud-get allocation as the measures of success.

OutcomesEducation outcomes in the country leancloser to the minimum learning competencymode largely because of the department’s“one size fits all” approach to the growingnumber of enrollees and the immediatedemand for increasing education services.Moreover, both the structure of DepED andthe mismatch of cycles in the budget alloca-tion tend to ignore desired learning compe-tencies of students because of the longertime to realize and measure gains.

While education outcomes entail long-termplanning and implementation, addressingshortages demands immediate action thatthe current budget release can address.

Under the multi-year budget simulationstudy presented by the DepEd to the DBMand DBCC for the years 2005 to 2010, the

The Department of Education has maintained its centralized form ofleadership despite the passing of the law to redefined its top-downstructure. Competent managers are needed for schools to becomemore empowered to act on their own.

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department’s projected budget require-ments have to grow by at least 8 percent peryear to deal with the combination of short-ages, additional retention and improvementsin service delivery. The system for multi-yearbudgeting also gives time for the DepEDleadership to facilitate long-term outcomes(e.g., Education for All targets), plans and pro-grams that would result in better and sus-tainable outcomes for the education system.

Road to successThe key to change lies in school-based man-agement and a system to create the environ-ment for this.

School-based management (SBM)For SBM to succeed, it is necessary for com-munities to be involved directly in support-ing a school. Structurally, this would bethrough school governing councils andschool improvement plans (SIP).

In the TEEP, the most successful divisions interms of education outcomes were the oneswhere successful school-based managementwas realized. SBM, more than any other fac-tor, was the single most important input; moreso than the provision of material resources,including classroom and school-buildingconstruction and renovation, textbook, sup-

plies and equipment acquisition, other in-structional materials provision, teacher train-ing, and division reengineering.

SBM yielded higher levels of participationand promotion; lower dropout rates; andnarrower gaps in completion rates amongTEEP schools. From school year 2002–2003to 2004–05, TEEP schools reported that allstudents could read and had attained thedesired levels of numeracy.

Parents’ involvementAs TEEP and other donor-funded projectshave limited lifespans, there is a need amongshareholders to realize the roles they can playto continue this positive effect on theirschools. Among the highest-performing el-ementary and secondary schools in the NationalAchievement Tests were schools located in theEastern Visayas and Caraga regions, two of thepoorest regions in the country.

How did these regions produce high per-formance schools? It was determined thatparents’ involvement, through the Parent-Teacher-Community Associations (PTCA) inthe form of school feeding and school-fetch-ing programs for elementary students, had apositive effect on education indicators.

Parents of secondary level students sup-ported Saturday review classes that played abig role in their children’s performance innational tests as well as in other school events.Community members also actively partici-pated in the maintenance and rehabilitationof old and dilapidated school infrastructurein their respective schools.

These showed that parents, however poor,were willing to give small amounts or service“in kind” to see their children benefit fromschooling.

Community involvementDespite material poverty, there are instancesof community contribution to improvingschools and the schooling environment. In2003, then Education Secretary Edilberto C.de Jesus spearheaded the Brigada Eskwelaproject of DepED, also known as the NationalSchools Maintenance Week. Brigada Eskwela

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Through the Brigada Eskwela, parents, relatives, friends, teach-ers, and other volunteers work hand in hand in initiating thecleaning and rehabilation of schools and classrooms.

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The Philippines must utilize the re-gional responses of East Asia (EA) tothe global financial crisis to boost do-

mestic economy. This was emphasized by Dr.Josef Yap, President of the Philippine Insti-tute for Development Studies (PIDS), dur-ing his lecture on “Regional Response to theGlobal Crisis: What’s in Store for the Philip-pines” at the University of the Philippines-Baguio. Hosted by the Economics and Politi-cal Science Department of the University, thelecture was held at the Audio-Visual Roomof the College of Social Sciences Building,UP-Baguio campus on July 22, 2009.

