Tourism Policy Implementation in the Philippines, 1973-2009

Tourism policy implementation in the Philippines, 1973-2009 Edieser Dela Santa A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at University of Otago Dunedin, New Zealand Department of Tourism School of Business University of Otago 2010 ii Abstract This thesis examines the substance and mechanisms of tourism policy implementation in the Philippines in the last 30 years or so (1972-2009). To meet this objective, the research undertook an ecotourism case study and pursued the following steps. First is a description and analysis of what policy implementation comprised in terms of policies and programmes. Second is an examination of how the implementation process has taken place through a focus on the interaction of key actors, their strategies and use of resources, as well as their perceptions and values. Third is an attempt at explaining why the implementation process has taken place the way it did by deducing key longer-term historical factors as well as contextual conditions from the analysis and exploring their inter-relationship. Based on a review of the policy implementation literature, the thesis employed the advocacy coalition framework and policy networks approach in analysing the case of the Philippines. It allowed the researcher to use multiple levels of abstraction, identify key causal processes that might explain policy implementation, capture the dynamics of social interactions formed among policy actors and target participants, as well as take cognizance of the context within which tourism policies are implemented. In addition, the thesis utilized theories of the state such as clientelism to assist interpretation and explanation. Field research was undertaken in the Philippines from January to July 2008 in two research sites: Manila and Pamilacan Island, Bohol Province. Data collected consisted of archival records, interviews, observations, and visual materials. Content analysis and network analysis were the principal methods of data analysis. Analysis of findings suggests key roles for external and internal forces in explaining tourism policy implementation. External factors found salient were changing socio- economic conditions, social-cultural values, basic constitutional structure, and systemic governing coalitions and control of institutions. Intenal forces found influential were ideas and policy learning, and policy networks. iii Disaggegating these variables and analysing their dynamics lead to the central argument that subject to the constraints imposed by the wider environment and available resources, tourism policy implementation is determined ultimately by traditional power relationships, even if learning, as intermediated by policy networks and micro- implementation processes, drives the policy process forward. This applies most particularly at the local level where elite families dominate the political system and where patron-client relations are strongest. In terms of contribution to knowledge, the thesis adds on three fronts. First, it increases the meagre supply of in-depth tourism policy studies. Second, by using the advocacy coalition framework and policy networks, it demonstrates the methodological utility of doing research that uses multiple levels of analysis and methods in order to better understand the policy process. Third, it illuminates some dark corners of policymaking. Within the Philippine context, it offers an integrated description, explanation and theory of the tourism policy process in the last 30 years or so. It highlights the political nature of implementation and the futility of assuming a Weberian model of public administration in a patrimonial state with a highly personalistic political system. Broadly, the thesis identifies key categories that might be useful in studies of tourism policy implementation in other contexts, particularly democratizing island states. While proposing a transmission process through which these variables inter-relate, it calls for greater attention than currently conceived to policy-oriented learning as a driver of change, particularly if policy implementation efforts are more concerned with acceptance of uncertainty and collaboration than power plays among interest groups. Finally, the thesis suggests ways to improve the use of policy process models in geographical contexts characterized by political instability. Focusing on the advocacy coalition framework, it calls for a re-assessment of some aspects that in the study were found to be at odds with the importance conveyed in the framework, a deeper consideration of the political system, and a relaxation of some rigid analytic dimensions. iv Acknowledgment The production of this thesis would not have been possible without God Almighty’s help, particularly during the most difficult stages. I also got a lot of support from institutions and individuals. They are too many to mention but a few stand out. Institutionally, I thank the University of the Philippines - Diliman for allowing me to go on leave for three years to study for the PhD. The University of Otago was my home in those years, its scholarship grant and research support greatly facilitating the study and making life less difficult for a foreign student like me. The latter was also instrumental in funding my attendance to four international and New Zealand tourism conferences in order to communicate findings of the thesis and generate comments. Significantly, one of these conferences, ApacCHRIE 2009 in Singapore, bestowed the author with the “Best Academic Paper” Award. At the individual level, I thank the following: • Dr. Brent Lovelock and Associate Professor David Duval, my supervisors, whose guidance and critical comments to the drafts pushed me to the right path. Helen Dunn and Diana Evans provided excellent administrative support. • Norhanim, Misuk and Pedie for the camaderie while studying in Dunedin. Also providing support were friends from the Filipino community in Dunedin including Ate June Watt, Rommel Tababa, Raul Daaco, Ric, tukayong Ed, Dain brothers, Philip, John, Donna, and Rowena • Jenny Javier and Stella Aque, dear friends from the Philippines, who helped with translations of documents from the Boholano dialect to English. Stuart Green and Precy Calimag read and commented critically on the initial drafts. • The priests of the Holy Family Parish in Sampaguita Village, San Pedro, Laguna, Philippines, Fr. Marvi and Fr. Francis, for allowing me to use St. Mark Hall when I needed a quiet space to think and write. • Saturnina Quilas from Pamilacan Island v I thank most especially my wife Karen for taking care of our kids (Keane Edward and Khrisna Edriane) while I was away. The thesis is dedicated to the three of them. vi Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgment ................................................................................................................ v List of Figures ................................................................................................................... xii List of Tables ................................................................................................................... xiii Table of acronyms ........................................................................................................... xiv Chapter 1 : Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background to the study ....................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Research aim and scope ........................................................................................................................ 4 1.3 Overview of the research ...................................................................................................................... 6 1.4 Contributions to knowledge ................................................................................................................ 10 Chapter 2 : Review of the literature .............................................................................. 13 2.1 Introduction......................................................................................................................................... 13 2.2 Beginnings and conceptualization of public policy implementation studies ..................................... 14 2.3 Key themes in policy implementation studies .................................................................................... 17 2.3.1 Approaches to policy implementation ....................................................................................... 17 2.3.1.1 The top-down approach ................................................................................................... 17 2.3.1.2 The bottom-up approach .................................................................................................. 19 2.3.1.3 Synthesis or intermediate models and contingency approaches ....................................... 21 2.3.2 Knowledge and policy implementation ..................................................................................... 25 2.3.2.1 Definitions of policy learning ........................................................................................... 26 2.3.2.2 Role of learning in policy implementation process models .............................................. 30 2.3.2.3 Mechanisms

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