Vol. 1 March 2017 Rationalizing GOCCs: The Case of the Merger of the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines Maria Fe Villamejor-Mendoza, PhD Reactor’s Note Locating the LBP-DBP merger in the context of regional financial integration Lucio Blanco Pitlo III Assessing fiscal data openness in local governments in the Philippines Erwin A. Alampay, Pauline Bautista, and Raphael Montes Reactor’s Note Learning from the Korean Narrative in Open Governance: A Reaction to “Harnessing Open Data for Fiscal Transparency in Local Governments in the Philippines” Jinky Joy dela Cruz Synergies: Production, Marketing, and Promotion of Philippine and Korean Television Series Josefina M. C. Santos Reactors’ Note Contemporary Production Processes: Restructuring our Understanding of Philippine Teleseryes vis-a-vis Koreanovelas Jose Wendell P. Capili, PhD The HanPil (한필) Occasional Papers on Korea and the Philippines is published electronically by the University of the Philippines Korea Research Center. All papers included in the current volume underwent a single-blind peer review process. The HanPil will be published annually. Copyright © 2017 by the UP KRC and authors All rights reserved, except that authorization is given herewith to academic institutions and educators to reproduce articles herein for academic use as long as appropriate credit is given both to the authors and to this publication. The views expressed in each paper are those of the authors of the paper. They do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of the UP KRC, its Editorial Committee, or of the University of the Philippines. ISSN 2546-0234 (Online) ISSN 2546-0226 (Print) The papers were prepared for the research project of the Korea Research Center at University of the Philippines (UP KRC) supported by the Academy of Korean Studies Grant (AKS-2015-INC-2230012). Earlier version of the papers was presented at the 7th Biennial Conference of the Korean Studies Association of Southeast Asia (KoSASA) held at Novotel, Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City on September 28-30, 2016. UP Korea Research Center Editorial Committee Eduardo T. Gonzalez, PhD Aldrin P. Lee, PhD Kyungmin Bae Pamela Jacar UP Korea Research Center Address: 3F South Wing Quezon Hall, University Avenue, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines Tel : +63 2 981 8500 loc 2543 Email : [email protected] Vol. 1 March 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword Rationalizing GOCCs: The Case of the Merger of the Land Bank 1 of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines Maria Fe Villamejor-Mendoza, PhD Reactor’s Note 35 Locating the LBP-DBP merger in the context of regional financial integration Lucio Blanco Pitlo III Assessing fiscal data openness in local governments in the Philippines 47 Erwin A. Alampay, Pauline Bautista, and Raphael Montes Reactor’s Note Learning from the Korean Narrative in Open Governance: 93 A Reaction to “Harnessing Open Data for Fiscal Transparency in Local Governments in the Philippines” Jinky Joy dela Cruz Synergies: Production, Marketing, and Promotion of Philippine and 102 Korean Television Series Josefina M. C. Santos Reactors’ Note Contemporary Production Processes: Restructuring our 137 Understanding of Philippine Teleseryes vis-a-vis Koreanovelas Jose Wendell P. Capili, PhD Notes about Contributors 143 Foreword It is my pleasure to introduce this first edition of the “HanPil (한필): Occasional Papers on Korea and the Philippines”. Although not a regularly issued publication, Occasional Papers will be a standard feature of the UP Korea Research Center to keep the scholarly public in touch with developments which relate to Philippine-Korean relations. These Occasional Papers bring together research carried out by academic authors from the University of the Philippines at Diliman. They are largely case studies offering fresh perspectives about a diverse set of topics for which both Korea and the Philippines share common grounds: organizational reform of financial institutions, the crucial role of unified communications technology at subnational levels, and the rise of a particular genre of Filipino drama that takes its lead directly from Korean soap opera. The papers were the outcome of a research project undertaken under a seed program grant given by the Korean Studies Promotion Service of the Academy of Korean Studies centered around two themes: public policy in Korea and the Philippines, and the social impact of Korean cultural products in the Philippines. They were initially presented at the 1st UP KRC Workshop and Roundtable, “Continuity and Progress of Korean Studies in the Philippines”, and subsequently at the 7th Korean Studies Association of Southeast Asia (KoSASA) conference, “Glocalisation