The 2008 global financial crisis, accordingto Dr. Yap, caused a synchronized global re-cession that immediately caused freezing ofinterbank and credit markets. This led to thescenario of falling asset prices and wealthwhich generated a state of uncertainty to thepeople, consequently decelerating their in-vestment and consumption activities.

The chained recession indeed impededtrade and investment channels in the devel-oping East Asia, also resulting in uncertaintyover domestic investment and consumptionthat affected major outputs and employmentin the region. As a prime export-orientedregion, employment was adversely affectedby the fall in investment and consumptionin the industrial countries.

The global projection for the year 2009 showsthat the GDP of Industrial Countries willcontract at -2.6 percent and have a 1.1per-cent growth by 2010. Specifically, the GDPprojection for the United States is at -2.4 per-cent and 1.6 percent, Eurozone at -2.6 per-cent and 0.5 percent, and Japan at -0.3 per-cent and 1.2 percent for the years 2009 and2010, respectively.

On the other hand, the impact of the crisis onEast Asia has been deeper than initially esti-

Philippines must utilize East Asia’s response toglobal financial crisis

mated, said Dr. Yap. For the first quarter of 2009,for example, Taipei,China experienced thebiggest contraction of the GDP at -10.3 per-cent, followed by Singapore at -9.5 percent, andJapan at -8.7 percent (Table 1).

The primary lift of the Philippine economy,Dr. Yap said, comes from the remittances ofthe Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) un-like other East Asian countries which relyheavily on exports and foreign direct invest-ments (FDIs).

Rebalancing economic growth through in-creased intra-regional trade and investmentas well as reduced independence on West-ern markets is the suitable regional responseof East Asia to the global financial crisis, saidDr. Yap.

PIDS President Josef Yap explains that the rebal-ancing response of East Asia to the crisis will helpstrengthen the country's local financial market.


One way to attain rebalancing is to invest ininfrastructure that can support the increasedintra-regional trade, including services. “UseAsian resources for Asian infrastructure”, Dr.Yap emphasized. Another way of attainingregional rebalancing is by reviving the “fly-ing geese” model that presents a catching-up process of industrialization through suc-cessive relocation of industries from ad-vanced to developing countries during thelatter’s catching-up process.

The model is said to facilitate a supportivedivision of labor within the region. An ex-ample given by Dr. Yap was for Korea, Chinaand middle-income countries to be the cen-ters of production networks while Japan,Korea, and China will be the major marketsfor more “wage goods” rather than “luxurygoods”

“China has to take the lead, and Japan has toaccept that proposition. Albeit [the fact that]Japan’s technology is an advantage tostrengthen East Asia’s economic compe-tence”, Dr. Yap stated.

Dr. Yap stressed that the Philippines mustalign its domestic policies to maximize EastAsia’s economic rebalancing response to thecrisis. Regional infrastructure developmentwill have domestic spillovers and addresssupply bottlenecks in the country.

More importantly for the Philippines, Dr. Yapassured that the regional economic rebalanc-ing can strengthen local financial marketsand encourage investment in the country.The poor infrastructure, high energy prices,and monopoly of goods and services were thereasons for low investment rates in the coun-try. The gross domestic investment of thePhilippines has decreased by 10 percent inthe past decade because the domesticeconomy has been overreliant on consump-tion. This is in contrast to China’s overreli-ance on investment and Singapore's andMalaysia’s overreliance on exports.

And while the Philippines loosened mon-etary policy and provided fiscal stimuluspackages to support its economy, Dr. Yappointed out that the country still needs anindustrial policy that can integrate the labor-intensive small and medium enterprises(SMEs) in economic growth areas. SMEs inrural non-farm areas should receive moresupport, he stressed.

