PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 1959
[Councilof Administrative Management Civil Service Reform Staff Services In-Service Training Institute of Public Administration Government Reorganization Classification and Pay Plans Technical Assistance
...... "q' ?,r y .... '" 32'J :'"ky. PUBLIC ADMINISTRA TION
IN THE
PHILIPPINES
1959
A Report to
The Republic of the Philippines
Through
The International Cooperation Administration
By
Louis J. Kroeger and Associate:3
August 1959 CONTENTS
Page
Foreword i The Mission ii The Method iii
Part I
Position Classification and Compensation
Introduction 1 Chapter I. Summary of Conclusions 2 II. Summary of Recommendations 4 III. Original Problems and Objectives 6 IV. Basic Concepts 8 V. General Evaluation of Progress 11 VI. Defects in the Plans 17 VII. Conflicts and Handicaps 20 VIII. Complaints and Misconceptions 38 IX. Whose Fault? 51 X. Prescriptions for Progress 52
Part II
Public Administration Generally
Introduction 55 XI. Summary of Conclusions 56 XII. Summary of Recommendations 58 XIII. Perspective 60 XIV. Leadership 63 XV. Training 68 XVI. Staff Services 7Z XVII Reorganization 78 XVIII. Departmental Operations 83 XIX. Informal Support 85 XX. A Case in Point 87 CONTENTS
Page
Part III
Technical Assistance
Introduction 89 Chapt,:r XXI. The Roles of Public AdrninistratiQn 90 XXII. PAD/USOM/PHIL 94
Part IV
Action
XXIII. Action 97 FOREWORD
This is a report in four Parts, each relating to a different aspect of public administration in the Philippines as seen in brief review in July and August 1959.
Part I devotes detailed attention to the position classifica tion and pay programs, because of the hail of criticism to which it has been subjected.
Part II is a less detailed general evaluation of all other aspects of public administration in the Philippine Government.
Part III is limited to observations about the U. S. program ,f technical assistance in public administration, mainly from the standpoint of the USOM/Philippines.
Part IV summarizes a satisfying degree of action taken on the spot during the course of this study,
Although this is a report prepared for the International Cooperation Administration, m:ch of it is directed to an ultimate audience in the Philippines. The author hopes that copies will be made available to all Philippine Government officials concerned with public administration, in recognition of the fine progress al ready made and in encouragement of all that yet needs to be done.
Louis J. Kroeger
San Francisco August 28, 1959 THE MISSION
The mission undertaken by this study as stated in the con tract under which the work has been done is as follows:
(Article I, Section A) "The general purpose of this contract is to review the operations of the Wage and Position Classification Office and its relationships with the Bureau of Civil Service in matters of personnel classification ... Revie' , public administration activities *.. Determine appropriate courses of action to meet the public administration needs revealed through review and consultations. "
On the day of the contractor's arri al in Manila the mis sion was further defined by Budget Commissioner Dominador R. Aytona as follows:
"Review what has happened in the administrative and technical development of the classification and pay plans since their adoption; analyze the complaints and special problems experienced both by the WAPCO and by the operating departments, determipc the nature and basis of criticism directed at the organization and at the Plans in Congress; and suggest what must be done to make these Plans acceptable and effective.
"Review and comment freely on any other public administration activity that time and opportunity per mits,
- t THE METHOD
First attention was given to the classification and pay plans. Information about what has taken place since the plans were adopted and about prevailing complaints and attitudes toward theWage and Position Classification Office (WAPCO) and Is problens was ob tained by interview: and by extensive rcv!e-_ of documents in the WAPCO, in the operating departments and in the Congress.
Information on other phases ,f adminstration was obtained in like manner from intervieks and a revie\,' of the record,
The Philippine Governmevit \vas kept informed of progress through conferences with the Budget Commissioner, and the USOM was kept informed mainly by frequent conversations with the Chief of the Public Administration Division.
Office space, transportation clerical assistance and supplies were provided by the Budget Commission, principally through the Management Service and the WAPCO.
The principal intervieks in the WAPCO were with the Dir ector, Ladislao Yap; the Assistant Director, Tomas Flores; and Supervising Classification Analysts Lazaro Abigania, Amado Agorilla, Eugenia Beleno, Fidel Banares. Florencia del Prado, Andres Diaz, Dominador Lapuz. Cesario Llobrera, and Simeon Silva.
Administrative officials consulted included Dr. Jose Locsin, Chairman, National Economic Ccuncil; Florencio Moreno, Secre tary of Public Works and Communication; and his staff; Dr. Elpidio Valencia, Secretary of Health and Lis staff Dominador Aytona, Budget Commissioner; Undersecretary for Natural Resources; Amado del Rosario, Civil Service Commission; and Deogracias Dayao, Personnel Officer, Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
The original intention to interview a much longer list of de partmental officials, particularly about their experiences with the WAPCO, was changed when it was found that their comments were generally baseri on statements already filed in response to an in quiry from the Chairman of thc Senate Finance Committee. Atten tion was thereafter concentrated on the files of that Committee instead.
- iii Members of Congress consulted included Senator Cipriano P. Primicias, Senate Majority Floor Leader, Senator Gil Puyat, Chairman, Senate Finance Committee, Congressman Tobias Fornier, Chairman, House Appropriations Committee, and Congress man Lucas Paredes.
Further information and suggestions were solicited from the USOM staff, many of whom provided useful information and in:sighto
Through the circumstances of using desk space in the Man agement Service, constant assistance was provided by members of that staff, particularly by Leon M, Lazaga, Chief, and Emma Arce, Supervising Management Analyst.
Attendance at a meeting of the Society for Public Administra tion of the Philippines provided added detai' about the problems of implementing the new civil service law.
To all the above, and many others, who furnished informa tion, viewpoints and suggestions, the Contractor hereby expresses thanks. The conclusons drawn and the recommendations advanced in this report, while influenced by those consulted, are necessarily the responsibility of the Contractor alone
- iv PART I
POSITION CLASSIFICATION AND COMPENSATION INTRODUCTION
This part of the report is devoted to an evaluation of position classification and compensation administration in the Philippines.
It constitutes the greater part of the total report because in the past year, for a variety of reasons, the entire program was threatened through the near- abolishment of the Wage and Position Classification Office.
Although many specific cases said to need correition were brought to attention during this study, no attempt vas nade to judge their merits. The equitable adjustment of individual cases is part of the continuing responsibility of the WAPCO.
Attention has been given, instead, to suggesting the ways in which the WAPCO can better fulfill its assigned mission.
It is to that end that this section of the report is devoted.
- 1 CHAPTER I
SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS
The present state of postion classification and pay in the Philippines is a complex of many intricately inter-related factors. For a full understanding, the full text of this report needs to be read.
For those only genera .v concerned with the matter, this general summary of conclusions is submitted.
1. There are no inherent defects in the classification and pay plans.
2. There are mistakes in detal to be corrected, Some are errors in the original plan because of the magnitude of the job and some lack of understanding of the significance of the facts sub mitted. Some are the restiPt r,{ inahi'ify or faillure to keep the plans abreast of later developments.
3. The quality of the tec mcal staff is good. Their under standing of their problems and cf the steps needed to solve them is clear.
4. The technical staff is hampered by inadequate admini strative leadership within the WAPCO,.
5. There are severe handicaps external to the plans them selves. These are principally (al conflicts with civil service laws and procedures, (b) the restrictions of a line item bndget; partial (c) only implementation of the pay plan and (d) widespread understanding, lack of due in large part to lack ' f adequate information.
6. The WAPCO should return to some of the original con cepts of its own internal operation, which have been neglected or abandoned.
7. There needs to be a substantial change in attitude by some of the WAPCO staff to re-establish confidence in the Office.
8. Many of the specific complaints leveled at the WAPCO are either unfounded or are valid complaints which should be dir ected elsewhere.
-2 9. There is relatively little recorded complaint from one group which constitutes fully half of the total coverage; i. e., the public school teachers.
10. All obstacles and complaints can be overcome by specific remedies set forth in detail in this report.
-3 CHAPTER II
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
As in the case of conclusions drawn, the recommendations for improvement are necessarily many and detailed, They must be considered in relation to the background of discussion leading up to them. In the broadest of terms, they may be summarized as follows:
1. Obtain legislation to establish classification and pay principles and practices; to create an obligation to cbserve them; and to provide penalties.
2. Clarify grievance and appeal procedures,
3. Correct other defects by appropriate administrative and technical action.
4. Re-establish the means for technical guidance and co ordination as originally planned,
5. Keep the WAPCO staff to full strength.
6. Provide adequate funds for supply and travel.
7. Hasten full implementation of the pay plan.
8. Resolve conflicts in law and in procedure, particularly between the Civil Service Commission. the budget staff, and the WA PCo.
9. Discourage exemptions from Plans 1A and 2A.
10. Clarify the understanding of the separate nature of a position and of the person holding it.
11. Place legal restrictions on the setting of salary rates in government agencies under collective bargaining agreements.
12. Correct departmental malpractices.
-4 13. Correct internal malpractices.
14. Adopt a positive attitude of cooperation and service with in the WAPCO, to regain official and public confidence.
15. Clarify misconceptions in the minds of members of Congress.
16. Maintain an effective program of public relations.
17. Adopt the many specific propcsals of change advanced in connection with specific misconceptions and complaints discussed in this report.
18. Enlist further technical assistance to guide and support the recommended courses of action.
- 5 CHAPTER, III
ORIGINAL PROBLEMS AND OBJECTIVES
Early in this decade, the Phiiippine Goverr-nent recognized the need to irnp.rove its adininistr.fltve ,perations as the means to making the government more effective in its contribution to econ omic development and srcial p-,,gress There was concern, too, that the dem.-ira.izatinn o! emplovees because of low and inequitable salaries ,,ould lead t.-, widespread c - -tjpt. -'n in puhulic service,
D.scIs 'ml .f 'hese pr,'h!t.''s ,.ith the U. S. Operations Mis sion in the Philippines led t- Lc c,:,'c',sior that the first big step in administrative improvement sh -ld be '.o improve salaries. Lacking the f-aCtua.l bAsiS , I clilh t .) e q,ialh e and adjust salaries, it was further agreed that the develop-nent of a new pay plan should be preceded b-, a svstematic clAssificatlon of jobs on the basis of their duties and Yesponsihilties,
In Juine, 1953, the Plii:ppine Government contracted with Louis J. Krc.eger and Assccia',ts t- provide technical guidance in the develpment and instai.!a'lon cf ciassification and pay plans; and in the process, to train a F',ipini staff wh.o ,&ou.'d assist in the early stages and assurne fu1J responsitiltt for the administration of the plans upon their adoptiozi,
There is a cr.rnplete record in the files of both governments of the manner in ,hich that missior, *ras fulfil..ed.
While this work ,as b-irel; under', ay, Congress created the Governmert Survev and Reirganiza.t.or Commission to plan the complete -e,.?rganizatien f the Pl, lippne G-,vernment, The author ity of the Commission included le c'assificati-'n of positions and standardization of salaries, At the reqluest of the Government Sur vey and Reorganization Comnmisst..i the scope f the contract with Louis J_ Kroeger and Associates .as extended to include technical assistance ii. reorganization at-d the training c,f a Filipino staff in that field as %welo
It thus became possible to develop reorganization plans and classification and pay olans in harmony with each other; but more important, it made it possible to gain adcption of the full detail of the latter plans in the form of "reorganization plans.
- 6 That the problem and the steps needed to solve it were as stated above is confirmed by the !ntrodaction to the Supporting Statement in behalf of Reorganization P~ans IA, 2A and 3 t, con tained in the Gove! nment Survev and Reorganization Commission report on "Pers nne', dated February 1956.
Reorgadnzali,.r, Planr, 1A est-tblished the classification plan; Plan 2A establis'ed the pay plnl and Plan 3A converted the Wage and Position Classification Office from a project operation to a regular office in the Budget Ccnivi;issi,:.n.. Tc three plans were approved by the Gover nrcnt S.irvey' and Reorganizalion Commis sion on Februory 0, 1956 \eere approved by President Magsaysay and transmilte1l t.,C-ngress on Febr uarrv 14 1956 and became effective in the absence ,f C..gcss l vein ort Mav 5 1956,
Ti-,e In'p!ernenting Det-ai 1s. reIuLIred to, give final effect to the plans, were approved bN, Excculive Orders 277, 270, and 279, signed by President Garcia ,-,: Novemnaber 7 1957.
The exteit to khich these k r mal actions have or have not accomplished the original objectives - - and the further steps neces sary to reach these objectives -. is the subject of the remainder of this report.
-7 CHAPTER IV
BASIC CONCEPTS
The creation of the cl!assfic. tion and pay plans was planned to be part of a general administrative improvement program, A mong the many parts of th-,t program, two were directly and closely related to the success of these plans civil service reform and per formance budgeting,
Civil' Service Reform, Aside from countless Fidministrative and technical improvements nleded to strengthen the civil service system, certai' basic changes in concept were necessary to enable the classificat ion ard piLy plars t,7 p!a.v their proper part in person nel administra+ion.
1. Testing needed to he ccnverfed from a system of gener a!ized grades of eligiblitv t,.one of testing for the more precise qialiftications implied by the classification plan.
2. Res t riclions on pay rate related to or iginal grade of civil service eligibility needed to be e.leminitted.
3. Close administrative and proced-ur;l coordination be twveen the Bureau cif Civi.l Service and the Wage and Position C..as.nific.tTiC~i Office ,as essential.
The adc.pti- -! R. A. 22',60, the "Civil Service Act of 1959" should help a good deal. H,.vever ne fact. thatt revision of the civil service I. I is been. s I,:g de.'.a ed and t.hrAt its full imple mentation i take ye' 'J:iger has cou r.hi,.jted -'' complications in the administra' or c: the classificai .,iand pav plans, Moreover, ithe new la Lasi nut IA!fited the need 'or co.plete integration of concepts, as .vil he disclh;sed ir a liter Chapter.
Performarnce !,,.dgetng. 1t is not for this report to recall the many obvios advantages cf - performance budget, Its great advantage, f-t,)rn the s-)ndp,.it oI the silbject matter of this report, is that it ,,ou!r e.'i inmate the cc-nf! ct heteen compensation as set by the pa.y plan and the anoint auth,-rized for payment in a line item budget. Here lies the greatest single insolved problem in giving any reasonable effecl to the pav plan.
-8 The point, in brief summary is !,hat it was known from the beginning that the c'assificati--'n and piv p1ans could not succeed without co- resprirding cl:dqges :n c.vi' service l'i v and in budget procedures. The c'as s tcati.:.,, ;nd pay pla, s er e adopted The other charges !v.ireno, vei been f,,I,.' ect!Ve t. is hard)y fair to charge failure t- .. ,ie elenii-t ir. a 1 -)ta p!.''gram when its com plimeritarv inc as ires are n.,t ,'ct effect:ve,
While reca' ing basic c:-,cep's it vt.,o ,d be well to touch briefly on the g~iidi-.g prlncp'.es of c.'assification and pay admini stration.
Cassifica!ion, The c'asaiiicat:on of positions is based. on the duties and responsibilities ,-f pos, ions as created and assigned by lav, or bv driil c,-nstitfled adrministrative .authorltv 't is not the function of p.:,sit ion c as:If!cat1,m, f, it.lioence c-rganizatton or the distril.utiqn ,t1,: rk am-:,g eIr.p2,. ce s. Nor is i! the 1,inct.on of the classificati , plan ;is suc),, to rec,)gnize the length and value of service tir t.,tler per-,,nal ccnstderations af'ecting the employee.
These deserve reccgni!i.Jn* ,4l nc' ;n the classification plan.
Classificatt,.in is not an end in itself Prositions are not arranged t!n.t-classes for an nrder'.y aesthetic effect or for intellect ual exercise. Jcbs are classil!ic.d otinv as the ftrst necessary step toward proper personnel adrn!inistrittion. Most essential of all the ends served by position c assificwition are l1P',he recruitir.g and selection of perscn.el and (2 their f; ir an-I eonitable compensation.
The class fLcation p.11 11.,lbt be dn,,3mic, It needs to be as flexible c.s the ever c!,anging derards that le economic and social aims place ,:,n the government T'hie ad,ptton, -f a c.'assification plan is r.-)f a fu.fil-ment at beg: n,nir,, The integi it.y of its basic concepts must be in.-intained buil -I.s ever, detai.! slould be con stantty subject to, se-trching re-ex:icnin'jt: ". ,and to chiange whenever there is change ri the facts. This is hardly possible where Con gress specifies the urnber and k:nd of posift-ns in ful. detail.
Pay. The basic concepts governing the pay plan are quite simple:
1. Equal pay for equal work.
2. Differences in pay proportionate to differences in the difficulty and responstbility of work.
-9 3. Pay in the government generally consistent with that prevailing in comparable private employment.
The pay plan has, built into it, the means of adjusting the entire plan upward or downward as economic conditions require; and also the means of recognizing quality and length of service within reasonable limits.
Those who establish and administer the details of the plan must be ever vigilant to do so within the general limits of appropr iations by Congress, and in harmony with Congressional policy. It creates an impossible situation, however, when Congress seeks to guarantee adherence to its dictates by specifying individual rates in a line item budget.
