By Erika Sauler, Juan Escandor Jr.
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 02:20:00 02/02/2010
MANILA, Philippines—Voters generally do not choose their leaders because of good governance, platform or issues, according to a top official of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), citing the government agency’s study.
“I’m sure there are intelligent voters among us, but it is not yet in the consciousness of the greater public to vote on the basis of performance, platform or issues,” said Dr. Romulo Virola, secretary general of the NSCB.
In 10 provinces that the NSCB identified as “worst-governed” in 2005, eight of their governors were still reelected in 2007, Virola said.
“Our voters, essentially, do not vote for good governance,” he said in an interview with the Inquirer on Friday.
The NSCB survey in 2005 listed the 10 “worst-governed” provinces as Maguindanao, Camarines Sur, Masbate, Lanao del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Surigao del Sur, Camarines Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay, Albay and Romblon.
The survey based its ranking on a study measuring the good governance index (GGI) of 79 provinces all over the country, which involved economic, political and administrative indicators.
Reelected in 2007 in eight of the 10 worst-governed provinces were the governors (or their relatives) of Maguindanao, Camarines Sur, Masbate, Lanao del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Surigao del Sur, Camarines Norte and Zamboanga Sibugay.
On the other hand, the 10 “best-governed” provinces were Batanes, Rizal, Benguet, Siquijor, Bulacan, Apayao, Laguna, Cavite, Nueva Vizcaya and Pampanga.
But three governors—those of Batanes, Benguet and Pampanga—lost in the 2007 poll race when they aspired for reelection or a congressional seat.
“Good performance is not sufficient for the governor to win; neither is bad performance sufficient for a governor to lose,” Virola said.
Challenge
This is a “challenge that must be addressed by civil society and stakeholders concerned about voters’ decision during elections,” he added.
Virola said the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) should be an election issue. He was in Legazpi City recently to share the MDG indicators for 2015 with selected journalists.
He said the NSCB was involved in a project that came up with a governance framework in 1999 and the agency thought of producing numbers related to governance.
“For the 2007 paper, we realized the intention, hopefully, is for voters to make informed choices during elections. We wanted to find out, do voters go for candidates with good performance based on governance index?” Virola explained.
“Unfortunately, even if one’s governance index is bad, one can still get reelected,” he said.
Virola said the NSCB findings were validated by the provincial rankings in terms of the Human Development Index (HDI).
Developed by the UN Development Program, the HDI measures a country’s health, income and education conditions.
The NSCB, which measures economic, administrative and demographical performances, has an agreement with the Human Development Network to compute the country’s provincial HDI.
“To validate our GGI, we checked the rankings and there is a similarity,” Virola said.
“The Top 10 in HDI ranking are more or less the same Top 10 in GGI, although they have different variables. GGI has more dimensions,” he said.
Governance indicators
The NSCB’s governance framework includes:
• Economic indicators—sustainable management of resources and enhanced government responsiveness to the poor.
The data came from the NSCB, Commission on Audit, Department of Budget and Management, and National Statistics Office.
• Political indicators—improvement of internal and external security, law enforcement and administration of justice, and elimination of graft and corruption.
The figures came from the Philippine National Police and Commission on Elections.
• Administrative indicators—efficiency in the delivery of services, improved transparency and accountability, continuous building of capacities and expanded use of ICT.
The statistics came from the Department of Education, Department of Health, and the Department of Interior and Local Government.
Chartered cities, which are largely self-governing and act independently from their provinces, were excluded from the computation of the provincial GGI.
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 02:20:00 02/02/2010
MANILA, Philippines—Voters generally do not choose their leaders because of good governance, platform or issues, according to a top official of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), citing the government agency’s study.
“I’m sure there are intelligent voters among us, but it is not yet in the consciousness of the greater public to vote on the basis of performance, platform or issues,” said Dr. Romulo Virola, secretary general of the NSCB.
In 10 provinces that the NSCB identified as “worst-governed” in 2005, eight of their governors were still reelected in 2007, Virola said.
“Our voters, essentially, do not vote for good governance,” he said in an interview with the Inquirer on Friday.
The NSCB survey in 2005 listed the 10 “worst-governed” provinces as Maguindanao, Camarines Sur, Masbate, Lanao del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Surigao del Sur, Camarines Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay, Albay and Romblon.
The survey based its ranking on a study measuring the good governance index (GGI) of 79 provinces all over the country, which involved economic, political and administrative indicators.
Reelected in 2007 in eight of the 10 worst-governed provinces were the governors (or their relatives) of Maguindanao, Camarines Sur, Masbate, Lanao del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Surigao del Sur, Camarines Norte and Zamboanga Sibugay.
On the other hand, the 10 “best-governed” provinces were Batanes, Rizal, Benguet, Siquijor, Bulacan, Apayao, Laguna, Cavite, Nueva Vizcaya and Pampanga.
But three governors—those of Batanes, Benguet and Pampanga—lost in the 2007 poll race when they aspired for reelection or a congressional seat.
“Good performance is not sufficient for the governor to win; neither is bad performance sufficient for a governor to lose,” Virola said.
Challenge
This is a “challenge that must be addressed by civil society and stakeholders concerned about voters’ decision during elections,” he added.
Virola said the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) should be an election issue. He was in Legazpi City recently to share the MDG indicators for 2015 with selected journalists.
He said the NSCB was involved in a project that came up with a governance framework in 1999 and the agency thought of producing numbers related to governance.
“For the 2007 paper, we realized the intention, hopefully, is for voters to make informed choices during elections. We wanted to find out, do voters go for candidates with good performance based on governance index?” Virola explained.
“Unfortunately, even if one’s governance index is bad, one can still get reelected,” he said.
Virola said the NSCB findings were validated by the provincial rankings in terms of the Human Development Index (HDI).
Developed by the UN Development Program, the HDI measures a country’s health, income and education conditions.
The NSCB, which measures economic, administrative and demographical performances, has an agreement with the Human Development Network to compute the country’s provincial HDI.
“To validate our GGI, we checked the rankings and there is a similarity,” Virola said.
“The Top 10 in HDI ranking are more or less the same Top 10 in GGI, although they have different variables. GGI has more dimensions,” he said.
Governance indicators
The NSCB’s governance framework includes:
• Economic indicators—sustainable management of resources and enhanced government responsiveness to the poor.
The data came from the NSCB, Commission on Audit, Department of Budget and Management, and National Statistics Office.
• Political indicators—improvement of internal and external security, law enforcement and administration of justice, and elimination of graft and corruption.
The figures came from the Philippine National Police and Commission on Elections.
• Administrative indicators—efficiency in the delivery of services, improved transparency and accountability, continuous building of capacities and expanded use of ICT.
The statistics came from the Department of Education, Department of Health, and the Department of Interior and Local Government.
Chartered cities, which are largely self-governing and act independently from their provinces, were excluded from the computation of the provincial GGI.
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