Just as the fiscal stimulus package was con-fronted by criticisms, the regional responseof rebalancing also has to face political, legaland institutional risks. There are also his-torical incidents and many recommenda-tions in the past that can hinder a synchro-nized movement for East Asia’s regional re-balancing. APQ

The chained recession impeded trade and investment channels in the developing EastAsia, resulting in uncertainty over domestic investment and consumption, thus,affecting major outputs and employment in the region.

08/Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 09/Q1 Q2

PRC 10.6 10.1 9.0 6.8 6.1 7.90Hong Kong 7.3 4.1 1.5 -2.6 -7.8 -3.80

India 8.6 7.8 7.8 5.8 5.8 6.10

Indonesia 6.3 6.4 6.4 5.2 4.4 4.00Japan 1.3 0.6 -0.3 -4.3 -8.7 -7.20

Korea 5.5 4.4 3.1 -3.4 -4.3 -2.20

Malaysia 7.4 6.6 4.8 0.1 -6.3 -3.90Philippines 3.9 4.2 4.6 2.9 0.6 1.50

Singapore 6.7 2.5 0.04 -4.2 -9.5 -3.50

Taipei, China 6.3 4.6 -1.1 -8.6 -10.3 -7.50Thailand 6.0 5.3 3.9 -4.2 - 7.1 -4.90

Vietnam 7.5 5.8 6.5 5.4 3.1 4.40

Table 1. Real GDP growth rates

Source: Asia Recovery Information Center


PHDR 2008/09 road shows: bringing theresults to the people

The Philippine Human DevelopmentNetwork (HDN), the United NationsDevelopment Programme (UNDP),

the New Zealand Agency for InternationalAssistance (NZAID), and the PhilippineInstitute for Development Studies (PIDS)collaborated with different institutions asthey embarked on a series of road shows forthe presentation of the 2008/2009 PhilippineHuman Development Report with the theme “In-stitutions, Politics, and Human Developmentin the Philippines”. The first one was heldin Legazpi City, Albay with the Bicol Consor-tium for Development, Inc. as collaborator;the second was in Naval, Province of Biliranwith the provincial government as partner;and the third and final road show took placein Baguio City with the office of the Provin-cial Governor as the local partner.

Bicol PHDR ForumThe Bicol Consortium for Development, Inc.(BCDI) was the local partner during the pre-sentation of the Report in the Bicol regionheld in Legazpi City, Albay on June 16, 2009.Dr. Clarissa David of the HDN presented theprovincial Human Development Index(HDI) that showed the level of human de-velopment in various provinces as measuredby life expectancy (longevity), knowledge(education), and standard of living (in-come).

Dr. David showed that Albay ranked 10 interms of life expectancy, 34 in knowledge,57 in standard of living and 32 in overall HDI,which topped in the Bicol region. Other prov-inces in the region ranked fairly as shown byCamarines Sur which ranked 36; Sorsogon,51; Camarines Norte, 54; and Catanduanes,59. However, the province of Masbate landedat the Bottom 10 at rank number 72.

Meanwhile, apart from delivering the open-ing statement where he gave the background

and objectives of the HDN in coming upwith the Report on a regular basis, Dr. ArsenioBalisacan, President of the Philippine HDN,also presented the key results and recom-mendations of the PHDR. Dr. Balisacan fo-cused on the relationships between institu-tions and politics, on the one hand, and theireffect on good governance, on the other,which ultimately impacts on human devel-opment outcomes.

One of the reactors, Mr. Luis G. Banua, Assis-tant Director of NEDA Region V in LegazpiCity, appreciated the better picture that theHDIs provided to all its stakeholders. Headded that the various issuances of the Re-port are an excellent base for policy and localgovernance which may in turn be used fornational level planning.

Aside from being the location of the world-renowned MayonVolcano, the Albay Province ranks the highest in the overallHuman Developent Index in the Bicol Region.

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The assistant director also underscored theimportance of the utilization of the PHDR inorder to have positive effects on the lives ofthe people. Moreover, Banua noted that top-performing LGUs are perfect models thatcan be the source of information and strate-gies to address the condition of the poor-performing LGUs.