-10 CHAPTER V
GENERAL EVALUATION OF PROGRESS
A great deal of satisfactory progress has been made. It has been made in the face of adversities and criticisms which might have blocked completely the operation of a plan less well conceived and less effectively supported by the many responsible for the classification and pay operation.
Part of the criticism and difficulty encountered in the first two years that the Plans have been in official operation is a normal feature of any new classification and pay program. Initial kinks have to be ironed out, misunderstandings have to be resolved; and operating officials and employees have to be educated to the many advantages the plan offers. It is normal, too, for those who have been found to be overpaid, or who have long enjoyed any other unfair advantage the lack of an effective plan permitted, to be vocal in their opposition.
Those who must assess the true value of the program must keep in mind that the outbursts of a vocal minority are not the criteria by which the Plans should be judged.
Technique and Content. The technical quality of the Plans has been well maintained. Much of the originally trained staff is still intact. The staff has gained further stature and confidence under the pressure of actual administration of the Plans.
If the staff could be free of the many obstacles to be dis cussed laLcr, it has the knowledge and the ability to fulfill all the purposes of a sound classification and pay plan.
Administration. Unfortunately, the top administration in the WAPCO is not equal to the competence of the technical staff. As a result, many of the proposals originatirg with the staff for the improvement and up-dating of the Plans have been nullified by administrative action.
The requirement that all changes in the basic plan be re ferred to the Budget Commissioner for final approval has been a sound safeguard against toc frequent and too generous revision of the plan; but it is no protection against the errors of omission in
-11 which the top administrative staff has discouraged or vetoed the efforts of the technical staff.
Complaints. Complaints against the WAPCO have been widespread. They resulted in an action by the House of Repre sentatives in the last Congressional session which would have abolished the WAPCO and eliminated the partial salary adjustment already made under the Plan. Only strong intervention by key officials gained th restoration of the organization and the funds in the Senate.
The supporters and staff of WAPCO should not find great comfort in this victory. It was far from vindication, It was more an act of clemency - - an extension of time - - another chance. Prompt and effective action is needed to avert a similar crisis next year.
Geographic Differential. The original pay plan provided a differential in salaries between the Manila area and the other Provinces. The differential was based on the finding in the origi nal salary survey that such differences prevail in private employ ment. It was assumed that such differences were based on differences in the cost of living, and that the differential in amounts actually paid resulted in equalizing purchasing power, hence pro vided equalized "real wages."
Original opposition to this differential was based mainly on the contention that employment in the distant provinces was less attractive for a variety of reasons, and that salary parity with Manila was necessary to induce qualified persons to go to or re main in those provinces.
Republic Act 2083, approved June 14, 1958, abolished the geographic differential and appropriated PlO, 800, 000 to adjust salaries theretofore subject to the differential. Despite the fact that this added cost will be a factor in making difficult the full im plementation of the pay plan, the policy question involved should be accepted as settled.
Defects. As would be expected, as the Plans went into oper ation, defects were exposed. Whether by oversight, error of judg ment, lack of understanding, or for whatever cause, experience has shown faults that planning did not anticipate.
-12 These defects are not fatal. They can be corrected. The friends and supporters of WAPCO should be the first to admit that the defects exist, and should be quick to correct them. The critics, oLi the other hand should be equa! y fair by giving this Office en couragement and assistance in taking corrective action, rather than seeking s.,ch drastic action as abolishment of the Office.
The nature of the defects, and what ought to be done about them, will be discussed more fully later.
Handicaps. There have been numerous external handicaps to proper fulfillment of the classification and pay plans. They are in no sense the fault or responsibility of WAPCO. Most of them are beyond the power of WAPCO to correct or even to influence.
These handicaps are discussed at some length later in the report. Responsible leaders in the Congress and in the Admini stration wil. have to understand and correct these conditions if the full benefits of the classificat._on and pay plans are to be gained.
Departures from Program
There are several important respects in which the original plan of operation has not been observed. They contribute to the difficulties the WAPCO has encountered,
Incomplete Implementation. It was intended that 30% of the salary adjustment required by the plan would be made in the first year of its effectivity, an additional 35% adjustment was to be made in the second year, and the final 35% in the third year, On this schedule, ful implementation should have been achieved in this year's budget. Instead only the first 30% has been provided.
It is difficult to convince the employees of the benefits of the plan so long as they remain theoretical instead of actual.
Prevailing Rates. It was intended that the pay plan would be kept abrea3t of prevailing practices in local private employment. A few 'spot sa,,r ouiveys" have been made in critical classes, but there has been no general review of salaries since the original sur vey in 1954. Even when Plan 2A was first implemented in 1957, it was already based on out-dated information, It is evidence that the
-13 cost of living has been rising and that private rates have increased, at least partially, to meet this rise.
The question may properly be raised whether there is any point in finding that higher rates now prevail when the funds have not yet been provided to implement the 1954 level.
This good question has good answers:
1. An up-to-date survey would help further convince the Congress that government employees are really under paid.
2. It would hasten the time when the employees could be given the full justice due them.
3. It would help sustain the confidence of the employees by fulfilling the original intent of maintaining a pay plan which would always be abreast of prevailing pri vate pay practice.
An annual pay survey may be too costly. Perhaps the economy does not shift that fast. But a general survey at least each three years is necessary either to corroborate existing rates, or to show the need to change them. Such periodic survey should follow the procedure and have the coverage of the original survey made in 1954. This is described in the publication "Salary Data in the Philippines (1954),' and is supported by working papers in the files at the WAPCO.
Standards Division. The functions of this Division, as pre scribed in Executive Order No. 279, implementing Reorganization Plan 3A, are to provide technical guidance and coordination. In stead, it has been allowed to deteriorate into a sort of editorial, report writing and statistical unit.
Without a strong Standards Division there is real danger that the eight Classification Divisions will so completely go their separate ways that eight different classification plans will soon evolve. Not only should this Division be used for coordination, but it should also make independent spot checks to see that the other Divisions are performing up to standard.
-14 "Primary Responsibility. " Another feature intended to as sure full co rdination was the concept that each Classification Divi sion wou.d have "primary responsibility" for certain occupational groups common. to the agenciet nerved by other Divisions as well. The other D vsions vere t.. coordinate their studies with the Division hav:ng primary rc sp.:nrsibilhtv,
The practice of conferr ing ,ith those who have "primary responsibility' has decl!ned to the point where, again, there is real danger of different plans develop,.ng which affect closely re lated kinds of positions.
Staff Advisor.;, Committee, The final device for insuring coordinatien and consistencv of technical standards and practices was the Staff Advisory Committee, consisting of the Supervising Analysts. The Cornmittee was expected to hold regular meetings, with the agenda prepared by the Standards Division. It was to be the technica', tribunal of last resort in resolving major problems affecting the basic classification and pay plans.
The Comnrtitee seldom it ever, meets anymore. If it meets, extended discussion is discouraged. The Director and/or Assistant Director attend, and by interposing their views on deci sions early in the discussion, discourage the full consideration of matters before the group.
Classificaton and pay techniques do not yet have the precise quality of the physical sciences. Decisions must be made on in formed and reasoned judgment, not on fixed rules. Debate is essential to the clarification and resolution of issues. Exchanges of view are essential to common understanding and common agree ment on basic principles and practices.
The decline of the SAC, particularly when combined with the weakening of the Standards Division and the ignoring of the con cept of "primary responsibility, " illustrates how the lack of admini strative understanding has hampered the technical service.
Manuals. It was originally intended that -anuals of policy and procedure would be developed, both for the staff and for the guidance of the operating departments. They were to be kept up-to date as new standards and practices were adopted.
- 15 A manual for staff analysts was published in 1957. It has not been kept up-to-date. It contains only the basic principles of classification practices, whereas it should by now have been sup plemented by many specific policies and procedures which have developed since the plans went into actual operation. Some modi fications of this Manual have been made, but they have been announced orally, not by written amendment to the Manual.
A manual for operating departments was drafted but has never been published It is easy to see why misunderstanding of WAPCO's objectives and methods is widespread, when there is no ready reference work to which the operating officials can turn.
A public relations program limited to answering questions and complaints is both too little and too late. A good manual can anticipate the questions and prevent the complaints,
Procedure. The classification staff is trained to analyze the duties and responsibilities of positions, to group them into classes, and to place them in proper salary levels. The changing character of the government's many agencies requires the full attention of the skilled staff in this specialized service. The ratio of one analyst to about 3, 000 positions is far below a desirable standard, even if the analysts could be fully engaged in their prim ary responsibility.
Much of the time of the Classification Divisions is diverted to non-technical procedures in the review and approval of appoint ments. Most of these cases do not require any classification or pay judgment. They require only the applicat ion of standard rules and formulas. The effectiveness of the Office is weakened by this diversion of talent.
- 16 CHAPTER VI
DEFECTS IN THE PLANS
Relatively few defects in the basic classification and pay plans have been revealed by the operating experience of two years. These few can be easily corrected by legislation. Even in the absence of legislation, they can be corrected by understanding and cooperation.
1. There is no legal obligation that department heads shall assign duties consistent with the employee's class; and shall not assign other duties until and unless a change in class or allocation shall first have been approved. A proposed amendment was pre pared for the last session of Congress to correct this deficiency, but it was not considered.
Pending such legislation. the intent could be included in rules which the D:rector of Classification and Compensation is authorized to. issue, Better still, the voluntary cooperation of all operating officials would accomplish the purpose without legal re quirement.
2. No penalty is prescribed for violations of classification and pay provisions. It would be better if none were required. It would be ideal if al.. concerned cooperated so fully that no thought of penalty need be entertained.
No one can be so naive as to believe that cooperation will be that complete, Realism requires that an obligation be prescribed and that a penalty for failure or violation be imposed, A proposed penalty was Lncluded in the legislation mentioned above, but it too failed to gain consideration. Such an enactment should be sought at the next session.
3. There mai-y not be enough ranges in the basic pay plan. Range 75 does not quite reach some of the salaries already being paid, particularly in the Central Bank. There is agitation to in crease some of the salaries for high administrative and professional positions. This report suggests the need for a general re-survey of prevailing rates in the private sector, which may result in a general increase.
-17 Normally, a basic plan includes enough ranges to accomo date necessary increases for many years ahead. Additional steps will need to be added to the basic plan by legislative amendment. They should be an extension of the percent ige progression on which the Plan is based.
4. No provision was made for airing grievances and adjust ing appeals. This has two aspects:: grievances of employees which may never reach the attention of the WAPCO; and appeals from the WAPCO's own decisions.
It is said that employees who feel they have a legitimate grievance about sonic detail of the way the classification and pay plans affect them, find their complaint cut off within their own agency. They believe that the WAPCO's better understanding of their problem might cause a satisfactory adjustment. A procedure is needed whereby an aggrieved employee, after exhausting admini strative remedies within his department, may appeal to the WAPCO, which should then hear both sides of the case and render a decision. Such a procedure is included in the draft of a Manual intended for operating agencies, which has never been issued.
It has been suggested that appeals from the WAPCO's own decisions should be elevated to a separate Board of Appeals. This has serious drawbacks. For such a Board to review technical de cisions intelligently, it would itself have to be made up of the best of the technicians. There are toc few available. If such an appellate body were to reverse the WAPCO regularly, it would not be long before all adverse decisions would be referred to it. If it adopted the opposite policy of affirming all decisions, it would serve no practical purpose as an appr.llate body.
The more satisfactory solution would be to make each Classification Division responsible for decisions initially; and to have appeals from such decision resolved by the Director of Classi fication and Compensation after taking into account the added inde pendent findings and recommendations of the Standards Division, the Chief Classification A alyst, and the Staff Advisory Committee.
5. Provision that a subordinate may not be paid more than his superior. While in general this is agd principle, and it would generally be the effect produced by the Plan, there are justi fiable exceptions. Their prohibition by the language of Plan 2A
-18 creates difficulty. One justifiable exception might be a highly specialized professional position which by every standard of job evaluation should pay more than an administrative job having nominal administrative supervision over the work. Another would be cases in kvhich the salary ranges for two classes in a series over lap. The incumbent. in the lower level job might be at the maximum rate for his class. A newv appointee starting in the higher job might at the outset have a lower rate. The range, however, permits this momentary inequity to be eliminated as the employee in the higher class is advanced from step to step,
6. Individual Errors. It would be miraculous if there were no errors in the detail of the original Plan. Inaccurate or incom plete information, lack of understanding, lack of time to explore and verify every detail inexperienced staff in the early stages of development, and a normal degree of human fallibility all play their part in the errors.
None of these errors is fatal to the plan. They can be easily corrected by the normal processes of revision for which the Plans provide. In the limited time available for this study, no effort has been made to evaluate cases of alleged error. If the changes of method and concept this report proposes are put into effect, the quick correction of errors will be a natural result.
Conclusion. This brief list of defects emphasizes that the principal problems are not inherent in the Plans themselves. They are ca-ised by internal staffing and organizational difficulties and by external confiicts and handicaps. These are the subject of the next chapter.
-19 CHAPTER VII
CONFLICTS AND HANDICAPS
This chapter discusses both the internal operating problems and the external conflicts and handicaps which are the major obs tacles to a completely successful classification and pay program.
Internal Factors
Organization. There are several ways in which the effect of the present internal organization of the WAPCO contributes to its difficulties,
1. The change in the role of the Standards Division has weakened the technical leadership needed for coordination and for upholding professional standards. This is particularly true be cause there has been no corresponding substitution of strong tech nical leadership at any other point in the organization.
2. The position of Chief Classification Analyst having re mained vacant until after this study began, contributed to the lack of needed technical direction.
3. The decline -if the Staff Advisory Committee as a vigorous and able instrument for coordination has already been re ported.
"4. The use of the Assistant Director as a review officer on major classification and pay changes has created an unfortunate mixture of administrative and technical responsibilities. It cannot help but dilute the efiectiveness of both, It creates a serious bottleneck in the operatlon. And it puts final decision in an individ ual less aware of the facts and less familiar with the applicable standards than the Classification Division from which the proposals originate.
The corrections suggested by these points are, (1) restore the Standards Division to the role defined for it in the Implementing Details; (2) permit the Chief Classification Analyst to function ef fectively as the director of technical operations; (3) re-establish
-20 the SAC as an effective policy and standards coordination body; and (4) limit the Assistant Director to general administrative duties, not including technical review or technical decision.
Staffing. Generally speaking, the staff has held together remarkably well in the face of criticism and threats to the very existence of WAPCO.
In those cases where staff have left, replacements have not always been made. It is essential that this staff be held at full strength. If WAPCO cannot keep fully abreast of changing facts, and cannot revise the plans to meet them, the time will soon come when it will be necessary to repeat a major survey to bring the Plans back into line. The cost and confusion of such a periodic major undertaking can be avoided at much less cost by keeping the staff to strength.
It is particularly important to keep the staff of Senior Analysts >t authorized strength. In fact, when the next budget is submitted, it would be well to consider providing an additional Senior for each Division. This would provide the understudies and supporting technical strength necessary to meet unexpected depart ures of top personnel.
There are mixed reports about the quality of new recruits. Some are said to be excellent, others to be below the standards originally set. Arrangements should be made with the Civil Ser vice Commission to hold special examinations designed to test aptitude for this lind of work. Recruiting efforts should be directed at the best of the output of the Institute of Public Administration, or any comparable educational program.
The practice of appointing new analysts belowthe authorized rate of pay is contrary to the very principles this Office stands for and cannot help but lower the quality of staff. The practice should be corrected at once.
The training of new staff has reportedly been kept up to the original standards.
Funds. Money, or rather the lack of it, has been the princi pal villain in the difficult life of WAPCO to date.
-21 The failure of Congress to provide complete implementation of the pay plan is, of course, the most serious of these money problems.
But even in the internal operation of the WAPCO, lack of funds poses pr c,olems. Lack of sujfficient funds for supplies has handicapped the Of ice in p.iblicizing such revisions in tile Plans as have been made, These Plans cannot operate unless the oper ating departments kno.'k their details. They cannot know the detail if the paper ,-n which to put them cannot be bought.
More serious is the lim.tations ,-f funds for travel, WAPCO is criticized f.r acting on insufficient facts or for acting on false facts submitted br the departments,. Fle. e is ng way to avoid these faults except 1,, having ana ysts in 'he field a large part of the time to verify the facts by intervie .v and observation. Even if every statement cl" daities subrn,tted ,,ere co;mplete and accurate, the -. nailysts sl~oi~d see the jcbs ir o:,perati-n to understand them fully. These ana.:ysts gain no special insight at the moment of their appoint mert, a,-,r caii they !earn the true nature of hundreds of different occilpt.tiins bv reading or hearing about them. They must see each job it-,its setting,
Travet funds are needed particularly for the Classification Division serving departments to which a large part of the classifi cation respsYnsibility has already been delegated, There needs to be frequent inspectjcr. to assure that delegated responsibility is discharged accir d.ng to standards.
Physical Plant. The standards of performance of any org anization are affected by the *surrouridings in which the work is done. In the past tvc. years there has been a ncticeabie decline in the orderliness and cleanliness of the WAPCO qaarters. It is not a major matter but ,degree of pride in organization and in perfor mance can be restored by creating piide in surroundings.
