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So, I’ll talk about, first and foremost, very quickly because I know I have about
25 minutes, 20 minutes, the notion of decentralization, ideology, and experiences in
some Asian countries and why devolution and some lessons learned. The paper is
with you. I think they distributed the book, and it’s there anyway. So, what is
decentralization in the Philippines context? It is really transferring powers, functions,
responsibilities and accountabilities. Let me underscore that. It’s not just transferring
powers. It also includes transferring accountabilities. Accountabilities are very very
important. Sometimes, we forget that you transfer them powers, they’re fine. In the
Philippine context, we have to always emphasize that they are accountable. They are
answerable. So, decentralization is not just about transferring powers. It’s about
transferring accountability. In my language we call that pananagutan. You have the
power, you have to be answerable for it. That I think is a very, very fundamental
point for decentralization.
No. 2 is to encourage participation, which is the key message of our conference
today on democratization.
No. 3. Enable citizen participation and it’s the key development and reform
strategy.
I think when we’re talking about decentralization we have to focus on the
regions that are poorer. And that’s what in our discussion federalism is all about
because decentralization in the Philippines is not decentralization to Manila. It is not
decentralization for the urban centers. It’s decentralization for the poorer areas, up in
the north, in the south, in the mountains. Decentralization is to bring about equity,
and not equality. To those of our former presidents used to say long, long time ago,
those who have less in life should have more in law, in other words, decentralization
should have one ideology focused on the poorer areas. And if anything that is one
lesson learned from the Philippines, over the past 25 years, we do not do exactly
that. We have some kind of even decentralization. So, those who are rich became
rich, so those who are poor became richer. But the gap remain the same. When
you’re talking about decentralization, you have to lessen the gap. Don’t give the
imperial Manila. Don’t give them big cities. Lessen the gap that is the ideology of
decentralization to focus on equity.
It also came in load shedding administratively. People say that, ok, let’s
decentralize. Just transfer powers to them and let’s see if they can do it. I think that
can be a wrong paradigm. But, I learned that from a friend from Australia, if I’m not
mistaken, when he said, ok, decentralization can be load shedding. If national
government cannot do it, let the local governments do it. And I think that might be
the wrong motivation behind it to say, ok, you’re always asking. Do it and now let’s
ª£¸²£ª±¡¡²¥¸h¡¢h¢µÈ discuss in a while. I would like to dwell on this. When we talk about decentralization,
see if you can do it.
There are four aspects: fiscal, political, administrative, market, which I will
what are bottom three things? De-concentration, administrative decentralization,