Albay Governor Jose Maria Salceda, also oneof the reactors, meanwhile, noted the hugerole of the Millennium Development Goals(MDGs) Super Committee in the province.“It is a monitoring and evaluation as well as aplanning tool for the province”, the gover-nor said.

He likewise mentioned that the Province ofAlbay is now concentrating in addressing theparticipation rate and cohort survival in theelementary grade as well as the maternalmortality rates. In 2010, the issue on house-holds with no access to sanitary toilets will beone of the targets to be prioritized and givenpermanent solution, he stressed.

According to Salceda, the goal of the prov-ince was redefined in the Safe and SharedDevelopment: The MDG Pathway report that the

province recently came up with. He ex-plained that the Shared Development com-ponent is their compliance to the MDGswhich would be a great factor in the improve-ment of the province’s HDI. On the otherhand, the Safe Development componentrepresents the disaster risk reduction andclimate action that are integrated elementsin the province’s central economic strategy.He likewise emphasized the role of struc-tured governance in order to achieve ad-vancement in the lives of the people inAlbay.

The BCDI also presented the Bicol BaselineStudies, which is one of their initiatives tofind solutions to the problems and needs ofdifferent sectors in the region, with the goalof achieving development interventions. Thestudies focused on the issues of poverty map-ping, fishery profiling, gender and develop-ment, credit services, microenterprise andentrepreneurship, and local governance.

Around 139 participants attended the forum.They consisted of officials of regional gov-ernment agencies based in Legazpi, localchief executives and legislators, heads ofgovernment and non-government organiza-tions, leaders of people’s organizations, part-ners from the academe, media and other sec-tors coming from the whole Bicol region.

Biliran PHDR ForumThe forum on the presentation of the Reportin Naval, province of Biliran, on July 1, 2009was led by the Office of the Governor. Morethan 75 participants from various sectors inBiliran and Leyte attended the forum, spe-cifically from the education and agriculturesectors, and local government units.

Dr. Winfred Villamil, member of the HDN’sBoard of Directors, presented the provincialHDIs while Dr. Ma. Cynthia Bautista, Vice-President of the Network, highlighted thekey findings of the Report. In their presenta-tions, both noted the high ranking of theProvince of Biliran, specifically in certaineducation indicators.

Biliran was one of the three recipients of theMay Malaking Pag-angat sa Kaunlarang PantaoAward during the 2008/2009 PHDR National

Attending the Phil ippine Human Development Report Forum are theparticipants from the education, agriculture and local goverment unitsin Biliran Province. In terms of education indicators, Biliran Provinceranks as one of the highest in the country.


Launch in Manila, registering a ranking ofnumber 29 overall from its ranking of num-ber 61 in 2005.

Present during the forum as reactors wereDr. Sara T. Arupillo, Schools Division Super-intendent, Biliran Division, Department ofEducation (DepED); Hon. Leo Caneda, Re-gional Executive Director for Region 8’sDepartment of Agriculture; and Mr. TeodolfoSebedos, Provincial Coordinator, RDI-Biliran.

One of the issues raised in the forum is theprovince’s concern with the localization law.Primarily, the law requires that a local begiven priority and preference in the fillingup of certain items/positions in the educa-tion plantilla. However, not all candidatesbeing considered are qualified but becausethe localization law calls for locals to be hired,there are instances of ineligible teachersbeing hired simply because they are backedby local officials. Given the downside of thelocalization law, what was thus suggested isthe revival of the old policy of implement-ing the probationary period for newteacher hires before they can achieve per-manent status.

During the forum, the regional directors ofNEDA and DBM for Region 8 mentionedthat they will present and take up the keyfindings and recommendations of the PHDR2008/2009 in the sectoral committee whichthey both chair under the Regional Devel-opment Council (RDC) for Region 8. Theagreements of their meeting on the Report’sresults and recommendations will then bepresented to the Executive Committee ofthe RDC -8 in order for policy and programinterventions to be developed and imple-mented.