External Factors
Coverage: Exemptions. The original coverage intended for the classification and pay plans was comprehensive. Now, there is a steady pressure for exemption from the plans.
-22 The reason for comprehensive coverage is obvious. Re gardless of kind of work and regardless of manner of appointment, all officers and employees are paid in pesos; and the number of pesos their positions command should be in proportion to duty and responsibility and related to the prevailing rates in private employ ment.
It is fallacious to argue that some positions should be ex empt because of their confidential, technical or other character istics. These may be reasons for exempting their appointment from civil service procedures. but the same reasoning does not extend to justify exemption from classification and pay standards.
Every effort to exempt positions, groups of positions or entire organizations from classification and pay should be vigorously resisted. Ali. those already exempted should be brought back under the Plans if at al. possible. Those who have gained exemption may, in fact, be among the first to ask to be taken back under the Plans. The history of exemption in other places has been that the exempt groups are often overlooked in any later general adjustment made for the benefit of those under the Plans.
One argument for exemption will always be that certain positions have unusual characteristics which cannot be classified and compensated according to the standards applied to meet other positions. The example of scientists engaged in pure research is a case in point. This is a good premise, leading to a wrong con clusion.
Some kinds of positions do require separate treatment. The original Plan recognized this by providing a "preparation" basis for compensating teachers. Similar variations in plan can -- and should be -- developed for other special occupations and professions.
Exemption by opinion of the Department of Justice is diffi cult to understand and accept. Plan 1A was approved by Congress and the President. It states the coverage of the plan in clear and unmistakable terms. With al.-I due respect to the superior legal knowledge and authority of the DepartmenL of Justice, it is impos sible to understand how this language can be construed, for example, to exempt the employees of the Ge,-neral Auditing Office. The Constitution divides the powers of government among the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial departments. The GAO being neither
-23 legislative nor judicial, must necessarily be executive, Plan 1A includes the entire Executive Department, with specific exceptions, no one of which could possibly be interpreted to include the GAO. This view has now been affir-.ed by the Cabinet., to bring GAO em ployees back under the P arhs.
Opinions oi the Department of Justice on question of exemp tion have been unilateral. The question has been raised by the interested party and the opinion has been handed down without con sultation -,w-ith the WAPCO to help determine the facts and reasoning for original inclusion under Plans IA and 2A. The Director of Classification and Compensation should make representation to the Department of J&istjce, requesting an opportunity to submit an advisory memorandum in tle event of any further efforts at exemp tion by interpretatton,
Exemptions by legislative action, whether by a direct pro vision for exemption or by separate specific salary setting bills, will undoubtedly be attempted as long as the principles of classifi cation on compensation standardization are not fully accepted. The President should be urged to hold firm in vetoing all such special measures, stressing each tine that the action is taken to maintain the integrity of the Plans.
Some government corporations are said to have sought ex emption by taking advantage of the fact that the term "quasi-public government corporation, " as used in Plan IA, is not further de fined. At the risk of again venturing into the field of legal inter pretation, it should be pointed out that the term was clearly defined in other reorganization plans approved by the Government Survey and Reorganization Commission. The fact that the other plans were vetoed by the Congress does not alter the record of clear intent that the term "quasi-public government cor poration" as used by the Commission in one of its Plans was to have the meaning specifically given it in another.
As explained in the GSRC report on "Government Corpora tions" accompanying Reorganization Plan 75 (February 1956), "Quasi-Public Corporations" were to be those closely associated with the functions of regular government agencies, whereas "Priv ate Government Corporations" were to be those operating in the commerical or industrial field, under government control and with a degree of government protection,
-24 Partial Implementation. Much of the criticism of WAPCO is the natural result of disappointment that the promise of system atic and full adjustment to the pay plan has not yet been fulfilled. Not only does this mean that thousands of employees are not yet receiving the minimum salary to which they are said to be entitled, but others already within their salary range are barred from ad vancement until the minimum has been fully gained.
It needs to be said over and over again that the failure to implement has not been the fault of the WAPCO. That Office can not appropriate funds.
Even while reiterating that point., it must be acknowledged that WAPCO has been partially responsible for the failure to im plement. Influential members of Congress have said that whenever the WAPCO administrators adopt a more flexible and reasonable attitude, implementation wil! be forthcoming. Without yielding blindly to every political piessure, it is imperative that the Office should adopt a more cordial attitude in its departmental and Con gressional relations.
The manner in which implementation is sought in the budget is another key to the situation. The funds for the first 30% adjust ment were appropriated as a lump sum, to be distributed in accord ance with the requirements of Plan 2A. This kind of flexibility is highly desirable.
However, in the following year, rather than having revised each authorized salary to include the 30% adjustment, the authorized salary was repeated at the original amount, and the 30% was again shown as a separate lamp sum. Fhis has the effect of encouraging annual Congressional scrutiny of an adjustment already approved. As additional adjustments are made, the continuation of this practice will tend to heighten Congressional interest and encourage criticism as the total amount grow.vs larger,
Once a partial adjustment has been made, it is legitimately a part of the authorized salary. It should thereafter be shown as such. Only the new and additional adjustment required each year to progress to full implementation should be shown as a separate lump sum item.
It is entirely possible that much of the cost of full imple mentation could be absorbed by the agencie ; without additional
-25 appropriation. The necessary legislation to accomplish this might be enacted by Congress if it were properly shown that the net re sult of the administrative fEexibilitv this would require would be a more efficient ard eccncmical operation,
Departments shojld be authorized to make salary adjust ments toaad the fuIll implementation of Plan 2A just as rapidly as they can produce savings to be applied to this purpose in any of the following ways:
1. By not refilling vacant positions.
2. By refilling vacancies at a rate lower than that paid a terminated employee, provided the new rate is within Plan 2A.
3. By reduction of staff, provided that no such reduction will so impair public service that restoration of such jobs "would have to be sought in a subsequent budget.
This vouL.d be a departure from the original thought that all agencies shoa;'d progress to fill implementation at a uniform rate. On the other hand, it is unfair to handicap the agencies who can im prove their fiscal management by ho.ding them back to the pace and level of the few agencies unwilli.ng oi unable to adopt sound practices.
A variation on this proposal. was provided in Section 6 of Executive Order 278 implementing Plan 2.A: but it has not been made effective. Savings were made, as expected, but there was still an insufficient cash balance in the Treasury to finance adjust me nts.
Should it prove tKat fulE. implementation from existing funds is not possible, every effort should be made to obtain the necessary added appropriations. The nation is obviously faced by critical financial problems, Yet it is hardly fair to single out government employees to, in effect, finance part of the deficit. The amounts dedicated to frankly label. ed "pork barrel" projects would do more for good government and sound economy, and would be better politics, if applied to salarV adjustments.
The argument is sometimes heard that rather than increase salaries, the funds should be spread thinner to provide employment for more people. This is false reasoning. No government has ever
-26 solved its unemployment problem by putting evei yone on the public payroll. it is far better to streamline the organization and pay adequate salaries to attract the able public servants who can in solve turn economic problems to ameliorate unemployment.
Conflicting La,° Provisions of law which are contradictory will have to be reconciled.
1. A provision, such as that in the 1959 Appropriation that classification Act, and pay changes approved by WAPCO should have no effect until approved by Congress was most unfortunate. The Congress should rightfulJ.Y expect al. such actions to be taken within the general J!imits of appropri ,ions and consistent with authorized functions of agencies the but to seek th.at end - - or whatever other end may have been in mind by the provision cited above, suspended the effectiveness of the classiiicat-i.n arid pay plans and created much of the general dissalisfaction for which WAPCO was then blamed, Much criticism could have been averted, on the other hand, if WAPCO the had processed all changes proposed throughout FY 1959 and submitted them for inclusion in the 1960 budget. Only a relatively few such cases were processed.
2. The great bulk ("bulk" in its most literal sense) of the annual appropriation act inhibits both good fiscal practice and good personnel practice. It is an idle act for the Congress and President to have said in Reorganization Plan 1A and 2A that positions shall be classified according to their duties and responsibilities, and that a pay plan shall be created and administered according to a certain set of principles. hvlien those same officials by another document of equal legal weight - the appropriation act- - have set down details of job title and salary different from those in Plans IA and 2A.
It would not even ease the situation if the appropriation act conformed in every detail with Plans 1A and 2A, for such detail would still be frozen by law for a fiscal year. The answer lies in lump sum appropriations, subject to administration in keeping with certain principles, including those provided in Plans lA, and 2A. It is the practice of many other legislative bodies to require line item detail in support and explanation of budget requests; but a-ice the requests are understood and modified by whatever general terms the legislators choose, the approoriation is then made in lump sums, to be administered with such flexibility as changing circum stances require.
-27 3. Conflicts and inconsistencies between the civil service law and Plans 1A and 2A need to be resolved.
It is significant that the word "class' is nowhere mentioned in the new civil service law. It is provided that.the WAPCO shall eventually be transferred to the Civil Service Commission, yet there is no evidence that those who wrote this new law understand the significance of Plans 1A and 2A as a part of the civil service system.
Worse yet; there are provisions relating over-all minimum and maximum salaries to general grades of civil service eligibility, which again show a complete failure to grasp the significance of Plans 1A and 2A.
One a!leged conflict seems to be no conflict at al! when the legislative history is reviewed- The Civil Service Commission has held that all changes in classification made by Plan 1A are subject to the eligibilityr of the incumbent. It is abundantly clear, on the other hand that both the GSRC and the Congress intended that eligibility should be automatically conferred in the new classes in order to avoid the confusion that would otherwise ensue.
Section 4 of Plan IA provides in part:
"Upon the initial allocation of positions to classes, as herein provided, any incumbent in such position who holds a permanent appointment and who has any grade of civil service eligibility shall be deemed to be appointed in that position and class in the same manner and with the same rights as if he had qualified and had been ap pointed through competitive examination, .. "
Section 33 of Republic Act 2080. the appropriation act for FY 1959, was even more sweeping in its effect on the same point, as follows:
"The change of designation of any position author ized in this act due to the classification of such posi tions in accordance with the WAPCO plan shall not affect the tenure of office of the incumbent, shall not constitute a demotion either in rank or salary nor re sult in a change of status or assignment and the incum bent shall in all cases be deemed to have been appointed in that position and class." -28 Lest it be contended that this provision was nullified by the later enactment of the "Civil Service Act of 1959", the above language is repeated again as Section 31 of Republic Act 2300, the appropriation act for FY 1960 -- a still later enactment.
Position vs. Person, It is essential to keep in cmind the distinction between "position" and "person" in classification and compensation administration.
A "position" is a set of duties and responsibilities. It may be filled or vacant; and it remains the same regardless of who fills it. The position may be changed by reorganization or re-assign ment of duties. subject to established policy and procedural con siderations. When this occurs, the classificaion and pay of the position are changed according to one set of principles. What happens to the person in the position is subject to quite a different set of principles, The position is included in a class, and the class is assigned to a salary range -- all without regard to the person holding the position.
The person qualifies for appointment by civil service exam ination, or by temporary appointment under certain conditions. When he is appointed to a position in a certain class, he is entitled to a rate of pay determined in part by the pay plan and in part by his own status and length of service.
All laws, regulations and directives which fail to recognize these distinctions contribute to the confusion which is the source of some of the criticism levelled at the WAPCO. All such laws, regulations and directives must be brought in harmony with these distinctions if the plans are to succeed.
Lack of Coordination. Partly because thr foregoing distinc tions have not been fully understood and acceptea and partly for other reasons there is something less than smooth and complete coordination between the several organizations necessarily in volved in the classification and pay process. It would profit little to try to identify the many ways in which this coordination has failed. It is more important to establish it as it should be.
1. The process starts with the operating agencies. It is their organization and assignments of duty which the classification plan reflects. In every classification action, the agency should provide complete and accurate detail about the job involved; should
-29 follow the procedures and standards prescribed by the WAPCO; should abstain from making commitments to the employee until certain the action has been approved, and should open its records and operations to WAPCO inspecti.-,on
2. Determining th.e class to which a position is to be allo cated, or whether a new class is required, or a reassignment of the class from one py grade to an,-ther is justified, are all the responsibility of the WAPCO, If a new appointment is involved, the qualificati-r's or eIigibh.i v of the prop..sed appointee is not the concern of the WAPCO nor is any" n,,eston of classification or pay the concern of the Civi Service C:m.missi'n,
3. Since the question of what eligibility is required depends on what kind of j.ob Is berig f.l.'ed, no determination should be made by the Civii Sei vice Coinmission until the WAPCO has first verified the alocation and salary.
4. The budget, staff is properly concerned with department al programs and the amounts appropriated to support them. When authorization for a ne- program is souLght, the budget staff should require that a proposed staffing pattern be referred to the Manage ment Service for rev~eu, as to organzation and to the WAPCO for tentative classificatlion based on al.i available information about probable diities, In Ihe pr-'paraticn of the annual budget - - parti cularly as long as the line item practice persists -- the budget staff should never permit a department to change any items without WAPCO approval, nor should the bLdget staff ever under any cir cumstances make such changes itself,
If the parties concerned wili al. accept their proper role as just defined, and iJI coo-perate in correcting al. procedures and practices in conflict therewith, confusion will be dispelled.
The most serious handicap to the necessary accord will be the prevailing attitude of disdaii. if not distrust, between the Civil Service Commission and the WAPCO. If there are individuals who have strong persona! feelings ioward each other. they cannot, in the interest of the public service, let those feelings continue to im pair relations between the offices. Both offices exist but to serve the operating departments. Their functions supplement and depend on each other. For thern to fail or refuse to work together, virtu ally as one, is a serious personal and. administrative failure.
-30 Some will argue that the answer lies in the immediate trans fer of the WAPCO to the Civil Service Commission. It would be a tragic mistake at this time. The Civil Service Commission has much to accomplish yet before it is in complete control of the re sponsibilities already assigned to it,, Moreover, if the WAPCO were transferred to the Commission now, in the face of the evident lack of understanding and sympathy vith the purposes of the class ification and compensation plans w hich now prevails there, the plans would be destroyed.
The Civil Service Commission and the WAPCO must both show that they can work together, in effective coordination and harmony before any step is taken toward their required merger.
Negotiated Wage Rates. 'hiere is a serious conflict with Plan ZA in those agencies where al! or part of the employees belong to organizations which have negotiated agreements with the manage ment, including agreement on rates of pay.
There is no way to compromise this conflict. If Plan 2A must be amended to fit every differc agreement, it will soon be but a summary of agreements, varying in its detail until the last semblance of standardization of pay is obliterated, Moreover, if the plan is amended to accommodate every agreement, it would be an open invitation to all employees to organize and negotiate.
This is not a question of an attitude toward the right of em ployees to organize and negotiate. It is rather a question of whether a government can delegate to its agents and employees the right to reach agreements which, in effect, set the level of approp riations and require the levy of taxes to foot the bill.
Nor does any proposed limitation on negotiated rates mean that the Plan 2A rates are necessarily less adequate than those sought by negotiation. In the NDC Textile Mill controver:..y for example, the labor union sought only to maintain the Plan ZA rates against a management effort to reduce them. In fairness it must then be reported, on the other hand, that in the GSIS controversy, the management used Plan ZA rates to support its position against the higher demands of the union.
Apparently this is an issae which will have to be resolved by law, since in the absence of specific law governing the public ser vice, the courts and the Department of Justice will necessarily
-31 interpret and apply the general laws and practices governing in dustrial relations. A decision of the Court of Industrial Relations, handed down June 29, 1959, in the case of GSIS Employees Associ ation vs. the Government Service Insurance System upheld the validity of Plan kA in this instince. Whether the decisiou will con trol if the question is posed in different form or whether .t would apply to other than government corporations, cannot be cl car from this one decision.
If a special law is necessary, it should assert that because of the effect on pow -s of taxation and appropriation, it is not in the public interest to permit rates of pay or related "fringe benefits" to be negotiated iri any of the following agencies of government:
1. Those which perform purely g,-vernmentai functions.
2. Those which are supported in whole or in part by funds derived from general obligation bonds, general or specific taxes, licenses, fees or other levies not set as a price for goods provided or services rendered; or which were so supported in whole cr in part in the past, for which reimbursement has not yet been made to the national treasury,
3. Those which are the trustees and administrators of funds required by law to be committed to their custody and management.
4. Those created for the express purpose of regulating or influencing any segment of the economy.
The first two categories are self-explanatory. The third can be illustrated by the Government Service Insurance System or the Philippine Sweepstakes Charity Office, the fourth by the National Marketing Corporation.
It should be further provided that there is a prima facie as sumption that al.; agencies of government fall into some one of the above categories; and that no strike or other duress may be employed by any individual or group to force the negotiation of compensation until a determination has been made by the Secretary of Justice that an agency does not fall into any one of such categories, which deter mination must be concurred in by the Budget Commissioner, the
-32 Civil Service Commissioner and the Secretary of Labor to be fully effective.
In brief, the possibility of negotiating wage rates would be limited to agencies of government (1) not performing governmental functions; (2) whose funds are derived solely from the sale of goods and services; and (3) whose non-governmental functions are not in tended to regulate or influence any segment of the economy.
