MPA 625

PUBLIC POLICY
AND
PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION

Submitted by: Submitted to:

Carla O. San Buenaventura Dr. Sanjay P. Claudio
1. Government in relation to Policy making

What is Government? Government is collective group of people that exercises executive

authority in a state; The system by which a state or community is governed; The will of the state
are the laws.
What is Policy? A rule, guide, framework, pattern for action manifesting specific goals,
objectives and prescribing the obligatory ways and ways for accomplishment.
“Government of the people, by the people and for the people”. The voice of the people
can be heard through elected official since it is the people who put them in that position. Elected
Officials represent the People. They will make a policy which is needed by the people. A policy
that consist of courses of action rather than discrete decision. The government does the
regulating, controlling and promoting through policy. Its purpose should be goal-oriented action
and not by just random chance behavior. The sovereignty comes from the people and the
government authority emanates from them.
To maintain peace and order, protection of life, liberty and property and to promote
general welfare of its people, Government policy and intervention are necessary in all areas and
aspect except for private and exclusive affairs of its people. The government doesn’t need to
know whether you’re using condom or not while having sex. Their only concern is to educate
people about responsible parenthood and provide what are the necessary things needed. But
they cannot dictate the people to use it.

2. Public Policy is developed by government officials, formulated by the executive, legislative

and judiciary (judges, councilor and administrator). These people are responsible for these
matters and they act within the limits of their role. One of the many examples of a Policy
crystallized and amended through the exercise of check and balance is Cybercrime law.
Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 is the first law in the Philippines which specifically
criminalizes computer crime, which prior to the passage of the law had no strong legal
precedent in Philippine jurisprudence. Other laws such as the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000
(Republic Act No. 8792) regulated certain computer-related activities; these laws did not provide
a legal basis for criminalizing crimes committed on a computer in general.
The initial draft of the law started in 2002 from the former Information Technology and e-
Commerce Council (ITECC) Legal and Regulatory Committee chaired by Atty. Claro Parlade
and its Information Security and Privacy subcommittee co-chaired by Albert Dela Cruz of
PHCERT and Atty. Elfren Meneses of the NBI headed by Secretary Virgilio 'Ver' Peña and was
an attempt to harmonize the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the EU Cybercrime
Prevention Treaty or Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, Pending House and Senate bills. It
was originally known as proposed bill HB377.

This was superseded by several cybercrime-related bills filed in the 14th and 15th
Congress. The Cybercrime Prevention Act ultimately was the product of House Bill No. 5808,
authored by Representative Susan Yap-Sulit of the second district of Tarlac and 36 other co-
authors, and Senate Bill No. 2796, proposed by Senator Edgardo Angara. Both bills were
passed by their respective chambers within one day of each other on June 5 and 4, 2012,
respectively, shortly after the impeachment of Renato Corona, and the final version of the Act
was signed into law by President Benigno Aquino III on September 12.

The new Act received mixed reactions from several sectors upon its enactment,
particularly with how its provisions could potentially affect freedom of expression, freedom of
speech and data security in the Philippines.

Media organizations and legal institutions though have criticized the Act for extending
the definition of libel as defined in the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, which has been
criticized by international organizations as being outdated: the United Nations for one has
remarked that the current definition of libel as defined in the Revised Penal Code is inconsistent
with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and therefore violates the respect
of freedom of expression.

Senator Edgardo Angara, the main proponent of the Act, defended the law by saying that
it is a legal framework to protect freedoms such as the freedom of expression. He asked the
Act's critics to wait for the bill's implementing rules and regulations to see if the issues were
addressed. He also added that the new law is unlike the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act
and PROTECT IP Act. However, Senator Teofisto Guingona III criticized the bill, calling it a prior
restraint to the freedom of speech and freedom of expression.

Several petitions have been submitted to the Supreme Court questioning the
constitutionality of the Act. However, on October 2, the Supreme Court deferred on acting on
the petitions, citing the absence of justices which prevented the Court from sitting en banc. The
lack of a temporary restraining order meant that the law went into effect as scheduled on
October 3. In protest, Filipino netizens reacted by blacking out their Facebook profile pictures
and trending the hashtag #notocybercrimelaw on Twitter. Anonymous also defaced government
websites, including those of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Metropolitan Waterworks and
Sewerage System and the Intellectual Property Office.