Meanwhile, during the question-and-answerportion of the forum, suggestions wereraised, including the following: the prepara-tion of a Q&A on some points included inthe PHDR so that stakeholders will be able tofocus on them and possibly come up withprograms and actions; the posting of the fulltext of the PHDR in the website of the PIDSfor easy access; and the conduct of parallelprovincial fora prior to the printing

of the Report in order to get feedback fromconcerned sectors that can be inputted inthe final version.

The importance of peace and security wasalso mentioned by the representative of thePhilippine National Police (PNP), sayingthat it should be included in the Report be-cause without it, development cannot beachieved. According to the PNP representa-tive, development, on one hand, and peaceand security, on the other, are interrelated.Both Dr. Villamil and Dr. Bautista of the HDNagreed and said that in fact, this topic wastackled and given importance in the 2005PHDR, with its theme on “Human Securityand Development”.

Benguet PHDR ForumThe province of Benguet, which earned twoawards — the “May Mataas na KaunlarangPantao” and “May Malaking Pag-angat saKaunlarang Pantao” — as recognition for itspositive gains in human development (theawards were given during the 2008/2009PHDR National Launch), hosted the regionalpresentation in the Cordillera Administra-tive Region (CAR) on July 22, 2009 in BaguioCity. The forum served as the finale in theseries of road shows for the PHDR.

Benguet Governor Nestor Fongwan wel-comed the participants from local govern-ment units (LGUs) and institutions in theCAR, the academe, the industrial and agri-cultural sectors, and the private sector to theevent that showcased the reasons why theprovince ranked highest in the 2006 HDIs.He expressed appreciation to the local part-ners who have helped in the delivery of gov-ernment projects that centered on provid-ing basic services to the people.

Benguet Governor Nestor Fongwan welcomed the participantsfrom local government units (LGUs) and institutions in theCAR, the academe, the industrial and agricultural sectors, andthe private sector to the event that showcased the reasons whythe province ranked highest in the 2006 HDIs.


PIDS President Dr. Josef T. Yap, on the otherhand, expressed gratitude to the local orga-nizers for the opportunity to present the Re-port in the CAR. He also extended his con-gratulations to the Province for its dual rec-ognition and said that he is happy to get afirst-hand picture of the joint efforts of thepeople of Benguet that helped their prov-ince attain the number 1 overall ranking inthe provincial HDIs.

Meanwhile, for the key presentations of theprovincial HDIs and PHDR results and rec-ommendations, Dr. Villamil and Dr. Bautistawere once again on hand to represent theHDN. The Report revealed that most of theimprovements in Benguet were driven bygains in education, with the help of improve-ments in life expectancy. Specifically,Benguet led in terms of high school enroll-ment ratio and real per capita income. OtherCAR provinces were in the middle of theoverall HDI list, e.g., Abra ranked 24; Ifugao,45; Mt. Province, 48; Apayao, 64; and Kalinga,65.

The pool of reactors was made up of Dr.Janice Bugtong, Medical Specialist III, CAR

Center for Health Development; Engr.Lomino Kaniteng, President of the BenguetFederation of Small Scale Miners; Dr. JanetLuis, Director for Research of Benguet StateUniversity; Ms. Lolita Bentres, ProvincialAgriculturist; and Dr. Mary Namuhe, SchoolsDivision Superintendent Benguet Division.

In her comments, Dr. Namuhe expressedgratification over the contribution of educa-tion to the improvement of human develop-ment in the province despite budgetary con-straints that hindered policies in the deliv-ery of basic education. Benguet’s remarkableeducation outcome is attributed to the Func-tional Alternative Literacy Program and theBalik sa Paaralan for Out of School and Adults(BP-OSA) under their Alternative LearningSystem (ALS), together with the internation-ally funded Third Elementary EducationProject (TEEP) and Secondary Education &Development Improvement Project(SEDIP).