Departmental Malpractices The WAPCO can never be big enough and strong enough to succeed in the face of persistent, deliberate malpractices by the operating agencies.
The effectivity of the Implementing Details for Plans 1A and 2A was several times deferred. The operating agencies took advan tage of this delay -. if indeed they did not cause it for this very purpose --. to shift personnel and to make pay adjustme -ts which they knew would not be authorized alter the plans took effect. When some of these actions have since backfired, or produced unexpected results, the tendency has been to blame the WAPCO.
Public administration is a serious business and a solemn trust. It is not a game to be played with smart-aleck disregard for principle. The classification and pay plans are not a checker board over which persons are to be shuffled for either gain or amusement at beating the game.
Part of the fault for departmental malpractice lies with the WAPCO. Its failure to tell its story widely and often; its failure to issue a manual or instructions; and its inability to have more staff do more field work. are aDl contributor i factors.
But all this does not relieve the departments of their re sponsibility to help administer these plans honestly. The record is replete with the malpractices here under discussion. Only a few are mentioned below.
1. The 1960 appropriations act contains over 600 cases in which operating agencies succeeded in having individual items amended without regard to Plans 1A and 2A. With few exceptions they seek either to raise salary, to change assignments, or to change a staffing pattern. President Garcia's stern admonishment in his item veto message, and his directive that none of these changes be implemented, should serve to discourage this brand of malpractice in the future. -33 2. As positions become vacant at the higher authorized salaries, employees are being shifted into them to take advantage of the higher salary, but without change in duty. Even if the em ployee has the higher eligibility, if there is not a true vacancy re quiring the new employee to assurie the duties of the vacant position -- not continue his own old duties - there is a clear violation of all that systematic job classificati-)n tries to accomplish,,
3. It is alleged that employees and their agency heads con nive in the preparation and approval c. job descriptions that do not resemble the facts Many are patent 'a raphrases of official class specifications, submitted to gain a higher alt.ocation without any foundation in fact. This differs from direc' malversation of funds only in the method used, The forn.al steps needed to discourage this practice are to require all classification information to be attested to under penalty of perjury to pr.)v~dc that the willful preparation or endorsement of a false statement is punishable, and to provide a penalty. The additional practical steps needed to stip the practice are more extensive field verification of these state ments and a constant campaign of education to gain acceptance of the purposes and standards ol the cl-assification plan.
4. Some agencies are reported to give a semblance of fact to their requests by the temporary shitting of -asks to the employee to be favored. All that has been said about outright falsification of information can also be applied to this deception,
5. It is alleged that not all rnalpractice is in the operating agencies -- that memb ers of the WAPCO staff have been careless in their field inspections or have connived in improper actions, and that some have sought employment for friends and relatives in the agencies they serve presumably in exchange fo- favorable action on doubtful cases. There has been no time during this short study to investigate such charges. The appropriate authories should in vestigate promptly and vigorously. If there is any evidence of truth found in the charges, the fuL'est possible measure of discipline should be meted out. The integrity of the WAPCO must be main tained above a whisper of doubt. There must be no room in this office for skeptics, scoffers and manipulators.
Congressional Attitude. The narrow margin by which the WAPCO survived the last session cf Congress stresses the need to understand first, and then change, the attitude of Congress toward the function and the agency. The survival of the agency was not a
-34 triumph of its principles and practices. It was but the result of the pleas of its supporters, who barely gained for it another year of grace in which to redeem itself.
The principal Congressional comments include:
1. The WAPCO has taken away the prerogative of Con gress to set salaries.
2. The agencies go to WAPCO to get salary increases, thus forcing Congress to incrc %.seappropriations.
3. Jobs are classified without full knowledge of the facts.
4. The WAPCO does not explain its actions but instead assails any who questions th-'m,
5. There are complaints from all quarters, therefore something must be wrong.
Whether justified or not, these and other Congressional opinions cannot be taken lightly. The Congress legislates, it appropriates and it, taxes. By legislation it can grant or withhold administrative authority, subject only to the powers vested in the Executive by the Constitution. By its powers of taxation and approp riation it can support or deny support to any functior. or agency. It is incumbent. therefore, on a!) interested parlies to be sure that the members of Congress understand the fu~l'. significance of the Classification and Pay Plans.
This is the record.
1. Before Pa.ns 1A and 2A were developed, salaries were proposed by the agencies and approved by Congress. There were no standards and no uniformity. Congress was beset by special interest groups and favorable action on their requests compounded the confusion and inequity.
2. In the absence of any guiding standard, Congress over a period of years met the pressure of the mounting cost of living by raising the minimum salary only -- not a minimum for different classes, but a flat minimum. As a resul. in 1954 almost 50% of all government employees were found to be at the minimum salary of F1440, regardless of differences in rank and assignment.
-35 3. Pre-war Congress recognized the problem by creating a Salary Standardization Board, but for lack of staff and technical standards it failed.
4. The full detail of Plans 1A and 2A were reviewed by the Government Survey and Reorganization Commission, two-thirds of the members being members of Congress.
5. Plans 1A and 2A were approved by the GSRC, approved by the President, and allowed to become law in the absence of any action by Congress to the contrary, Lest it be forgotten, however, these and other reorganization ptans did not merely lapse into law. They were carefully studied and vigorously discussed in committee and on the floor in each chanrber,
6. After still further deliberation, the lrnpleme:ting Details required to give the Plans final effect were carefully considered by the GSRC and issued as Executive Orders of the President.
Thus, by orderly process, the Congress and the President assigned a difficult, detailed and exacting task to an administrative agency technically equipped to do its job. Having made this impor tant public policy decision, the Congress and the President should give the WAPCO the understanding and tie support it needs, along with policy gu;dance to insure that salary levels and practices are in keeping with Congressional and Administration objectives. It follows, of course, that the WAPCO must strive to merit that sup port, must operate consistent with policy, and must provide a full account of its stewardship.
Before leaving the subject, it would be well to go back to comment on the principal attitudes ascribed to the members of Congress.
1. 'The WAPCO has taken away the prerogative of Con gress to set salaries. "
The WAPCO has taken away nothing. Its authority and re sponsibility was conferred on it by due process. Congress still has over-all control by appropriation. It can regain the detailed con trol any time it wishes° It should reflect long before doing so, however, on the difficulty -- and indeed the political hazard -- in herent in trying to determine the duties and set a fair rate for each of over 200, 000 positions.
-36 Z. "The agencies go to WAPCO to get salary increases, thus forcing Congress to increase appropriations. "
The agencies on the other hi and complain that WAPCO holds the line too rigidiy. In over 600 cases cited earlier, agencies pre vailed on Congress to increase sa:aries over those authorized by the WAPCO. The tota) salary' c.cst is increased by Plan ?A, to be sure; but this is because gowre r nment. salaries have been too low too long.
3. "Jobs are c!assified vith,(ut fi.ll. knowledge of the facts."
This is a justifiable cr'ticism. Sleps have already been sug gested to correct this condition. The facts inciderital.!y, would be even more difficult for Congress to determine and evaluate.
4. "The WAPCO does not. explain its actions but instead
assails those who question the."..-...... -
This is a valid criticism, for which there can be no excuse. Abolishing the Office, however would have been unreasonable pun ishment for a condition ,.khich can be easily corrected by a change of attitude and practice. The member of Cor.gress who intercedes in a classification cAse does so on the representation of a constituent or friend, lie often seeks no more than what the party is entitled to. The WAPCO should accept such cases at, their face value., If favor able action is not possible, a forthr ,ght civil explanation of the reason will usual!y suffice. If favorable action is possible, it should be taken cheerfully, w'thciut gratuito0.us comment or lecture.
5. 'There are complaints from many quarters, therefore something must be wrong,
Most of this report is devoted to what is wrong and what ought to be done about it, Much of what is wrong is not the fault of the WAPCO. Without appearing to pass the buck, that Office will have to set the record straight.
As a positive suggestion, the Director of Classification and Compensation would be wel advised to devote a good deal of time explaining the WAPCO's purposes, functions, practices and standards to the Chairman and leading members of the Senate and House Com mittees on Civil Service, the Senate Committee on Finance, and the House Committee on Appropriations.
-37 CHAPTER VIII
COMPLAINTS AND MISCONCEPTIONS
It would be pointless to try to catalog the complaints deve loped against the WAPCO, particularly those advanced in the heat of the agitation to abolish the Office. Memoranda prepared by the staff in February and March 1959 show that .hey are well aware of these complaints and also hiave the iight answers to them. It may support the effort to correct the complaints, however, to list here and comment briefly on some typical examples. These are drawn from interviews and files, and are set down in the order in which they happened to be presented.
1. Complaint: The class specifications have inadequate information about qualifications.
Jobs are classified according to their duties and responsi bilities. It was intended that the Civil Service Commission should then add the standards of training and experience, knowledge, skills, abilities, personal and physical traits on which it would base examinations -- all to be of a kind and level suitable to the duties and responsibilities set in the class specifications.
2. Complaint: Operating agencies are temporarily promot ing persons to a higher position, then reducing them back to their original class at one of the intermediate pay steps.
The original provisions protecting higher rates against re duction were intended to prevent hardship upon the initial adoption of the plan. Clarifying rules should be promulgated to prevent manipulation of the intent by this type of transitory action.
3. Complaint: The annual rates constituting the pay plan produce odd amounts per nay day.
This point is emphasized beyond its true importance. If payment in odd amounts is a serious nuisance, it would be a simple solution to drop the odd centavos on some pay days, and add them in when they have accumulated to a full peso.
-38 4. Complaint: Not even the WAPCO staff can explain how the rates in the basic pay plan were determined.
If this is so, the original reports on the development of the plan need only be consulted. Starting with the lowest rate, each succeeding rate is 5% above the one below it. rounded off to the nearest peso.
5. Complaint: It is unfair to hold back the advancement of those already above the minimum ntil al. others have reached that poinit.
This is a matter of viewpoint. Those still below the mini mum can rightfully contend that those relatively well off should get no further adjustment Until the most underpaid are first equal ized. There is no real. y go-od ans'er to this problem except to hasten fuli irnplementation.
When the minimum -ates have been fully implemented; the time required to advance to the next step should be reckoned from the first of the fiscal year in which implementation has been com pleted.
6. Complaint Class specifications are no longer accurate.
If that is the case, operating agencies and the WAPCO staff should collaborate in bringing them up to date, The WAPCO should invite and welcome al. information about cases needing clar ification. Freeing analysts of much of the detail in processing appointments would enable them to give more time to keeping the classification plan abreast of cord.tions,
7. Complaint: Long pending cases are not yet disposed of.
The comments in the preceding paragraph apply.
8. Complaint: Classification matters are being processed in the operating agencies by in'dividuals who know nothing about the standards and procedures.
The WAPCO should issue a manual for their guidance; should provide groip training throu.h conferences should have analysts spend more time in the agencies.; and should ask the agency
-39 heads to assign classification problems to those who have the bene fit of such information.
9. Complaint: Planti.as are not submitted and processed until late in the fiscal year.
The requirement that a complete plantilla be submitted for each fiscal year places a heavy burden on operating and staff agencies alike. From year to year, the great majority of the posi tions remain the same. In the interests of economy and better con trol, the procedure should be changed so that the plantilla is carried forward from year to year, with only the authorized changes being reported.
10. Complaint: Those whose positions are in "floating" plantillas are able to get increased salaries while those having fixed items are not.
This is a legitimate argument against a line item budget. It also supports the suggestion advanced elsewhere in this report that if the operating agencies are authorized to make salary adjust ments by careful fiscal management within the limits of their appropriations, they can probably find the funds for full implement ation.
11. Misconception: WAPCO has reduced salaries.
Examples usually cited are those such as the Reparations Commission, where salaries were first set by administrative authorities, and promised to proposed appointees, before the posi tions were submitted to the WAPCO for evaluation. The WAPCO has a responsibility to establish salaries for each agency in fair relation to those paid in al" others, taking into account functions of the agency and the duties and responsibilities of employees. An operating agency should recognize this fact and submit its proposed plantilla for review before commitments are made. The agencies have no authority to set salaries. The WAPCO cannot be charged with reducing salaries when they have not even been legally set.
12. Complaint The geographic differential was abolished by law but funds were not released to elimin:-te it in fact,
If this is true, it is not a legitimate complaint against the WAPCO. That office does not control the release of funds.
-40 13. Misconception- The class ificaticin and pay plans have now been approved, hence ',here is no longer ne f the WAPCO
This is a serious misccnceptiuy-, The exten' and variety of the requests f.-r further adjustment in al.!ocathons and in rates are themselves the most eloquent reasons \kh an office must. be main tained to keep the plans up to date.., Perhaps in ime a greater part of the functions can be delegated li the operating agencies, but this should be done ony.v afier operat, ng agency perso;ne.! are as fully trained in the specialized techniques as Is the WAPCO staff -- and only after the operating agencies have shnw," that fheV, will admini ster this resp .orsibility in gnod fait , kifh.ou t man pulation.
14. Miscozception I'he WAPCO mo..ed some positions from the "unclassified" to the 'classified" services as those terms are used in civil service law.k .
The WA PCO did no such thing. It merely classified posi tions in accordance with the duties it found employees to be per forming. If an operating agency had been using an "unclassified" title to conceal its empl-yment nf a non-eligible t!- do work for which eligibles are ava lable. the responsible appointing official is at fault. The WAPCO ., nly described what it found. If that had the effect of revealing vio.ation of the civil service .:w, the WAPCO should be commended for rendering this service, nof condemned.
Moreover provisions of RA 2080 and RA 2300, previously discussed, prevent adverse effect on any emp.lovee concerned.
15. Complaint lie WAPCO does not give fut heed to the need for higher sa laries in the nls-- c reated agencies.-- -
Being new is not necessarily a criterion for higher salaries. If such a policy were recognized and applied consistently, it would prompt all old agencies to ask to he abolished and then reincarnated as "new" agencies, enjoying higher salaries. On the other hand, if any agency - new or old - Las especial y critical responsibilities and requires employees of exceptitonal talents, the WAPCO should giv,. full credence to these considerations and set salaries accord ingly.
-41 16. Complaint: Employees inflate their job description forms; therefore they should be completed by the immediate super visor.
The employee is the best authority about what he does. It is his job, his salary, his status, that are at stake. If he has a tendency to overstate his importance, the immediate supervisor has the opportunity, and the duty, to comment accordingly on the portion of the form reserved for his comments. To transfer the preparation of the form to the immediate supervisor would only in crease the danger of manipulation, over which the employee would then have no control.
17. Complaint: The WAPCO staff substitutes its judgment for the facts and opinions advanced by the operating agencies.
and
18. Complaint: The WAPCO is not critical enough in re viewing the statement submitted to it.
Both of these complaints cannot be wholly valid at the same time. They contradict each other. There will always be honest differences of opinion between those who seek the most they can get and those who must preserve the balance among all classes of posi tions. The WAPCO staff can avert the constant repetition of buth these complaints only by examining fully into the facts of every situation and explaining fully and logically the reasons for its con clusions. Because the authority to classify is vested in this office, it would be easy merely to announce decisions with the lull finality of this authority. The wise course is to resort to authority only in extremity, but to use reason in all other cases.
19. Complaint: The WAPCO staff is unmannerly in its con sideration of requests.
If this is true, it is deplorable. No examples of this attitude were observed during the survey, but it is natural that a staff is on its best behavior when under scrutiny. The cases cited are numer ous enough, and from persons of such standing, that credence must be given to the complaint. The remedy is simply stated: the attitude must change.
-42 20. Complaint: The Americans who helped develop these plans did not fully understand conditions in the Philippines,
This American, in behalf of al. is associates is quick to acknowledge that this is true. Ta the bes of their ability, the consulting staff rnintained the attitide that their functions was to explain how classitication and pay matters are handled in the United States, and in cooperation \Vi'.h their Filipino counterparts, they then sought how best to adapt these concepts to the administrative practices in the Philippines.
If there remain in these plans any concepts that are alien to Philippine conditions, it was not intended. The able Filipino analysts who now staff the WAPCO should make the necessary modifications.
21. Complaint. Classification analysts are not specialists in the fields in which theyclassify jobs.
True. Neither are the practitioners in the various occupa tions specialists in classification. The classification analyst does not have to know how to perform an operation to recognize the job of surgeon. The analyst is skil'ed in finding the common denomin ators by which jobs are grouped together or separately. Success ful classification practice requires the cooperation of the subject matter specialist who provides the facts, and the analyst who re lates those facts to similar facts in other fields,
22. Misconception. The government corporations should be able to pay higher salaries because they have plenty of money.
Inability to pay may prevent. salaries from being as high as they should, but it does not fo;.Jow that unlimited ability to pay justifies higher salaries in one agency than in another, for compar able work. If the corporations have a justifiable claim for higher salaries, it must be on the grounds that for the administrative and technical positions peculiar to their operations, the duties can be shown to be more exacting and the responsibilities heavier. For the jobs that are clearly comparable in al.l agencies, notably the clerical, mechanical, custodial and laboring, a single fair standard should apply to all.
-43 23. Complaint: There are not enough steps in the ranges for length of service.