On October 9, 2012, the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order, stopping
implementation of the Act for 120 days. In early December, 2012, the government requested the
lifting of the TRO. The Supreme Court scheduled the same amount of time on 15 January 2013
for oral arguments by the petitioners, and on 22 January by the Solicitor General. On 5 February
2013 The Supreme Court extended the temporary restraining order on the law, "until further
orders from the court." On August 2013, the Supreme Court issued a resolution ordering that
the controlling title of the Cybercrime Case will be "Jose Jesus M. Disini Jr. et al. v. Secretary of
Justice, et al."

On May 24, 2013, The DOJ announced that online libel provisions of the law have been
dropped, as well as other provisions that "are punishable under other laws already", like child
pornography and cyber squatting. The DOJ will endorse the revised law to the next 16th
Congress of the Philippines.

On February 18, 2014, The Supreme Court ruled the online libel provision of the act to
be constitutional, although it struck down other provisions, including the ones that violated the
provisions on double jeopardy. The petitioners planned to appeal the decision.

3. RATIONAL MODEL and INCREMENTAL MODEL

RATIONAL AND INCREMENTAL

Applied Cannot be Applied

Rational: It can be applied to construction of It cannot be applied on situation that involves

bridge and buildings like Public Hospital, road personal disputes of people.
widening and others since matters like that
need a thorough planning.

Incremental: It can be applied to problems like It cannot be applied to issues like Global
natural disaster or matters wherein we don’t warming and climate change. Because those
have control like earthquake, typhoon, issue needs to be address with permanent
flooding and other problems that needs a solution not with band-aid system.
quick response.
 RATIONAL
Advantages Disadvantages

All possible options or approaches to solving It is often very costly in terms of time and
the problem under study are identified and the other resources that must be devoted to
costs and benefits of each option are gathering the relevant information
assessed and compared with each other

Rational policy is one that achieves “maximum  requires a great deal of time
social gain"
 requires great deal of information

 assumes rational, measurable criteria

are available and agreed upon
assumes accurate, stable and
complete knowledge of all the
alternatives, preferences, goals
and consequences assumes a
rational, reasonable, non – political
world

Well defined objectives are established; It is unambiguous

alternatives and consequences are known;
preferences are clear; there are no limitations
of time or cost
 INCREMENTAL
Advantages Disadvantages

Emphasizes the structured sequence of Avoid total commitment to a decision you

activities that are leading to the solution to a cannot change if the stakes are high and the
problem. situation allows

Decisions are broken down in small steps Process is not completely rational, analysis is
taking place in three major phases: the limited, information is ambiguous and subject
identification, development, & selection to interpretation
phases.

Helps to forge compromise and reduce The antithesis of intrusive central planning,
unnecessary conflicts which can create rigid work systems unable
to deal with the actual problems faced at the
grassroots level.

Helps to build legitimacy any solutions reached will involve only

relatively insignificant changes for the
existing conflict situation and that these
changes will be made "only at the margin

Forecasting helps decision making in Radical innovations may be lost if parties are
uncertain contexts overly cautious in their attempts to come to
an agreement

4. Selection of criteria for evaluation of alternative policy solution is important in the search for
better policy. In simple terms the objectives of evaluation criteria must:
 Know the values and goals of stakeholders - identifying the condition and
situation, what are the goals and objectives and compare alternatives.
 Describe the desired results and outcome – pinpoint what would be the outcome
and establish steps to achieve this.
 Have acceptable criteria and indicators - criteria identifying barriers like
Administrative Ease, Costs and benefits, Effectiveness, Equity, Legality and
Political acceptability.
Some of the criteria for the appropriateness of alternative policy solutions that needs to be
settled includes:
 Cost - will it be cost-effective
 Acceptability – can it get support from policy makers and other stakeholders
 Reliability - does it have proven success, or is it subject to failures
 Practicality – is it easily implementable
 Stability - will it still work if conditions change
 Invulnerability – workability even if some component parts fail
 Flexibility - can it accommodate differing circumstances
 Riskiness - is there a high chance for failure
 Communicability - is it easy to understand
 Merit - does it address the problem
 Simplicity - is it easy to implement
 Compatibility - is it parallel with existing values, rules and procedures
 Reversibility – capability to move back to prior state if it fails