Meanwhile, a way to protect livelihood andincome in the province, according to Engi-neer Kaniteng, is to come up with a miningcode that will regulate, legalize and monitorthe impact of mining on the environment.This was the call he made to the provinciallegislative body. He asserted that mining is avery destructive activity when it is not doneresponsibly and when laws aimed at protect-ing the environment are not properly imple-mented.

Linking education and environmental con-cerns and maximizing Benguet’s human andenvironmental resources as the key to fur-ther the quality of life in the province wasunderscored in the Forum. Dr. Luis of theBenguet State University argued that qualitybasic education is necessary to prepare stu-dents in the countryside to capitalize ontheir skills in support of Benguet’s agricul-ture, industry, and environmental re-sources. Finally, Provincial AgriculturistLolita Bentres said that the greatest challengefor Benguet is to address and sustain a highsense of values among the Benguet peoplewhich would ultimately make the provinceexcel even more in terms of human devel-opment. CSM, APQ

The Philippine Human Development Report states that most of the gainsof Benguet Province are due to its education sector. It has the highestrate of high school students in the Philippines.

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11th PIDS Corner opensits gate to Eastern Visayas

On July 2, the first PIDS Corner to belaunched in 2009 was inauguratedat the Eastern Visayas State Univer-

sity (EVSU) in Tacloban City. The occasionwas made possible in collaboration with theUniversity's Main Library.

The EVSU joins other provincial public li-braries and college/university-based librar-ies to become part of the Institute's networkof partner libraries that would provide read-ing and research materials on development-related concerns to as many readers as pos-sible in locations outside of Metro Manila.Tacloban City is considered the gateway toEastern Visayas as well as the educational,business, and cultural center of the region.Adding to this EVSU's mission to providequality education and professional trainingthrough instruction, research, extension ser-vices, and production makes the setting upof the 11th PIDS Corner in the EVSU MainLibrary truly a propitious collaboration.

The ceremonial cutting of the ribbon for-mally marked the launching of the Corner.Ms. Jennifer Liguton, Director for ResearchInformation, who represented PIDS Presi-dent Dr. Josef Yap, and EVSU officials led byDr. Catalino Beltran, President, Dr. Ma.Socorro Gicain, Vice-President for AcademicAffairs, and Dr. Manuel Pacaña, Vice-Presi-dent for Research and Extension Services,led in the ribbon cutting.

A doxology rendered by the EVSU Choralesolemnly opened the program that fol-lowed the ribbon cutting. A warm welcomeby Dr. Gicain was extended to the PIDSstaff. Ms. Liguton in turn thanked the en-tire EVSU officialdom for agreeing to hosta PIDS Corner in their main library. Shealso explained the rationale of the PIDSCorners around the country. The settingup of these Corners is both a dissemina-

tion and outreach strategy of the Instituteto make its research outputs more visiblein the provinces as well as to help makedevelopment-oriented studies more acces-sible to researchers and localdecisionmakers. She added that the EVSUMain Library is the fourth PIDS Corner tobe inaugurated in the Visayas and the 11thin the entire country.

Dr. Edwin Martin, Chief of Public Affairsof PIDS, then showed a video presentationabout the Institute and presented the vari-ous resources of the PIDS website. Ms.Liguton and Dr. Beltran next signed thememorandum of agree-ment (MOA), sealing thesetting up of the PIDSCorner at the EVSU.Lastly, Dr. Beltran, in hisspeech formally accept-ing the agreement, con-veyed his gratitude toPIDS for choosing theEVSU as part of its under-taking and expressedhope for a fruitful and fur-ther collaboration withthe Institute. JCA

The PIDS Corner in the EVSUMain Library. Bottom: Dr.Catalino Beltran and Ms. Jenni-fer Liguton formally sign thememorandum of agreementwhile Dr. Edwin Martin ably as-sists them. The EVSU Choraleprovides background music to thesigning.