For the great majority of employees this is an academic point, for they have not yet reached the maximum. In any event. there are practical limits on the length of the salary ranges. If more steps are added, there is created an even more serious over lap between different levels than already exists, If more steps are added merely by reducing the interva! between steps, nothing is gained. Final y, there is a practical limit, to what a given job is worth, no matter how long the incumbent holds it, and that limit is marked by thie fifth step in the scale.
24. Complaint. The Civil Service Commission does not recognize the status in new classes conferred by Plan lA.
Plan IA has the full force and effect of law. The provision in question does rot appear to violate any constitutional provision. The matter should not he allowed to hang pending in an air of un certainity. To be sure, this automatic conferring of status in classes for which the employee did not originally qualify by examin ation may amount to condoning some past violations of civil service law. Yet to withhold status in a class for which the employee has demonstrated his qualification by actual performance is an undue penalty.
25. Complaint: Titles do not always describe the job exactly.
The titles are intended to describe the class. They are necessarily somewhat generalized to cover a number of related jobs properly grouped in a single class. The class title is required to be used in all personnel and budgetary transactions; but this re quirement does not preclude h2 use of different "working titles" where desirable to clarify internal work relationships.
26. Complaint: Some newly appointed school teachers receive salaries as high as that being received by those with long service.
Teachers are paid cn a "preparation schedule. " It recog nizes both length of service and superior training. The plan is deliberately intended to encourage all teachers to improve their training.
-44 Findings of Senate Finance Committee
More significant than the complaints encountered in a brief survey is the material accumulated by the Senate Finance Co-rmit tee during the last congressional controversy over the WAPCO's future.
On the basis of complaints reaching the Committee inform ally and inure formally durng budget hearings, the staff compiled a summary to be included in a letter addressed by Senator Gil Puyat to 200 operating agencies of the government,
rhe Senator's letter, dated September 5, 1958. recited ten general complaints '-hich had been heard by the Committee. It asked agency heads ,hether these points could be confirmed by their own experience and observations, and invited specific illustra tions or added comments,
In response to 20C letters, the Committee received 99 re plies. Some of these .ere consolidated answers from several operating agencies to which separate letters had been addressed. These responses were solicited in confidence, hence cannot be quoted here. Certain general conclusions can, however, be re ported, and certain comments seem in order.
Of the 99 responses received, only tkvo expressed general satisfaction with the classification and pay program. One of these was from the Budget Commissioner, leaving only one operating agency recorded as satisfied, It is fair to assume, however, that among the reasons why many agencies did not respond was that they have no complaints. This is the common fate of agencies under attack. Their detractors are vocal, their friends remain silent.
The ten issues raised by Senator Puyat's letter, and com ments about each, follow:
"1. The heads of government agencies who are in the best position to judge the importance and value of the duties and responsibilities of the positions in terms of the overal. functions and objectives of their respective agencies are not given the author ity to do so, They have to accept whatever classi fication and range allocation is given by the WAPCO;"
-45 Of the 99 responses, 78 endorsed the statement. In doing so, they reveal a lack of clear understanding of why the govern ment has a classification and pay plan. Of course each agency is the best informed about the work assigned to it. But each agency is not thereby ei,titled to a blank check on t,e national treasury. There are many devices for the coordination and control of depart mental management and for the supervision of expenditures. Bud gets must be submitted and justified, supplies must be procured by standard means; accounts must be kept in a prescribed manner, and are subject to audit; employees must be selected by civil ser vice procedures; and salaries now must be determined by standard classification and pay procedures.
All this is not intended to diminish the authority of the de partments. It is rather to assure that all departments can operate to uniformly high standards of good administration.
What those who have endorsed this complaint undoubtedly mean, is that they believe the WAPCO does not give the respect it should to the facts and views advanced by the departments. This gets back to the oft-repeated suggestion that the WAPCO staff must do more field work, and in rendering its decisions must be more complete and logical in support of its action. An agency head will naturally feel that he is unreasonably over-ruled if his request is ignored or summarily denied, He may. on the other hand, be per suaded by the reasonableness of a sound explanation.
Finally, it needs to be pointed out that classification author ity has already been extensively delegated to the Department of Education and the Department of Public Works, constituting over one-half the total coverage.
"2. Some subordinate positions have been allocated to higher pay ranges than ranking positions;"
Of the 99 responses, 57 endorsed this item. It is difficult to reconcile this with the equally widespread complaint in item 9, below, that certain specialized jobs are not given adequate recogni tion in comparison to supervisory jobs.
In any event, if there are cases in which proper pay relations have been reversed, they are matters which should be corrected as part of the continuing work of the WAPCO. The specific cases mentioned in the Senate Committee files cannot be listed here,
-46 because they were solicited in confidence. The WAPCO should address a request to all operating agencies that they submit a state ment of all such alleged cases for review.
"3. Many employees have developed the feeling that they are under the mercy of the WAPCO analysts when it comes to classification of position and pay range allocation,"
Of the 99 responses, 43 endorsed this statement Here, again, is the critical point of attitude. The analysts perform a necessary technical function, Their judgments necessarily affect the salary of the employee. Their work must be done in such a manner that the employees have confidence that their best interests are being served by this staff.
"4. The heads of government agencies can cause the demotion of employees in class or rank by merely assigning them to do functions with lesser duties and responsibilities and having them re classified as such;"
Of the 99 replies, 40 endorsed this statement. It is a re markable confession. It happens also to be an error. The error is one of misunderstanding the important distinction between posi tion and person. The department can cause the position to change, if it follows due authority for reorganization and assignment of work. However, the employee may not be adversely affected by the action except in accordance with due process prescribed by civil service law. Plans 1A and 2A have not abridged these rights and protections in any way.
"5. The failure of Congress to approve the neces sary appropriation to cover the second year's implementation of the WAPCO Plan has created doubts in the minds of the employees that the government is not sincere in adopting the Plans;"
Of the 99 responses, 63 endorsed this statement. It is sur prising that the endorsement was not 100%. Failure to implement is an obvious fault; but not one for which the WAPCO is chargeable.
-47 "6. That while the pay rates of some positions pro vided in the Appropriation Law are within the pay range prescribed in the WAPCO Plan. the incumbents failed to enjoy the benefits granted by law owing to the strict implementation of the Plan so much so that instead of building up the morale of the employees concerned they are demoralized;"
Of the 99 responses, 61 endorsed this statement. The limitations mentioned are partly the result of budgetary decisions for which the WAPCO has no responsibility. To the extent that adjustments can be made within the established ranges on the basis of amounts authorized in the Appropriation Act, it would be helpfhl to permit it.
Perh7ps an apparent conflict between the general provision of Plans IA and 2A and specific item authorizations can be reached Ly the rule of legal construction that in case of conflicting provisions of law, the more specific and/or the later provision governs.
"7. There are agencies which have been specially favored by the WAPCO Plan in such a manner that the pay ranges allocated to some employees are much higher than those in other agencies with comparable duties and responsibilities;"
Of the 99 responses, 60 endorsed this statement. There is a lack of convincing evidence, however, in support of this point. There is an unfair inference drawn that differences in salaries are based on favoritism rather than logical reasoning. There are salary differences between agencies, based insofar as the facts and human judgment make possible, on the differences found in duty and responsibility. The most common cases offered in support of the above complaint are supervisory positions in the bureaus and divisions. It is natural for each department to believe it performs the most vital service in the government. But it is not true, The mere sharing of a title "Assistant Division Chief' cannot assure parity of salary between positions in different departments. The functions, the size and importance of the operation, the consequences of decision made, and many other factors must be taken into account.
-48 18. That in the classification of position and pay ranges allocation, WAPCO analysts gave more weight to their general concept of what a parti cular class of employee shouid be performing rather than consider the duties and responsibi lities of the position in relation to the function of the office considered as a whole;"
Of the 99 responses, 68 endorsed this statement. It is diff icult to understand how operaling officials could form a judgment on this point, since it requires knowing what was in the minds of the analysts in reaching their conclusions. This staff was care fully trained in classification techniques. including the importance of basing conclusions on the facts as they are found, rather than forcing the facts to fit p2 .concieved notions. Throughout the deve lopment of the plan, and all tne time since its adoption, it has been constantly revised as new facts have developed.
"9. Employees rendering staff, auxiliary,. technical or advisory work are general'y allocated to lower pay ranges compared to supervisory employees doing line operations to the extent that the WAPCO Plan discourage persons possessing special talents from entering or remaining in the government ser vice;"
Of the 99 responses, 63 endorsed the statement. As pointed out earlier, this is inconsistent with the equally general endorse ment of item 2. In cases where non- supervisory specialized jobs have responsibilities equal to or greater than supervisory classes, the pay plan has endeavored Ic reflect the facts, Any failure to do so in specific cases merits reconsideration whenever the facts are brought to the WAPCO's attention.
"and 10. The WAPCO has unnecessarily delayed the processing of appointment papers. "
Of 99 responses, 44 endorsed this statement. Departments report that appointment papers are normall' returned in one month, or in two weeks if expedited. Where major classification changes are involved, this would not be unreasonable -- but those are the relatively rare cases. The majority of the appointments cover routine matters relating to jobs for which classification and pay are already determined. They should not require more than
-49 two days to process. The Management Service should be called up on to assist in streamlining procedures to that end.
Conclusion. The fact that many of the foregoing complaints may be unfounded should give little satisfaction to the staff and supporters of the WAPCO. The very fact that misconceptions and misinformation are so common, and so readily accepted as fact, should prove the need for yet higher standards, better practices, cordial attitude and full information.
-50 CHAPTER IX
WHOSE FAULT?
It would be a difficult and thankless task to attempt to assess the blame for what has gone wrong. It would also be futile, and perhaps damaging to future progress. More important than finding someone to blame is the task ahead of correcting the de fects and reconciling ti.e conflicts.
Both circumstances and people have been at fault. Only people can make correction. The circumstances cannot alter themselves. They must either be changed, interpreted differently or by- passed.
If the Congress, the Administration, the operating agencies and the WAPCO are agreed that the classification and pay plans, properly revised and up-dated, are a useful contribution to im proved public administration, then it remains only for them to take the various corrective steps proposed in this report.
It will profit nothing to lose valuable time sear,-hing the past for blame. Everything is to be gained by a united effort to improve in the future.
-51 CHAPTER X
PRESCRIPTIONS FOR PROGRESS
Throughout this report suggestions have been made to cor rect the specific faults discussed. They are also summarized at the beginning of the report. By way of emphasis and summary in different form, the following proposals merit special attention.
Law and Rules. Conflicting provisions of law (the Civil Service Act of 1959, Plans 1A and 2A, the Revised Administrative Code, special laws, and the annual appropriation act) must be re solved. Although this must await another session oi Congress, the intervening time can be used to go.od advantage in discussions among the parties affected to ieach agreement on a legislative pro gram ali can support. Key legislators should be consulted in ad vance. When Congress convenes, the program should be offered with the frank adnission that the program has not been an unquali fied success and with a full explanation of how the new legislation will correct it.
In the meantime, all Executive Orders, directives and cir culars which may be in conflict and which can be reconciled within the limits of present law, should be amended.
The most important legislative improvement would be elim ination of the line item budget; or as an alternative, insertion in the appropriation act of language authorizing changes in items in accordance with Plans 1A and 2A, so long as total appropriations are not exceeded.
Organization and Staff. Internal changes in the WAPCO organization and staff should be made in accordance with proposals earlier in this report.
Technical Standards and Procedures. The unfortunate trend to relaxed standards should be reversed. This requires re storing the Standards Division to its former stature, reviving the Staff Advisory Committee, and vesting the necessary responsibility for technical guidance in the Chief Classification Analyst.
Non-technical Factors. No amount of change in form and method can accomplish as much as restoration of trust in the
-52 WAPCO. This requires the adoption of an attitude of understanding and reasonableness by the staff and the elimination of any doubt about the integrity of the staff.
Information. The WAPCO and its programs cannot be taken on faith alone. There must be complete understanding of its object iveness, its methods and its standards. This calls for more in tensive training courses, for the issuance of manuals and circulars, for more extensive and intensive field work, and for a steady pro gram of public relations, utilizing every medium and beamed at everyone concerned.
Every training cours- in any management subject, including the highest executive development courses, should include some background or detail on classification and pay, until the subject is well understood at every level of the government -- not even ex cepting the Cabinet.
Technical Assistance. The question of whether another Technical Advisor in Personnel Administration should be requested of the ICA has been left pending the completion of this study.
It is clear that such an Advisor could be of great assistance in gaining the improvements this report proposes. The early assign ment of such an Advisor is unequivocably recommended.
Technical assistance in the techniques of classification and compensation alone is not badly needed. The bulk of the WAPCO staff has learned and retained its lessons well.
Technical assistance, on the other hand, could be valuable in the following ways:
1. To assist in repairing the neglected means of internal coordina. . . in the WAPCO.
2. As an impartial counsellor, to help untangle the web of conflicting law, rule and procedure which contribute to present confusion.
3. To assist the Civil Service Commission to meet its obligations under the revised civil service law, and to help it prepare for the eventual day when the WAPCO is transferred to its jurisdiction.
-53 4. To counsel in the many other ways necessary for the full implementation of the proposals in this report.
5. And incidentally, as long as available for these other purposes, to render direct assistance to the WAPCO staff for the further improvement of its techniques and standards. PART II
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION GENERALLY INTRODUCTION
This Part of the report is shorter and less detailed than Part I because the critical state of the classification and pay pro gram seemed to justify using the major part of the time available for this study.
There is little in this Part II that will be new to those well informed about public administration in the Philippines. But even corroboration and reiteration of the well known has its value if it serves to stimulate fresh efforts at correction.
There has been gratifying progress in something less than a decade of concerted effort; there is much to be done yet; the means of doing it are at hand; and there is every reason to be con fident that it will be done.
-55 CHAPTER XI
SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS
These are the major conclusions discussed in more detail in this Part of the report:
1. Judged by the criteria appropria .e to local conditions, progress in public administration is remarkable and its present status is gratifying.
2. A high quality of leadership has contributed to this progress.
3. There is an abundance of good training being done.
4. The line item budget continues to be a serious handi cap.
5. The Management Service plays its important role well.
6. Recent creation of the Council of Administrative Man agement improves the prospects for progress.
7. Civil Service reform is far from a reality despite en actment of a revised law.
8. The creation of the new Department of General Ser vices has thus far been more a matter of form than of substance.
9. The continued creation of ad hoc bodies threatens the orderly coordination of duly constituted agencies.
10. The formal implementation of Reorganization Plans is sadly behind schedule.
11. The Reorganization Plans thus far formally implemented have not yet fulfilled their real intent.
12. Encouraging steps have been taken toward local govern ment autonomy.
-56 13. Departmental operations need further improvement in many ways; but the means are available if they will use them.
14. Informal support by the press, civic organizations, professional societies and the like should be solicited.
-57 CHAPTER XII
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
These are the major recommendations presented in more detail in this Part of the Report.
1. Develop motivation for improved administrative practices.
2. Strengthen discipline.
3. Set performance standards.
4. Provide formal recognition for accomplishment.
5. Develop a five year program for administrative im provement under the sponsorship of the Council of Administrative Management.
6. Continue to encourage training.
7. Take more advantage of the valuable training of partic ipants returning from abroad.
8. Train more participants locally in the rudiments of public administration before sending them abroad.
9. Continue a full program of Technical Assistance in public administration.
10. Continue the effort toward a program budget.
11. Extend the activities of the Management Service.
12. Push civil service reform in the dozen directions proposed in this report.
13. Give substance to the intent behind the Reorganization Plan creating the Department of General Services.
14. Discourage ad hoc bodies by stressing proper coordina tion of existing agencies to meet each new need.
-58 15. Implement the remaining Reorganization Plans.
16. Utilize the Management Service staff to get the full understanding and intent of Reorganization Plans.
17. Develop a program to encourage local autonomy by im proving local government administrative practices.
18. Apply the available talents in public administration to the improvement of departmental operations.
19, Take advantage o4 all possible means to gain informal and unofficial support for better management practices.
-59 CHAPTER XIII
PERSPECTIVE
Any conclusion drawn about the status of public administra tion in the Philippines in this year 1959 must first be related to the standards of judgment to be used.
Judged by the criteria to be found in the textbooks or in the minds of the purists among the practitioners, the present state of affairs is far from satisfactory. In fairness, it must be added that, the same can be zaid about any other nation in the world.
Judged, on the other hand, by criteria which tak." into ac count the many significant factors which have had a bearing on the development of administration in the Philippines, progress has been remarkable and the present status is giatifying.
Those who are impatient for even more rapid progress should be reminded of these considerations:
1. For over four centuries the Filipinos were under systems of colonial and military administration which depend on concepts the direct opposite of some of the key principles of modern public administration. Under these colonial and military administrations the Filipinos were seldom permitted to hold posi tions of administrative responsibility; and if they were, their decisions and actions were under close scrutiny. Hence, such concepts as the decentralization of operations or the delegation of authority, while understood and accepted as an intellectual con cept, still run contrary to ingrained habits of work and attitudes.