5. Challenges on Problem Identification is how to know whether there is a problem, what is the
problem? People have different perspective in life. Something might look a problem to you but
not to others. The challenge will be how to define a condition situation that produces needs and
dissatisfaction among people and for which they seek government action. Problems then were
usually treated as “givens”, from where analysis proceeds. Now, it is a practice to consider the
character and dimension of a problem that stimulates government action.
There are many factors being considered for agenda setting. First, the gravity of the
problem, the number of affected people, whether public interest is involved serve self-interest.
To achieve agenda status, a problem must be an issue or a matter requiring government
attention. Political leaders whether motivated by thoughts of political advantage, the public
interest or their political reputations, may seize upon problems, find occasion to bring them to
media and propose solutions.
The challenge in Policy formulation is how to develop various solutions or alternate
courses of action when dealing with problem. You need to answer the questions like, can it be
done, should anything be done, what should be done and who should do it.
Because of the complex administrative structures of the government which implement or
carry out public policy may sometimes in the process, change the thrust of the policy. They may
make their own policies which are not among the real intents of the original policy.
Administrative agencies issue implementing rules and regulations or provide implementing
details for the original policy.
As one public policy specialist said in the implementation of policy a new routine may
result from the decision; new regulations may be maintained; and new enforcement procedures
may be developed.
Obstacles to policy evaluation are as follows: Uncertainty over Policy Goals, Causality,
Diffuse Policy Impact, Difficulties in Data Collection and Official Resistance. Evaluating policy
may either be through formal means such as data analysis or through informal means like
people’s reaction, revealing its success or failure, or need for modification. If any problem is
observed, the whole process begins again.

6. Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) better known as Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program
(4Ps) aims to reduce poverty by making welfare programs conditional upon the receivers'
actions. It refers to transferring monetary and non-monetary resources to its beneficiaries which
is the poor or poorest families to improve the health, nutrition and the education of children. It
has dual objectives, 1) Social Assistance that provides cash assistance to provide immediate
needs and 2) Social Development which invest in health and education through programs like
check-ups for pregnant woman and children, deworming of children aged 6 to 14, enrollment of
children in daycare, elementary and secondary and giving seminars or development session to
family.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) are the lead government
agency or implementer of 4Ps. As a political tool, the program will help to alleviate the life not
just the poor people but as well as the whole country. It may not totally eradicate poverty but at
least it may lessen problem of the government. It’s an indicator that the country is doing well. It
will give a positive impact to investor and other foreign entity like World Bank.
It’s more of a matter of perspective. So my answer will be yes because, if the poor family
has a positive outlook in life and will really work hard so that they will be successful in life, then
yes it’s an effective model to alleviate poverty. The program becomes the medium for the
success of them, but if they had crooked mentality who enjoy free ride, then they will only rely
on what the government gives them and let tomorrow takes it course. It will give negative
outlook in life and might corrupt the mind of the family because they have this idea that the
government will provide all their needs.
7. Policy
“Encourage citizen the idea if recycling”. - There is recognition that there is a need to
solve the problem concerning garbage disposal. Problem is already indentified.

Program
Separation of garbage from bio-degradable and non-biodegradable. - It involves
developing various solutions or alternative courses of action in dealing with a problem. Coming
up with programs that will deal with the public problems.

Project
Creation and putting up garbage / trash can. - At the point where all the facilities
(organizational structure, implementing techniques and procedures, expertness and resources)
for implementation are set up.

ACTIVITY
Information dissemination. - requires that we know what we want to accomplish with a
given policy, how we are implementing it, and what have we accomplished toward the
attainment of its objectives.