Introduction to Politics

and Governance
Maria Elissa J. Lao
 Summary of Lecture
 Politics
 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 EDSA
revolution(s)
 National Budget
 How do you spend 1.414 trillion pesos?
 P158,210,142,000 Department of Education (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 P1.4-trillion budget will go for interest
payments of outstanding debts
 P378.87 billion earmarked as off-budget allocation for principal
amortization of debts, which will “rolled over” by P437.086-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 allocate the
money Congress appropriated.

• The Power to Reallocate “Savings” - 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 should
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 P 42, 819.42
Filipino (using end-Oct 2007 NG
Debt and NSO projected 2007
population)

Debt Servicing per minute P 1,165,898.02

(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)
 in billion pesos per capita

Debt Service
612.80 P 6,908.15
Interest Payments
303.30 P 3,419.11
Principal Amortization
309.50 P 3,489.03
Education, Culture and
Manpower Development
164.10 P 1,849.96
Health
18.36 P 206.93

Natural Resources and

the Environment
8.83 P 99.52

Agriculture and Agrarian

Reform
35.55 P 400.79
Social Security, Welfare
and Employment
55.3 P 624.27
Housing and Community
Development
2.5 P 28.33
Military
53.81 P 606.55
 Public/Private divide
 Public  Private
 Sovereign  Voluntary
 Political  Contractual
 Government  Market
 Imposed  Consensual
 Unilateral  Multilateral
 Constrained by  Constrained by
Political Authority economic authority
 Criteria Public Ad Private Ad

Goal/mission Public service Profit

Relations to environment Subject to public scrutiny, Less exposed to public

demands, expectations, pol. inspection, internal processes
pressures are kept from public, response
to public guided by market

accountability Accountable to public, Management accountable to

transparency in transactions is owners of firms/corporations
expected

Measure of performance Performance difficult to Profits is the bottomline

measure, GP satisfaction is the
gauge, improvements in Q of
life

Nature of goods/services Public goods – basically open Private goods –availment

to all based on one’s ability to pay
 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
 “Political 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!
2.       No number coding: Taguig, Marikina and Paranaque. So, feel free to
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). <<Just as an aside - I heard
that Pasig has adopted the same window hours as the rest of the other
municipalities. No extra hour.  Since there is no way to confirm this in
Pasig, I advise conservatism and just assume the shorter window, just to be
sure.  ->>
4.       San Juan has window hours now according to MMDA website.
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.       EDSA, C5, Pres. Diosdado Macapagal Avenue, Roxas Blvd (Pasay) have
window hours regardless of the city (meaning one can drive via EDSA 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)
7.       Swerving IS NOT a traffic violation. Moving one lane to the left or
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.
8.       Sadly, using the yellow lane is a traffic violation and will get
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
 “public 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
“stakeholdership”
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.
 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 EDSA revolutions
 EDSA I
 EDSA II
 EDSA III