2. There was virtually no educational or training program in public administration in the Philippines before the establish ment of the Institute of Public Administration in 1953. Some Filipinos had been exposed to the subject abroad, and some had read the standard texts, but intensive instruction of a degree and caliber that converts understanding into action is a recent develop ment.
t will take time for the full impact of this training to be felt. Mauy of those trained have not yet advanced to positions of sufficient rank that they can require others to think as they do.
-60 They work among attitudes of disbelief and resistance expressed by officials schooled in the old ways c, politics and administration. They might be likened to a small amount of yeast planted in a great mass of dough. At first the leavening effect is scarcely noticeable, but as the yeast multiplies itself, its action becomes faster and faster, until tie whole mass is affected.
3. World War II took a terrible toll in the Philippines. Many of its able leaders, teachers and experienced administrators were lost; the building and equipment needed for administration were destroyed; and the systems and records which are the life blood of administration were scattered, destroyed or lost,
All these are being restored. Unfortunately, the damage done in an instant by a bomb blast cannot be repaired by a reverse action of the same explosive speed.
4. Efforts toward effective public administration are hamp ered by a still faltering economic system which limits the funds needed for adequate salaries, for adequate supply, and for better buildings and equipme-.t. This is a most unfortunate handicap, for better public administration, if it can somehow be financed, can contribute to the strengthening of the economy.
5. The Philippines being a newly independent nation, its political system still has the full vigor and exuberance of youth. The Constitution clearly defines the relative role of the Executive and the Legislative branches, yet the struggle for supremacy be tween the two has not been resolved.
The real crux of the problem from the standpoint of public administration, is that administration impinges on political action. The success of many administrative practices depends on their relative freedom from political control. A sound civil service system is the clearest case in point.
It -alls for a high order of political sophistication for legis lators and the elected Chief Executive to recognize and respect the fine distinction between policy and practice. It is a degree of sophistication acquired only after experience has proven that the best practical politics is that based on high principal and conducted without dabbling in administrative detail. That experience is slow to accumulate because the electorate seldom permits one party or group the uninterrupted tenure needed to learn the lesson.
-61 The ideal balance to be achieved was well stated in the first of the guiding principles adopted by the Government Survey and Reorganization Commission, two-thirds of whose members were leading members of Congress:
"The primary objective is to establish a form of organization which improves the capacity of the Execu tive Department to execute the laws and administer the affairs of the Republic, while at the same time clarify ing and strengthening the legislative responsibilities of the Congress."
In the United States and in the European countries, whose administrative concepts the Philippines is now adapting to its needs, progress toward present standards has been measured by the decades rather than by the years. It has been a slow process of development and evolution. While it should be possible to transplant the systems and concepts developed in al- those years, it may be that this cannot be done without repeating some of the stages in their evolution.
Some administrative practices are generally accepted abroad because the lack of them created serious handicaps. Per haps the people here have to suffer the same handicaps before they are led to adopt the political attitudes that force administrative re form.
All of this is said not in an attitude of despair or disappoint ment, but with the intent of being encouraging. Those who support administrative progress are merely reminded that there are serious obstacles to overcome. These should heighten their determination to succeed; and at the same time fortify their patience as they ob serve the slow but steady course of progress.
In the perspective just described, the balance of this Part of the report will evaluate what has been done and suggest some steps yet to be taken.
-62 CHA PTER XIV
LEADERSHIP
Before discussing specific aspects of leadership in public administration in the Philippines, it would be well to recall briefly some of the factors leadership depends upon,
Motivation. There is no inherent natural appeal in better administrative practice, Officials and employees must be given motives to adopt these practices. These motives may be psycholo gical, such as an appeal to pride. to sense of service, or to the competitive instincts of the individual, or they may be more substant ial. such as promotions or awards for improved service.
The leadership will have to fashion motivation to fit differ ent situations. The only point to be made here is that motivation has to be supplied.
Discipline. When positive motivation fails, discipline must correct. Discipline must not be reserved for the overt case of misuse of authority or funds. It must be invoked with the same certainty. for failure to act at all, or for inefficient or incompe Int action.
One notable feature of public administration in the Philippines is that although many good concepts are embraced by top officials and decreed as policy, there is often no further action by anyone, This may be accounted for by a system of discipline which is quick t.o punish those who err, but has no sting for those who simply do nothing,
Standards. It is also characteristic of the Filipino public servant that when he is given an exact task to perform, with exct standard of performance, and an exact schedule which is enforced, he performs with wondrous diligence and effectiveness. The con clusion is obvious. Those who dire -t the improvement of public administration must see to it that every program is suffizieul1y detailed, that its goals are explained, its method is deqined, standards are prescribed, a time-table is set; and %_..-re is definite machinery for follow- up.
-63 Recognition. It is customary in this country to recognize completion of a training assignment by ceremony and certificate. The recognition is obviously treasured by the recipients, The same sense of recognition needs to be extended to day-to-day admin istrative operations. Too often the bureaucrats of the old school squelch initiative and imagination by an admonishment against any questioning of authority or of the old way of doing things, The real leadership in public administration, by frequent example, should demonstrate the advantages of encouraging new ideas by public recognition,
Responsibility for Leadership
Public administration pervades all of the institutions and functions of government. No one can claim or exercise exclusive leadership in this field. The following references to some who have a particularly heavy interest in this field does not relieve all others of their share of the responsibility.
The President. A comprehensive program in public admini stration was started late in the administration of President Quirino; it was greatly expanded and encouraged by the late President Magsaysay; and it has been further implemented and continued by President Garcia.
It is to be hoped that the President will heed care-ully the many proposals for administrative improvement which can be ex pected to come from the newly created Council on Administrative Management, and that in his Cabinet meetings and in his public utterauces he will frequently lend the prestige of his office to the cause.
The Cabinet. This body is both advise-v to the President and an agency through which the major programs of the government are coordinated for execution by appropriate agencies. The actions of the Cabinet are widely publicized and highly respected. The administrative burdens of the individual Cabinet members can be greatly relieved if they will take advantage of the collective force of the Cabinet-in-session as a means to encourage all possible measures for admini :t-ative improvement.
The Budget Commissioner. The office of Budget Commis sioner has a significant role in giving leadership and support to
-64 p.blic administration. The incumbent Commissioner has given it even greater significance by his enthusiasm, interest and outstand ing ability in this field. Through his able direction of the several elements of administrative service vested directly in his office; through his chairmanship of The Government Survey and Reorgani zation Commission, through his aggressive participation in delibera tions of the Cabinet; through his effective representations to the Congress; through his administration of contractual and direct technical assistance programs with the ICA; through his unfailing support and encouragement of the work of the institute of Public Administration; and in other ways too numerous to recount, he has made a monumental personal contribution to better public admini stration in the Philippines.
This is written not merely to commend a job exceptionally well done, but in the hope that others in the government will take note and go forth to emulate this outstanding example.
Council of Administrative Management. The Council has just recently been created by Executive Order of President Garcia; implementing Reorganization Plan 19A. An examination of the verbatim account of the Council's first mee ing shows real r omise that the Council intends to fulfill its vital -ole in coordinat ing various activities in this field, and in advising the President.
The tasks set for the Council are clearl" enumerated in the Reorganization Plan and the Implementing Decail; and are further explained in the Supporting Statement by the Government Survey and Reorganization Commission. They do not need repeating here; but those sources are cited as a reminder to the Council, to be referred to frequently in charting its course of action.
,.his Council has the same relationship to governmental administrati- a L11i N4ional Economic Council should have to the ecormy. It should project a set of goals for several years ahear', should propose that the President and Cabinet endorse these goa's; and call on all appropriate administrative agencies to im-
Without attempting to offer a complete five year program, following are some examples of what might be included:
FY 1960: 1. Complete the formal implementation of all remaining Reorganization Plans.
-65 2. Prepare a detailed legislative program which will reconcile all conflictiig laws which inhibit ad ministrative progress.
3. Convert all civil service testing to objec tive short answer form.
4. Complete the decentralization of operat ing agencies to a standard pattern of regional offices.
FY 1961: 1. Complete all internal detail of the imple mentation of Reorganization Plans.
2. Provide the next partial implementation of Plan ZA.
3. Establish standards of education, exper ience, knowledge, skill, abilities and personal and physical traits for each class of positions established by the WAPCO.
4. Require all civil service appointments to be made from lists certified to a given vacancy by the Civil Service Commission.
5. Have a program of internal management analysis underway in each major operating agency.
6. Have an effective training program under way in each major o -ating agency.
FY 1962: 1. ImplemL 4 the final adjustment to minimum salaries under Plan 2A.
2. Give full effect to the continuing provi sions for salary adjustments under Plan 2A.
3. Complete the application of a program budget to all entities.
4. Have a fully effective program of records management in all agencies.
5. Have an adequate supply system.
6. Have all public buildings renovated, clean and well laid out. -66 FY 1963: 1. Have an effective plan of employee evaluation.
2. Transfer the WAPCO to the Civil Ser vice Commission.
3. Assure that all officials fully understand and are practicing such basic concepts of public administra tion as "delegation", "coordination", "planning", "schedul ing" and "review. "
FY 1964: 1, Complete the streamlining of all depart mental operations, through the effective use of work simp lification techniques.
2. Begin a comprehensive study of the possibilities of adopting new automation devices and tech niques to the needs of the government.
Throughout. Whether this or some other set of goals is set, the Management Service should be asked tu -et ner formance standards related to each goal, and should render to the Council a periodic report on administrative progress as measured by the schedule and these standards.
Training. The organizations ar.d individuals who train in public administration, whether in its broad principles or its most exact details, all have a share in leadership for management improvement. Training is mentioned here merely to stress this role of leadership. It is discussed more fully in the next Chapter.
-67 CHAPTER XV
TRAINING
Formal and informal training are a necessary continuing impetus to better administration. Until every administrator under stands organization, procedure, coordinating methods, decision making, and the proper use of staff services, the affairs of govern ment will not be properly admLnistered. Until every supervisor understands his role. the role will be only partially played, Until each employee has his assignment clearly in mind, and completes it on schedule and up to standard, full, efficiency and economy - and full service -- will not be achieved.
There has been some recent discussion about who is re sponsible for training in the Philippine Government, The Civil Service Commissioner, for example, advanced the argument that he has exclusive jurisdiction over this activity, It is hard to con ceive of any function of public administration being anyone's exclusive concern -- least of all, training,
Training runs the gamut from formal advanced courses in higher institutions of learning down to a foreman showing a janitor how to push a brorn to remove more dirt with less fatigue. It has purposes as generai as developing a corps of executives for future assignment and as specific as instructing a group of clerks in a change in the deiail of a procedure. Virtually all. administrative activity is training in a sense, The point is to encourage the pur poseful application of all these experiences to beneficial ends.
Time spent debating exclusive privilege in this field would be better spent in discussing ways to stimulate and coordinate training efforts.
Institute of Public Administration. The Institute is doing its part admirably. It is providing sound academic instruction in public administration, balanced with an ambitious program of more specific short courses designed to meet immediate needs. The re sponse to the Institute's programs has been good. Its graduates speak proudly of their participation in its program.
By its part in developing a Regional Conference on Public Administration, and by exchange programs, the Institute h'Ls ex tended its influence to the whole of Southeast Asia.
-68 There is little one can suggest for this program except, "Keep up the good work. "
In-Service Training. President Garcia has directed the operating agencies to designate training officers; the new civil service act declares a policy in support of training; and throughout the government there is evidence of in-service training touching on eveiy phase of operations.
All of this is bound to be beneficial, The constant reitera tion of the principles of good administration to successive waves of trainees cannot help but have an eventual efrect, The effect will be speeded if greater stress is laid on the training of the higher levels of officialdom. The top administrator often resists training with the argument that there are too many other demands on his time; and he probably harbors the unspoken thought that, having "arrived", he needs no further instruction,
Those who think they know all the answers should be enlisted as instructors. They will learn more than they teach. Those who find themselves too busy should be made to see that by learning new techniques of management, they may be able to free themselves of much of their oppressive loaJ.
Participant Training. The training provided in the Philippines is supplemented by tours of duty abroad, designed to train in a particular subject, A relatively small number of the participants are thus trained in public administration as such. The majority study and observe the subject matter of their operating agencies' functions.
Too often these participants are merely returned to their former jobs, where they are unable to make full use of their new knowledge. Too often they are not even permitted to share this new knowledge with their colleagues. Too often the participant re turns to find that a higher position in which he could be well utilized, has been filled in his absence by the promotion of someone who stayed behind to be available when the vacancy occurred.
All these conditions need correction. The government should adopt a conscious policy of returning participants to positions where their new knowledge can be fully exploited. It should require each participant to conduct in-service courses to pass on this know ledge to others. it should particularly protect the promAl1onal rights of these people, -69 Preliminary to this, it would participants appear that the selection needs to give more of fitting heed to their potential from training. and for bene the program tio be followed return should be spelled upon their out before training begins, The program shoiJ.d be nodified respect. Many in another important of those who go abroad fields in specific subject have little if any understanding matter public administration. of the basic principles As the result, of they the full significance observe escapes them., of what Except ,n the case abroad for puirely professionai, of those going or technical. stUdy, requirement that the it ought to be a participai.t either take in public administration a preparatory course at the IPA or do a ,our Management Service, of dut.y with the in order to acquire needed instance in which background. One this was done by a participant seems to in public works have demonstrated the soundness of this suggestion, Technical Assistance,, vided The counsel and bythe ICA staff is instruction pro a major factor in training. informal, in the form Much of it is of conference; demonstration tion, but and conversa it is ncnetheless effective,
If the equipment can be provided, the benefits of training can be greatly of this kind extended by the tape significant discussions. recording of more to be played back who first participated, as a reminder for those and to project the benefits sions to other groups, of the discus particularly those simple written away from Manila. statement of the conclusions A discussion resulting from has none of the such impact of the sound o, sion the full discus exactly as it took place. The availability of such recordings vantage of furnishing would also have the ad better continuity in long carried on term programs by different TA's under TCA's rotation plan. There appears to have been out" technical a conscious policy to assistance in public "phase serious administration, If so, mistake. It is perfectly it is a success clear to this observer of technical assistance that the on in all other fields depends the improvement of administration heavily needs to be Perhaps the emphasis shifted to the direct administrafive ating agencies. problems of oper- Perhaps enough has in the field been done for the time of "pure" public administration, being But shifting is one thing; "phasing emphasis out" is quite another,
-70 make this point. Inadequ- A few examples should suffice to of the tax system as it is the ate revenue is not so much the fault this is an exercise in fault of the collection system. Improving is at the mercy of inadequate public administration. The economy in the postal system. Their communicatiun due to deficiencies administration. Con correction is another exercise in public in the processing of land versely, the spectacular improvement administrative techniques. patents is the result of improved long as the Philippine The conclusion should be clear. As government provides government requests and the United States should be buttressed by assist technical assistance in any field, it ance in public administration as well. training in public ad- Staff Services. The final element in staff services in the govern ministration is the work of the several impart a degree of ment, which even in their routine operations and practices. These are information on administrative principles discussed more fully in the next Chapter.
-71 CHAPTER XVI
STAFF SERVICES
The programs administered by the operating agencies are the important purposes of the government. The programs admini stered by the staff agencies are vital to their support, Those who sometimes criticize "over- emphasis" of public administration should be reminded of the many more failures of operating pro grams which occurred before modern administrative techniques were introduced,
Budget Planning. In a country as dependent as this one is on the government for the support and growth of the economy, a properly planned budget, related to a master fiscal program, is a must.
The Executive budget is the President's blueprint for a year's activity, The preparation of the budget is the occasion for review of what has been accomplished and for evaluation of what is planned. When it finally has the stamp of congressional approval, it is the authorization to proceed,
The efforts to establish a performance budget are already fully documented, Those efforts have thus far not buone real fruit. The technique of preparing this kind of budget is well understood. The remaining handicaps are a lack of real operating data on which to set realistic standards, and congressional hostility to the whole idea. Part of this hostility seems to stem from an erroneous understanding of the sense in which "performance" is used. It might have been easier explained as a "program budget. " Now, however, a mere switch in terminology is not enough. A persist-. ent campaign of explanation will have to be sustained until the con cept is fully understood.
Over a score of agencies have be, n converted to a program budget, but the effect is largely nullified by Congress' insistence on including the supporting itemization of personal services in the appropriations act, Some observers who have travelled abroad, both administrative and congressional, have returned to report that program budgeting is not yet widely practiced elsewhere. That is not necessarily an arr-,rnent against it. It is practiced in
-72 some of the better administered governments; and all sound thinkers on budget practice endorse it.
Moreover, these same observers overlook another vital point. Even where the budget is not yet planned on a program basis, the supporting detail submitted by the executive is seldom enacted in full by the legislative body. Instead total sums are appropriated for various functions and objects of expenditure, subject to detailed re visions to meet the changing needs of the moment, There may be limitations on the amount of money which can be transferred from one purpose to another, and standards may be prescribed for these transfers, but the fine detail is left to executive discretion, There are always, of course, the added safeguards that expenditures are subject to audit, and to a renewed legislative scrutiny when the next budget is submitted.
The severe handicaps which a line item budget imposes on personnel administratio~i has already been discussed in Part I. It imposes the same handicap on all other operations.
Despite the hostility with which the program budget idea has been regarded by the majority of the Congress, it is essential to good administration that the effort to gain its adoption be continued.