1st PIDS Corner in Cordillera Region set up at UP Baguio

The Philippine Institute for Develop-ment Studies (PIDS) inaugurated its12th PIDS Corner at the Filipiniana

Section of the University of the PhilippinesBaguio Library on July 22, 2009. The corner,however, is the first one set up by the Insti-tute in the Cordillera Region.

“The PIDS Corner in the Cordillera Regionwill be open to all students as well as profes-sionals”, said UP Baguio Chancellor Dr.Priscilla Macasantos as she welcomed thestudents, faculty, and librarians from otherCordillera schools present during thelaunching event.

Dr. Macasantos also noted that the new addi-tion to the UP Baguio Library collection willbenefit all the University’s students, espe-cially from the Social Sciences Department.

PIDS President Dr. Josef Yap, for his part,expressed gratitude to the UP Baguio com-munity for agreeing to host the PIDS Cor-ner in their University. The inauguration ofthe first PIDS Corner in the Cordillera, ac-cording to Dr. Yap, is a way of strengtheningPIDS’ thrust of disseminating research out-puts throughout the country.

The proximity of the UP Baguio to othereducational institutions in the region suchas Abra State Institute of Science and Tech-nology, Apayao State College, Baguio Cen-tral University, Benguet State University,Kalinga-Apayao State College, and SaintLouis University may also facilitate the estab-lishment of tie-ups and sharing resourcesamong these academic institutions, therebymaximizing the utilization of the PIDSCorner’s collection. APQ

Seated (L-R): Dr. Yap and Dr.Macasantos s ign the Memo-randum of Agreement be-tween PIDS and UP Baguiofor the establishment of the12th PIDS Corner.Standingf rom (L-R): Witness ing thesigning are PIDS Publ ic Af-fairs Chief Dr. Edwin Martin,PIDS Research InformationDirector Jennifer Liguton andUP Baguio Librarian-OIC Ms.Brenda Dogup.


Governance is the manner by which a sys-tem or organization is managed with ac-countability, transparency and outcomes.

has become the model for community involve-ment that is both institutional and sustainable.

The Brigada called on parents, relatives,friends, and other interested volunteers towork together in repairing their children’sschool for one week in May, three weeks be-fore school opening. When the project wasfirst launched in May 2003, over 12,000schools signed on to participate, generatingover 700,000 volunteer man-days with anestimated value of PhP392 million in do-nated labor and materials.

In May 2006, the fourth year of the Brigadaeffort, the number of schools more thandoubled to over 26,000. The total estimatedvalue of labor and materials donated swelledto more than PhP2.0 billion. This consti-tutes new value generated by school commu-nities as a whole that adds to the amountsprovided by the national budget.

The key to the success of Brigada Eskwela hadbeen the school principals who providedlocal leadership. Effective principals wereable to organize the effort, the parents andcommunity, and assemble the necessary ef-forts. The project reveals how effective a prin-cipal can be in mobilizing resources for theirschool without relying on national resources.

Textbook countThe Textbook Count project arose out of theneed to curb graft and corruption in text-book procurement. In the three years thatthe program was conducted, textbook priceswere brought down and the procurementcycle reduced from the usual 20–24 monthsto 10–12 months.

Managing the procurement cycle is crucialto curbing corruption by minimizing, if notpreventing, the overlapping of procurementpackages that could be used by insiders orpeople in the know to hide deals betweenthemselves and publishers or suppliers.