of Korean Studies: Strategic Cooperation in Research and Education between Southeast Asia and Korea” hosted by UP and held on September 28-30, 2016 at Novotel Araneta. All three papers went through a single-blind review process. You may wonder why the main papers are not in the mold of contemporary comparative research. Instead, the articles on banking and ICT focus solely on the Philippine situation, while the paper on the drama series happens to refer to Korean production mainly as the inspiration, if not progenitor, of a particular Philippine telenovela. The actual comparisons with Korea come by way of the reactors’ notes. The use of outright comparison was avoided, not because of hesitation in drawing parallels, but out of respect for the uniqueness of contexts. Just as looking through a pair of eyeglasses changes the way we see a thing, so using Korea as a framework for understanding the Philippines at the very start may unnecessarily alter the manner we frame the economic, social or cultural circumstances in the Philippines. Thus the authors went straight to the heart of their “Philippine” arguments, spending no or little time on seeing them from a Korean lens, which subsequently was supplied by the reactors. In this way, the comparisons, coming after the fact, serve to provide the contrasts and similarities between the two countries in a much more analytically forceful way. The launch of the Occasional Papers is a major step in the effort of the UP KRC to broaden interest in and understanding of South Korea in the economic, social and cultural fields. We believe that publications are an ideal vehicle to capture the diverse scholarly interests of Korean Studies enthusiasts in UP and other higher educational institutions. These Occasional Papers, as well as other forthcoming UP KRC publications, can be openly accessed online, and will likewise be made available in printed form on demand. We look forward to your feedback and comments, using our contact address at [email protected]. This inaugural issue owes much to many people. We thank first of all the authors and reactors for their scholarly contributions. Thanks are due to the AKS-KSPS program, for its wholehearted support. We likewise acknowledge the Korea Research Institute of the University of New South Wales, from whose initial guidance we benefitted immensely. I would also like to add my thanks to my colleagues, Aldrin Lee and Kyungmin Bae, who drew up the parameters of these papers. Ms Bae, in particular, was the key figure behind the demanding collaborative processes which lie behind this project. We owe much, too, to the anonymous referees who vetted the papers. Last but not least, I wish to thank Pamela Jacar, our energetic administrative assistant at the UP KRC office. Eduardo T. Gonzalez, PhD Director UP Korea Research Center Rationalizing GOCCs: The Case of the Merger of the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines Maria Fe Villamejor-Mendoza, PhD* National College of Public Administration and Governance University of the Philippines, Diliman ABSTRACT One of the recent reform initiatives of the Philippine government on state-owned enterprises (SOEs) or government owned or controlled corporations (GOCCs) in local parlance, is the proposed disposition of two major government financial institutions (GFIs) in the country, e.g., the merger of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP). The merger was predicated on what the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG), the central advisory, monitoring, and oversight body for GOCCs believed as the duplication or overlapping functions of both banks. Such consideration is one of the standards for implementing a merger (Sec. 5) under R.A. 10149 or the “GOCC Governance Act of 2011” mainly in order that the “corporate form of organization through which government carries out activities is utilized judiciously” (Sec. 2). This case study thus interrogates the rationale, implications, challenges and lessons of this GOCC reform initiative. Merging two giant GFIs in the country is unprecedented in the GOCC sector because in the past, the preferred dispositive modes were privatization, abolition and regularization. It also briefly revisits and anchors analyses on recent (macro) reforms on the GOCC sector, from 2001-present. KEYWORDS: Dispositive action, merger of GOCCs/GFIs, LBP, DBP, public enterprise reform １ OVERVIEW The Philippine public enterprise sector (PES) or the government owned and/or controlled corporations (GOCCs) in local parlance, has been created to be potent tools for development. They are supposed to perform governmental/development and proprietary/business functions and be in areas, which are pioneering in nature, where the investment required