Budget Control. With a line item budget, the full possibilities of effective administrative budget control cannot be realized. Too much of the control is in the appropriation act itself, Those engaged in budge) operations, as distinguished from planning, will simply have to keep their techniques sharpened against the day when they are free to use them.
Management Service. This agency has a vital role in assist ing the operating agencies to improve their organization and methods. The staff has been frequently called upon for this purpose, and has done its job well. The reports prepared by the service are thorough, perceptive, well arranged and well written,
The Service should not be content, however, with responding to requests for aid. It should actively seek out opportunities to be of service. There will be some tendency by operating agencies to de cline the proferred assistance for fear of interference in their affairs. The obvious a',titude of helpful service displayed by this staff should, however, quickly dissipate any such fears.
-73 In its work with the operating agencies, the Management Service should gain as much understanding and acceptance as poss ible as the work proceeds. Reports are useful records of what is done or proposed; but they in themselves are not self-executing.
The assignment of a member of the Management Service staff as Secretary of the new Council on Administrative Manage ment is an encouraging sign that this agency will be able to lend valuable staff support to the functioning of the Council.
The WAPCO. This agency has already been discussed at great length. Suffice it to say here that this is another essential staff service which can contribute a great deal to further good public administration -- when it has put its house in order and has regained administrative and congressional confidence.
Civil Service Commission. There are signs that the Civil Service Commission believes that civil service reform is a reality with the enactment of the Civil Service Act of 1959. The law ac complishes nothing but to declare policy and confer authority to get on with the necessary business of reform. Following are the major steps yet to be taken before anything resembling a good civil service system will exist:
1. A steady program of positive recruiting must be aimed at attracting a higher quality of candidate to compete in civil service examinations, especially for administra tive and specialized jobs.
Z. Examinations must be specifically related to classes of positions, both in content and level of difficulty.
3. The scoring of examinations must be speeded to produce results in weeks or days, not in years or months.
4. The cause for any suspicion that questions are revealed in advance or that answers are tampered with must be ruthlessly eliminated.
5. Civil service eligibility must no longer be a mere "hunting license", to be combined with political pres sure to obtain appointment. Instead, vacancies should be filled from lists of the ranking eligibles certified to the agencies by the Commission.
-74 6. The evaluation plan authorized by law should be fully effective, to insure that "merit" governs all personnel actions, not just appointment.
7. Eligible lists for all classes must be kept up to date, to discourage temporary appointments.
8. A suggestion system, with appropriate awards, should be in effective operation in all agencies.
9. An effective grievance and appeal procedure should be adopted.
10. Discipline should be swift and sure.
11. The newly enacted law should be revised as discussed in Part I of this report.
12. Finally, when all this has been done, the WAPCO should be transferred to the Civil Service Commission for the complete integration of these two vital arms of person nel management.
There is a serious threat to a successful civil service sys tem in the insistence of the members of Congress on extensive patronage. Almost coincidental with the approval of the new civil service law it was revealed that an agretment had been reached to govern the distribution of jobs on a political basis. The explana tion that this would be limited to p-itical endorsement of civil ser vice elig;.bles only emphasizes disi _gard for the bcsic principle of the merit system. If merit is determined by compe'itive examina tion, as the Constitution requires, it should not have to stand the test of political backing as well.
Good administrative practices will not be fully in effect so long as any substantial part of the public servants have their inter ests and their loyalties divided between their jobs and their political sponsors.
General Services. The creation of this Department, headed by a Secretary of Cabinet rank, was one of the truly significant features of government reorganization. It recognized that providing the buildings, the supplies, the printed forms and other administra tive sei rices is a major responsibility, on which the success of line opera;ions is often largely dependent. -75 There are some disappointing signs, however, that this new Department has not yet realized its purposes. The reorgani zation has all the outward sign of having been completed, but its intent has yet to be fulfilled.
The creation of this Department was designed to do more than merely group related services under single direction. More important, it was intended to be a new and dynamic force in the government for setting standards and rendering helpful service in such fields as supply, printing, buildings and grounds, and records manageme nt.
The recent completion of a training course in records man agement shows some sign of positive action in one of these activi ties, although the Management Service appears to have been the r,.al driving force in. this effort. There has been no noticeable improvement in the utilization and maintenance of office space; the printing of forms and documents -- even vital legisl- tion -- is no more expeditious than before; the Bureau of Supply Coordination, by its continuation of old cumbersome procedures has obviously failed thus far to understand the significance of the deliberate in clusion of "Coordination" in its new name.
Here is an outstanding illustration that mere reorganization is not a complete step toward administrative impro-ement. It must be accompanied by understanding of the new mission, and willingness and ability to fulfill it. The functions embraced by the new Department of General Services are all a vital part of the complete array of staff services which must be linked together to bring public administration in the Philippines to its proper level.
The PCAPE. This special Presidential. body is an example of an unfortunate tendency in administration everywhere -- the habit of setting up added bodies which duplicate existing functions, rather than concentrating on the better coordination of the existing bodies to attain the same goals.
To the extent the PCAPE concerns itself with investigating irregularities, it continues the functions of the PCAC, which it displaced. That much is not bad. But to the extent that it concerns itself with matters of organization and administrative efficiency, it duplicates the work of the other staff agencies already discussed.
-76 The Council on Administrative Management should give particular attention to the way the PCAPE functions, and should be quick to point out to the President any tendency for this ad hoc body to duplicate the work of more permanently established agencies. The suggestion that the Chairman of the PCAPE he added to the Council of Admiristrative Management to facilitate coordination, is not the answer. This would only serve to give a semblance of added permanence to a body which should have only a transitory existence.
Non-Personal Factors. All of the staff services share a handicap already discussed in Part I in relation to the WAPCO. That is the lack of adequate funds for travel, and for materials, supplies and equipment.
Administrative improvement relies mainly on ideas. Ideas conveyed by word of mouth alone have no permanent or cumulative effect. These agencies need the means to develop working mater ials in attractive and effective form. They also need the means to trave to the far flung outposts of government, where the needs for administrative improvement are most critical.
Conversely, the staff services should be able to draw freely on the writings which report the principles and practices developed elsewhere. This requires an adequate budget for books and period icals. It also iequires that these materials be readily available as working references; not preserved in libraries remote from the working staff.
-77 CHAPTER XVII
REORGANIZATION
The slow progress of government reorganization is disap pointing. The Gove.rnment Survey and Reorganization Commission completed a mon,.mental task of planning reorganization in a little over one year, The President endorsed and the Congress approved a substantial part of the Plans. Irr Lementing Details were drawn up with an effective date of July 1, 195ii6.
Now, over three years later, the Implementing Details have not yet all been approved.
Following is the slow history of approvals to date.
Plan Ex. No. Title Order Date
IA Position Classification 277 November 7, 1957 ZA Standard Pay Plan 278 November 7, 1957 3A WAPCO 279 November 7, 1957 4A Dept. of G..neral Services ) 5A Bureau of Supply Coordination ) 7A Bu. of Bldgs. & Real Property Mgt.) 290 March 14, 1958 8A Bureau of Records Management ) 9A Bureau of Printing & Media ) Production Center ) 10 National Economic Council 119 July 1, 1955 12A Department of Health ) 13A Bureau of Quarantine ) 288 February 20, 1958 14A Institute of Nutrition ) 19A Council of Administrative Management 339 June 1, 1959 20A Department of Labor 218 December 10, 1956 30A Department of Agriculture 216 November 17, 1956 19A Budget (Organization and Methods) 46A Budget Commission ) 279 November 7, 1957 47A Streamlining Accounting Systems ) 50 Social Welfare Administration 326 December 11, 1958 54A National Intelligence Coordinating Agency 291 March 14, 1958
-78 Plan Ex. No. Title Order Date
77 Forest Products Research 257 July 5, 1957 15A) Commerce and Industry (Civil Aeronautics Administration only; Involves transfer only and not r,-organization.) 248 May 23, 1957
Reorga'ization Plans For Which Implementing Executive Orders Have Been Issued But Whose Installation Were Suspended
Plan Ex. No. Title Order Date
15A) Commerce & Industry (Approved) 277 Jan. 5, 1957 27A) (Suspended) 242 Mar. 1, 1957 60 Public Utilities Regulations and Land Transportation (Approved) 209 Oct. 19, 1956 (Suspended) 220 Dec. 18, 1957 224 Dec. 28, 1956 231 Jan. 15, 1957 241 Feb. 28, 1957
Besides the three Plans listed immediately above which were approved and then suspended, the following are still completely inoperative:
Plan Title
18A Advisory Statistical Board 29A Tourism 35 Foreign Affairs 38A National Security Council 43A Executive Office of the President 4- A Press Secretary 45A Transferring and Abolishing Agencies Extran eous to the Executive Office of the President 53A Establishing Regions 59 Penal Administration 60 Public Works, Transportation and Communications 73 Philippine Air Lines 74 Scientific and Technical Research -79 The advantage of the speed with which the GSRC completed its work was that its Plans reflected current conditions. The longer the implementation of these plans is deferred. the greater the danger that they will no longer be suitable to current needs.
Moreover, many of the Plans were interdependent. They should all have been approve,' at once to get the greatest benefit. A good example is Plan 53A, establishing a standard pattern of regional office centers. Individual departments are setting up regional offices, but not always in conformance with this plan. Each will tend to argue that it should distribute offices according to some special requirement of its work. This overlooks one of the compelling reasons for using a standard plan -- that the agencies can better coordinate their several activities in the field if all are located in the same regional centers,
In some cases, delay in implementation appears to stem from opposition in the operating agency; based on disagreement with some details of the Plan. For example, in the case of Public Works, Transportation and Communication, the Bureau Chiefs object to their new role under the plan,
The issue is already settled. The approval of Plan 60 by the President and Congrcsi has the full force and effect of law. Resistance to the dictates of this Plan amounts to defiance of law. and insubordination to executive authority, If there are minor de tails in which this and o'her Plans need correction, the Implement ing Details should be issued first, for they have included in them the necessary means for modification,
The President shoulc be urged to give immediate approval to the remaining Plans (except possibly No, 73 and No. 74); and to set the example o' full and effective implementation by the thorough overhanding of the Executive Office of the Presideat as provided in Plans 43A, 44A and 45A,
Plan 73 is noted above for possible exception, since another Plan to which it relates was disapproved by Congress. The intent of Plan 74 should be carefully reviewed in relation to the later "Science Act of 1958, " dealing with much of the same subject matter.
-80 Follow- Up
There is a good deal of evidence that the intent of the Re organization Plans is far from fulfilled even when Implementing Details were approved some time ago, This may be due partly to passive resistance by those who are less than fully convinced of the wisdom of all provisions; and it may be due in part to lack of understanding of the meaning of some of the provisions. One ex ample of complying with form while evading intent is the reported assignment of personnel to regiunal offices as required by a Plan- and then detailing them back to Manila!
The Council of Administrative Management can be a force for progress in this connection. It should direct the President's attention to the lag in full implementation and urge him to call on the Management Service to make a semi-annual check on progress, with a full report to the Council and the President on the extent to which the Plans are implemented in fact,
The President and Cabinet should also be reminded, through the Council, that there are on the staff of the Management Service many of the analysts who assisted the GSRC in the develop ment of the Reorgahization Plans. They are well equipped by that experience to help the departments understand the full intent and meaning of provisions in the Plans.
Finally, all concerned should be reminded once again that much of the reasoning and intent underlying these Plans can be learned by reading the Supporting Statements the GSRC approved to accompany each.
Local Government
The vitality of the national government is sapped by the considerable extent to which it must attend to purely local affairs. An important corrective step has been taken in the enactment of the Local Autonomy Act. It too must be actively implemented to have meaning.
There will be a tendency to delay the development of local governments until the administrative needs of the national govern ment has been fully met. This is misplaced emphasis. The strength of a democracy is in the people. The people are not in
-81 the capital city alone, but everywhere. The sooner they are shown the way to local self government -- and local self-support- the sooner the economy will take on new vigor and the central government will assume its proper role. Conversely, the longer the central bureaucracy clings to the detail of local government, the harder it will be to get disentangled from it.
The President might well consider the establishment of a Commission on Local Government, with functions somewhat like those of the GSRC, to formulate and initiate a specific program in local autonomy. Such a program, properly coordinated with the Community Development program, would be a tremendous, if in direct, contribution to the improvement of public administration at the national level as well.
-82 CHAPTER XVIII
DEPARTMENTAL OPERATIONS
There has been no time in the brief span of this study to review the quality of administration within the operating agencies. The superficial evidence is that much is yet to be accomplished.
The desks of top officials, for example, are still stacked high with documents awaiting signature. Most of these represent actions which have been fully processed and reviewed, but which nonetheless still require personal approval by one in top authority. Such an official is not performing an act worthy of his rank and ability when he merely affixes his signature. The means must be found to delegate sufficient authority to lower levels that action can be prompter and top officials can be spared for the important tasks of shaping policy, planning, and directing and coordinating action.
Perhaps not all of the backlog in the departments come from a requirement that so much be referred to top officials. It seems that there is a reluctance among minor officials to make decisions, even when given the authority. With a steadily growing population and with new and more complex services of government, it will not be possible to leave all decisions to a few.
There needs to 'e a concerted effort to create the ability and the confidence to make decisions. This requires developing the mental habits of ge' ting all the facts; weighing the alternatives; projecting the consequences of each feasible possibility; and then choosing the best. It requires a deliberzte choice of the rule of logic over impulse and favoritism. It means developing a willing ness to make an honest mistake, to learn from it, and not to be dissuaded by it from making still more decisions.
The specialists in publi- administration are fully aware of the devices for streamlining operations. They understand and can explain organization, span of control, delegation, decentralization, systems, records management and the host of other concepts that make for effective management.
A few of the department heads are aware of these concepts too. There are signs in a few places that the administrative
-83 specialists are being encouraged in their efforts to make the govern ment more efficient and more economical.
There is no inherent obstacle to progress toward better ad ministration. Lack of information among operating officials, in difference and resistance are the main difficulties. They can all be overcome by the leadership, -motivation, recognition and know-how discussed earlier.
- 84 CHAPTER XIX
INFORMAL SUPPORT
Those interested in administrative improvement should encourage and capitalize on the many informal resources available in the Philippines. There are many unofficial bodies interested in this subject; and still others can be made to be interested.
The Media. The press, the radio and television all show a lively interest in public affairs. As is normal, they give a good deal of attention to the news of real and alleged misdeeds of public officials; but their editorial comment is frequently and forcefully in support of better administrative practices.
These media are generally accepted as reflecting a cross section of the people's views. Their continued interest in sound public administration should be encouraged as a helpful influence on officials who may otherwise tend to disregard official efforts at improvement.
Civic Groups. The many organizations in the business and social community are another vital force. Their natural tendency is to be absorbed with matters directly affecting their own inter ests. They have not been interested in governmental affairs to the same extent that the help of similar groups has beenerilisted in the United States. This is not through lack of concern as much as it is through lack of information.
Here again the Council of Administrative Management might take the lead in encouraging a program of speakers and written materials to be directed to these civic groups, in the hope of stimulating their i,.iterest and support for better practice.
Political Parties. These organizations quite naturally are more concerned with winning elections than with sponsoring ad ministrative reform. Yet no significant administrative reform is possible without political support. The Party which first realizes that good government has a greater appeal than personal patronage, will be the Party to earn tb ,!during support of the people.
The public administrators, however, cannot expect this understanding to come like a vision to the political parties. The
-85 idea will have to be imparted by some hard selling by the admini strators.
Employee Organizations. The associations and unions of government employees are a potent force. Their representation and demonstrations have often affected the course of legislation. They, too, must be made to see that the highest interest of the great majority of them lic in sound administrative practices. Their leadership should be included in the training courses and in the other measures for improved understanding of sound admin istrative principles.
Professional Organizations. Every profession has its organization. Even the graduates of a short in-service training course are apt to form an organization to commemorate and perpetuate their joint experience. Each and every one of these should be encouraged to constitute itself as an evangelist for better administrative practice in the field of its specialty. The combined effort of all of them can carry administrative practice to a higher level, of mutual benefit to the nation and to each group.
The Society for Public Administration of the Philippines is providing strong support for better administration.
-86 CHAPTER XX
A CASE IN POINT
As a sort of summary, much of what can be said in this part of the report can be drawn together around a particular ex ample. It highlights the p:.oblems and suggests the solutions. The example selected is the National Waterworks and Sewerage Authority (NAWASA). It is not necessarily singled out for parti cular attention; some of the facts just happened to be conveniently available.
This agency was created just a few years ago to own and operate the waterworks, sewerage and drainage systems through out the Philippines, Even before it was fully operative, major changes in its concept and organization were proposed by the GSRC and approved by the President, They were, however, vetoed by Congress.
For practical purposes, this discussion can be limited to waterworks, There still are no sewerage and drainage systems on a truly national scale. There are, however, some 500 waterworks, ranging from the Manila Metropolitan system. to single water well operations.
This agency has a vital function, An adequ, e supply of potable water is essential to the public health and comfort. Water is likewise essential to industrial operations. It is needed in the protection of life and property against destruction by fire.