Critical to the success of Textbook Count wasthe implementation of a common delivery

schedule so that actual textbook deliveriescould be synchronized and monitored. Therole of community volunteers to observe lo-cal deliveries helped to check the quantityand quality of textbooks delivered. In thepast, publishers or suppliers dictated theterms of delivery following their own sched-ules. This made it difficult to monitor deliv-eries and prevent problems, including“shorts” (less textbooks delivered than con-tracted, generating “savings” for the sup-plier) and substandard textbooks (poorerquality paper and cover stock than in the tech-nical specifications to cut costs). To monitorover 30,000 textbook deliveries, DepED or-ganized volunteers to watch actual deliver-ies in schools or in district offices. To informthe public of deliveries, DepED publisheddelivery schedules in local newspapers. Civicgroups and boy scout and girl scout troopswere recruited to witness and inspect all text-book deliveries, strengthening the claim ofschools, teachers, parents, and children forquality textbooks and timely delivery.

Concluding remarksDespite the passage of the Basic EducationLaw (RA 9155), DepED remains a highly cen-tralized department. In effect, reforms toaddress its numerous problems are yet to beimplemented. Unless school-based manage-ment is realized, education outcomes fromthe ground up will be difficult to attain andsustain. Dynamic leadership in the form ofproactive and accountable education man-agers is the key to change for schools. Thesupport of parents and the community is like-wise critical for success of the high-perform-ing schools and a better managed educationsystem. JML, CSM

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DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH NEWSVol. XXVII No. 4July - August 2009ISSN 0115 - 9097

Editorial Board: Dr. Josef T. Yap,

President; Mr. Mario C. Feranil, OIC

Vice-President and Director for Project

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Information; Ms. Andrea S. Agcaoili,

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Necita Z. Aquino and Michael

C a t u r a n , C i r c u l a t i o n a n d

Subscription.Claudette S. Malana, Lay-

out artist.

STAFF BOXDEVELOPMENT RESEARCH NEWS is a bimonthly

publication of the PHILIPPINE INSTITUTE FORDEVELOPMENT STUDIES (PIDS). It highlights the findings

and recommendations of PIDS research projects and important

policy issues discussed during PIDS seminars. PIDS is a nonstock,

nonprofit government research institution engaged in long-term,

policy-oriented research. This publication is part of the Institute's

program to disseminate information to promote the use of research findings. The views and opinions

expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Institute. Inquiries

regarding any of the studies contained in this publication, or any of the PIDS papers, as well as suggestions

or comments are welcome. Please address all correspondence and inquiries to:

Research Information StaffPhilippine Institute for Development Studies

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The lead feature in this DRN issue points out to the

matter of governance of the education sector, result-

ing from a highly centralized structure and frequent

changes in leadership. Reforms in the structure and

injection of dynamism in those who manage the op-

eration of the system could contribute a dozenfold in

improvement in the overall quality of the education

outcomes. These, in essence, are what Professor

Juan Miguel Luz, former Undersecretary of the De-

partment of Education (DepED) and Associate Dean

at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), suggests

as he tries to analyze what’s keeping our education

sector from breaking loose from its myriad of prob-

lems.

Some gems have indeed emerged in cases where

school principals have been fully empowered in the

management of their respective school jurisdictions

and have enlisted the support and cooperation of

parents, families, friends and teachers to help invigo-

rate their schools. These are, according to Luz, some

of the major factors that will constitute the road to

success and to instituting high performance among

our schools and to eventually having better quality

and improved education outcomes.

Which would thus make true parents’ gift of educa-

tion to their children as the best legacy.

Accompanying the lead feature in this issue is the

story on the Philippine Human Development Report

provincial roadshows in Benguet, Biliran and Bicol.

Noteworthy to mention is the fact that Benguet and

Biliran are both in the top 10 high-performing prov-

inces, specifically in the aspect of education. What

these provinces have been implementing in their lo-

calities are worthy to be emulated by many other

provinces in their goal to achieve human advance-

ment for their people. D R ND R ND R ND R ND R N

p i development research news · 2009. 12. 4. · vol. xxvii no.4 july - august 2009 issn 0115-9097...

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