In the several years of its existence, the NAWASA has failed to make significant progress toward the better serving of any of these needs. Corrective action is needed in many directions at once.
I. The basic concept of the agency needs io be changed, somewha as proposed by the GSRC. Local water systems cannot be properly maintained and operated by a national entity. They are of immediate concern to the people they serve. They should be under local control and management. The national entity could perform a much better service if it were limited to the planning and construction of new waterworks and of improvements and ex tensions of those already in operation. This service could be
-87 financed by assessments on the local systems served, thus putting the financial burden where it belongs; and at the same time, the use of a central corps of engineers and other specialists would conserve scarce manpower.
Thus we see in this example the need for better organiza tion, for decentralizalion,' for the encouragement of local autonomy, and for better staff utilization.
2, In 1956 funds were allotted to acquire trucks to be used for the maintenance and repair of barrio wells. To this day, the trucks are as bare of special well rigging as they were the day they were delivered. This il.ustrates the need for the active guidance of the since- created Department of General Services in seeing that when equipment is procured, its use should be anticipated and it should be provided with all the fittings and supplies needed to make it fully operative.
3. Applications have been filed for millions of dollars in Development Loans for the improvement of the system, but as yet engineering plans have not been prepared, It is unlikely that these loans will be granted until supported by detailed plans; but even if they are, of what use the money if the plans are not ready for starting the work?
Thus we see illustrated the need for better planning of work, for its scheduling and for follow-up to insure its completion.
4. Projects now underway at considerable cost will be in adequate when they have been completed.
This is partly a reflection on planning, but may also be because of the lack of adequate statistical information on which to project population growth, industrial development and other mea; sures of water need in the areas to be served.
If time had permitted, a much more detailed example might have been made of this and other operations. The big point is, however, that within the government are the meansto rrect these conditions, if only they will be coordinated and directed to that end,
-88 PART III
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE INTRODUCTION
The first two Parts of this Report have been addressed mainly to the officials of the Philippine Government, for they have the responsibility for the continuing improvement of their admini strative practices- This Part III is addressed to U. S. officials, both in Manila and Washington, fcr whatever help these comments may be in shaping the future course of Technical Assistance in Public Administration in the Philippines,
The comments are made without benefit of any systematic study of the stated program and objectives of ICA in this field. They are simply the result of the observations of what can be seen to be going on. Some of the comments reflect the opinions of Filipinos, as well as the observations of the writer, but no effort will be made to ascribe any part of these remarks to host officials.
Technical Assistance in Public Administration has greater handicaps than that in any other fiel.d. It is dealing in principles rather than in tangible products. It can be easily misinterpreted as interference in internal political affairs,, for the line between policy and practice is sometimes thin indeed.
The guidance the Technical Advisor can offer is eagerly sought by those who have a technical responsibility. It may, however, be either rejected or met with indifference by those who already feel secure in high administrative posts. The admini strative policy makers are particularly sensitive about any possi bility that counsel may imply an effort at control. And with but few exceptions, members of the legislative branch are not aware of this assistance, nor would they be willing to accept it.
-89 CHAPTER XXI
THE ROLES OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
It seems to this observer that public administration has two related, yet distinct, roles in a technical assistance program. The first is to provide counsel and assistance in the exclusive field of public administration, such as budgeting, personnel, supply, organization, system and the like. The other is to fortify the assistance given in specific operating programs by assisting in the many administrative implications of those programs.
Technical assistance in public health, to cite just one ex ample, is not just an exercise in sanitation, medicine, nursing, and research. It requires organization, good personnel, adequate funds, supplies and other administrative paraphernalia to trans late public health objectives and techniques into a workable pro gram. Even conceding that public health officers who serve as Technical Assistants in that field are fully competent in the ad ministrative specialties, there still needs to be effective coordina tion with the direct assistance programs underway in the public administration field.
This being so, three basic ideas must be accepted con cerning a Mission Public Administration Division,
1. This Division should have a somewhat different relation ship than the others within the Mission, including a different re lationship to the Program Office.
2. This Division should be encouraged to seek a wider range of working relationships in the host government.
3. In judging the size of staff in the PAD, compared to others, a distinction needs to be made between those engaged in "pure" public administration and th e attached to this Division as other subject matter specialists who happen not to fit any other Division's program.
Each of these points deserve elaboration.
Relationships Within the Mission. Whatever need there may be to compartmentalize the operations of a Mission's divisions
-90 should be set aside in the case of Public Administration, This Division needs to be kept fully aware of al!. other programs, and should be encouraged to assist in their administrative implica tions. The PAD's counsel should be particularly sought by the Program Office, for the success of each project wi. depend in large part on the administrativc support it can be expected to get, both from the Technical Assistants in Public Adminis tration and from the administrative facilities of the host government,
On this last point, it would further strengthen local admini strative suppo.-t if the Budget Commissioner were limited, through the FAD, to participate in Mission program deliberations.
Relationships in the Host Government. Most of the USOM technical divisions have a single counterpart in ihe host govern ment. They are properly expected to restrict their relationships largely to that counterpart, Public Administration can have no single counterpart in the host government In the Philippine Government, for example, the public admini:stration program re lates directly to the Council of Administrative Management, the Institute of Public Administration, the Budget Commission, the Civil Service Commission and the Department, of General Services. It is indirectly related to all the otier departments of government to the same considerable extent that those staff agencies are.
Moreover, just as it is important for the PAD to have a close and particular relationship with the Missic,n's Program Office, so should it have access to the Philippine Government's National Economic Council -- not to infringe on the responsibility of others in economic planning, but to help shape a long range program of technical assistance which gives due regard to admini strative handicaps and to the means available to overcome them.
PAD Staff. An authorized staff of nine for this Division appears large in comparison with other Divisions -- until the figure is divided between the two roles previously mentioned. Only five, or about half, are assigned to "pure' public administra tion. The two authorized for police administration and the two specialists in census, are in operating subject matter fields, It seems logical enough to attach them to the PAD, rather than to create special divisions for them, but they should not then be cited as an example of a disproportionately large staff for this Division.
-91 Phasing Out
One hears a good deal about phasing out the public admini stration program ir the Philippines. It would be a mistake to do so any faster than other programs a-e closed out,
Perhaps there will need to be some change in emphasis, with less attention to the specifics of public administration and more to its practical application to operating problems. This possibility has already been discussed in Part II.
What is done with any program will necessarily depend mainly on the wishes of the host government. It would oe a mis take, however, to indicate that the Mission would prefer to close out its operations in the vital field of public administration.
The "Project' Concept
It is difficult to see how a truly effective program in public administ'-ation can be conducted within the limits of specific pro jects. For a major contractual undertaking there sheuld, of course, be some statement of the proposed scope of the work. Likewise, in other fields, where technical assistance is related to major construction or the procurement and utilization of sup plies, the specifications need to be clear.
Public Administration, on the other hand. deals mainly with variables in the conduct of government. General objectives may be defined, but even they may need to be reconsidered to meet a shift in emphasis or in need, A Technical Assistant in Public Administration should have a general assignment in the field of his competence. He should bring to that assignment a good background of information and the ability to counsel others in the adaptation of that knowledge to the local situation. He should be free to shift the emphasis of his assignment whenever it is apparent that this will be the best means to the general end he is to accomplish.
Project documentation of some sort is probably necessary as a justification of funds sought; but one cannot help but feel that the form of project documentation overshadows the real purpose of the assignment.
-92 Initiative vs. Concurrence
Programs in technical assistance are generally developed in response to the request of the host government, Technically speaking, this is undoubtedly sound, It protects the U. S. govern ment against any claim that it has interfered in local matters.
Once again, because of the unique nature of public admini stration and its all- pervading effects, it would be well to consider an exception to this general rule, Te Technical Assistants in this field, in the course of their regular assignments, cannot help but notice opportunities for improvement requiring additional assistance, They ought to bc encouraged to point out the nature and advantages of such additional service, and to suggest the possi bility of further specific programs,
They need not do this in an attitade of insistence. The host country need feel no obligation to comply. If they do submit the proposal, it should of course be given weight only in proportion to its importance compared with other projects to be financed with the funds at hand.
The point is that there appear to be gaps in the public ad ministration program where the elusive nature of a problem has not yet been understood by local officials, ,and where the Technical Assistants have had to remain silent unde: a policy of only con curring in direct request.
-93 CHAPTER XXII
PAD/USOM/PHIL
This Division appears to enjoy good relations with the clientele it is assigned to serve, The staff have good working re lations with their counterparts, They are frequently invited to participate in the more formal training programs related to their specialties, The recent publication, "Selected Papers on Public Administration", is an effective summary of participation in these activities: and in the terminal reports included in it, reflects the Mission's share in the substantial progress made in Public Admini stration in the Philippines.
The draft of an annual report, in preparation in this Divi sion while this study was underway, further emphasizes the im pressive progress made by joint Uo S. - Philippines action.
Some of the possibilities for enlarging the influence of this staff have already been discussed in the preceding chapter.
In addition, the means should be found to have all of the staff spend more time in the agencies they serve. The Technical Advisors ought to be required f o spend at least 75% of their time outside the Mission. The Chief of the Division ought to spend at least 50% of his time away from his desk,
The problems these people are concerned with are in the departments. They are a part of the fabric of current work in the department. These problems are not all fully reported in an occasional visit, nor can their full implica.tion be understood in heaving about them, The TA needs to be present when the problem arises; he needs to have the feel of all surrounding circumstances; he needs to realize the expediencies that will have to be considered along with the technical considerations, Only then can he offer counsel of sound practical value.
In one important phase of its work, the PAD needs the com plete cooperation of all other divisions in the Mission. This is in the support of reorganization plans approved by the Philippine Government. During the time these plans were in preparation, TA's in the various divisions participated, as advisors to the departments they serve. Not all their ideas were accepted, any
- 94 more than were all the ideas of the contractor's staff working dir ectly with GSRC. Now that the plans are in various stages of im plementation, all possible help should be given in fulfilling their intent, without regard to personal views about their validity.
Each new TA serving any department affected by a reorgan ization plan should be thoroughly briefed in the background and in tent of the Plan by the PAD or by the Management Service of the Philippine Government, and should thereafter be expected to give wholehearted support to the reorganization endeavor,
Summary and Emphasis
Relating all that has been said in all Parts of this report about what yet needs to be done, suggests the following major points of emphasis for Technical Assistance in Public Administra tion:
1 The Chief of the Division, in addition to his continuing responsibility for planning and directing the work of his staff and coordinating it with other Divisions, should spend at least half of his time in the offices of the Philippine Government to further their efforts toward better administrative practice. He should concentrate particularly on the members of the Council of Admini strative Management in view of their individual responsibilities as well as on their collective responsibility for better public admini stration, He should become sufficiently familiar with the problems of every operating agency that he can formulate both general and specific ways in which existing and new technical assistance pro grams will help.
2. Present programs in management service, general ser vices and budgeting should oe continued, with maximum flexibility in the use of the Technical Advisors to deal with problems as they arise; and with freedom to work with these problems wherever they find the greatest need. Whenever these programs reach a satisfactory conclusion, they should be replaced by the type dis cussed in paragraph 4, below.
3. A Technical Advisor in personnel administration should be added forthwith, to assist in the several ways suggested in Part I of this report.
-95 4. The PAD should be alert to the possibility that several additional TA's could be used to good advantage in helping over haul the internal operations and systems of operating agencies. These TA's should have the broadest possible background in organ ization and methods. They need not be specialists in any operating sub just matter, They should be utilized partly in the "perating agencies of the Philippine Government (in coordination Wi' Lhat Government's own staff agencies), and partly in fortifying the Mission's specialists in subject matter fields where their work touches on departmental administration.
5. Serious thought should be given to the much closer co ordination of the PAD and other Mission operating divisions, parti cularly Community Development. This one is singled out as an example because here, more than in any other p. 3gram, is an operation depending in great part on the technique of administration. The objectives to be attained have deep social significance. But gaining those objectives is less an application of sociology than it is the proper coordination of many operating agencies to direct their combined efforts at this one social goal..
6. The counsel of the PAD should be heavily relied upon by the Program Office and by the Office of the Director, in the plan ning and evaluation of tbe total country program. The Mission's main reason for being is to further the economic and social well being of the nation. It cannot be repeated often enough that in this country those goals cannot be reached without the support of a well organized and smoothly operating government.
7. In every other proper way which suggests itself, the Division should give support and encouragement to every aspect of management improvement suggested or implied in this report; or which come to the Division's attention as time goes on.
-96 PART IV
ACTION CHAPTER XXIII
ACTION
During the last week of this evaluation survey several events took place which are significant because they exemplify continuing action to improve public administration in the Philippines. These events are reported in the order of their oc currencc.
Conference on Health. On August 3, 1959, Dr. Elpidio Valencia, Secretary of Health, convened a luncheon meeting to discuss problems encountered in the implementation of the re organization plans affecting that department. The meeting was attended by the Secretary, the two Under-Secretaries, the Dir ectors of the several bureaus in the Department, Dominador R. Aytona, Budget Commission, Leon M. Lazaga, Chief of the Management Service. and the writer.
It appeared briefly at the outset that there was opposition to the new role of the Bureau Directors as staff rather than line -,fficials, as provided in the reorganization plan. On analysis, 'rowever, it developed that the real difficulty was a lack of full understanding of the important role of technical planning and supervision, and of direct lines of technical communications by which these Bureau Directors may keep in touch with and evaluate their programs in the field.
With this concept clarified, opposition seend to disappear and the meeting concluded on a note of determination to cooperate to make the new plan work. The Budget Commissioner and the Chief of the Management Service pledged their assistance to that end.
The gap between general understanding and acceptance in principle of the basic concepts * °olved, and their correct application in practice is a big .ne. In subscquent conferences, the writer reported these developments ard his evaluation of them to the USOM Chief of the Public Administration Division and Chief of the Health Division, so that their combined efforts can encour age and support the Philippine Government efforts.
-97 Conference in Public Works, Communication and Trans portation. On August 4, 1959, Florencio Moreno, Secretary of Public Works and Communications,. convened a meeting to discuss Reorganization Plan 60, one of the Inajor Plans noi yet imple mented by Execiltive Order of the President In addition to the Secretary. two Under-Secretaries, Bureau Directors and principal Administrators in the Department, those in attendance were Dominador R. Aytona, Budget Commissioner and Chairman of the former Government Survey and Reorganization Commission, Senator Cipriano Primicias. Chairman of the GSRC Task Force on Public Works, Colonel Andres Cruz, Chairman of the GSRC Task Force on Transportation, Senator Edmundo Cea, member of the GSRC; Leon M. Lazaga, Chief of the Management Service. and the writer.
Again the principal point under discussion was the role of the Bureau Directors under the Plan. Again the explanations were made; but in this case without apparently moving the opposition of the Directors of the two largest Bureaus,
The Secretary and the members of the GSRC present all pointed out that the issues being discussed were already settled as a matter of law when Congress approved Plan 60. It was agreed that there might be minor matters of detai). needing correction in the Implementing Details: although this would not be possible until the President first issues the Executive Order, which includes authority for the Secretary to amend the detail,
It appeared at, the conclusion of the meeting that the Secre tary, the Budget Commissioner and the members of the GSRC would urge the President to sign the implementing Executive Order. It was equally apparent that there wil.i, continue to be misunderstanding and resistance, which will require patient assistance and support by the Management Service and the Technical Advisors.
Council. of Administrative Management. The first meeting of the CounciFwas held early in this study and the second regular meeting was scheduled for the week after the field work in Manila was completed. The verbatim minutes of the first, meeting show a general realization by the members of their important role. The Council's meeting with President. Garcia following its first meeting elicited from the President constructive comments signifying his interest and understanding. The agenda bcing planned for the next meeting holds promise for an active prr--;ram of administrative im provement. -98 Summers' Conference. On August 6, 1959, a lengthy luncheon conference was held at the residence of Mission Director Paul D. Summers, in which the other participants were Leland A. Randall, Assistant Director, Fred S. Crawford, Chief; PAD, Budget Commissioner Dominador R. Aytona, and the writer. The results of the study were reviewed in general terms, and a gentral agreement reached for continued support for public administration.
Partly through this conference and partly through the efforts of the Program Office of the USOM and the Foreign Aid Office of the NEC of the Philippines, it appeared that approval of a TA for personnel was in process even as the field work was concluded.
Baguio Confecence. The most significant steps in strength ening the administrative program were at a conference held in Baguio, August 7-9, inclusive. This was attended by Budget Commissioner Dominador R. Aytona, Leon M. Lazaga, Chief Management Service, Fred S. Crawford, Chief, PAD, and Lhe writer.
In those three days, a draft of this report was reviewed in detail. The specific steps needed to implement each recommenda tion were decided upon, responsibility for taking each step was assigned, and a time-table was agreed upon. A complete program of action was dictated by Commissioner Aytona and reviewed by the participants.
It would be presumptuous and premature to report this action program in detail here. It will be unfolded in the weeks and months to follow as each action is taken. For the writer, however, it was an encouraging and satisfying experience, for it demon strated complete understanding of the problems; willingness, indeed even determination, to take the steps necessary to solve them; and a complete agreement as to the relative role of the Philippine Governmenu and the USOM in a full cooperative undertaking.
-99