ARELLANO UNIVERSITY
Jose Abad Santos Campus
College of Arts and Sciences
PSE02: Local Government in the Philippines
(SUN 5:30 – 8:30 PM)
Davao’s Clamor: Good Governance and Generational Pattern
Analysis
Assessing the Effectiveness of Decentralization in the Philippines:
A Case Study
Submitted by:
ROQUE, JULLIANNE CHLOE S.
Submitted to:
Atty. Kristopher Navales
I
INTRODUCTION
Political decentralization has been an attribute of Philippine politics since the turn of the
century, where local governments began obtaining more autonomy. The light of hope for local
government was embedded through gradual independence from our colonizers. Although, as
Martial Law was imposed, political decentralization suffered a setback with the concentration of
decision-making powers in the hands of Marcos that were never considered truly reflective of the
people's will because of the prevailing conditions of dictatorship. If anything, however, the
authoritarian regime of Marcos can be credited for its tyrannic efforts which paved its way to
emphasize the role of the regional units to decongest the central government. At present,
Filipinos are yet to be contented with our growth in decentralization, despite of the evident
transformations and implementations of policies to disseminate liberal powers.
This study aims to determine whether Davao City's governance contributes to
development in terms of improved standards of living on top of growth factors in
decentralization to the national government. Considering that Davao is the “Fruit Basket of the
Philippines”, known for its rich agricultural industries, this amplifies the significance of
assessing the effects of decentralization in the region. The influence of Davao to the overall
growth of our country will also be studied through in-depth analysis, together with the
advancements and disadvantages of the city in relation to decentralization. It responds to the
following questions in particular: How does the city practice governance? Has the quality of
local governance improved under decentralization? If so, has it led to local development?
Considering that Davao City is one of the safest places to visit in our country, has the standard of
living increased for the households as an outcome of what they practiced? What factors affect
shifts in the constituency of Davao City's history of patterned leaders? And what suggestions for
policies would be most effective to strengthen its local government?
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Influence and Development under Decentralization
Decentralization gives elected officials from local governments the capability to make
decisions that are more conducive to the distinctive needs and demands of their communities by
transferring authority and resources from the central government to local levels. Since local
governments tend to be more knowledgeable about specific opportunities and problems within
their respective areas, localized decision-making process frequently ends in more effective and
efficient public service outline. On top of that, it has been highlighted that decentralization
boosts public confidence in local governments because people view local representatives as more
attentive to their demands and accountable than central government officials. By cultivating
more citizen involvement and community-government cooperation, this growing trust may
reinforce democratic governance even more. Likewise, it may stimulate innovation in public
services through allowing local governments the freedom to venture out fresh concepts and
modify solutions for specific local situations. Financial decentralization, for example, permits
local governments to generate revenues of their own which can be invested in infrastructure,
social services, and projects for community development, all of which positively impact local
economic growth and higher living standards. Decentralization holds significance considering
that it could contribute to a more accountable, responsive, and participatory administration that
eventually benefits local communities.
In the case of the Philippines, there is concrete evidence linking development to high-
quality governance. This is mainly because local budgetary autonomy and governance
procedures are further strengthened by provisions found in both the Local Government Codes of
1983 and 1991. Both Codes demand LGUs to be responsible, transparent, and inclusive in their
processes and procedures in order to guarantee that they become effective with their enlarged
financial powers and resources. Additionally, both Codes support other legislation that fosters
good governance in the public sector. In principle, decentralization should lead to development.
Having a partial independency in terms of governance, revenues and resources, and policies,
shall create an impact to the betterment of a local area.
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Structure of City Government of Davao
The departments and agencies of the City Government of Davao are organized into
clusters that collaborate in concentrating on the initiatives launched by the city. The clusters that
follow are listed below:
A. Economic Development - This cluster is in charge of cultivating Davao City's economic
progresses. This includes developments and investment promotions in, industry and
trade, tourism, agriculture and fisheries, and small and medium enterprise (SME).
B. Fiscal Management - This cluster carries out the city government's administration and
financial management. It has the responsibility of budgeting and appropriations, revenue
generation and collection, accounting and auditing, treasury operations, and lastly, debt
management.
C. Infrastructure - Where infrastructure of the city is planned, developed, and maintained.
This involves road and bridge construction and maintenance, water supply and sanitation,
solid waste management, urban planning and development, and housing and resettlement
programs.
D. Public Administration - The department is in control of the city government's overall
administration and governance such as legal services, records management, procurement
and supply chain management, information and communication technology, and human
resource management.
E. Social Service – The agency primarily accountable for providing social services and
programs to city residents. The goal of this strategy is to guarantee that the needs of the
people of Davao City are satisfied while also increasing administrative efficiency.
In line with devolution, the City of Davao and its parliament are in favor with this notion. In
fact, there is an issuance of executive order creating the devolution transition committee, as
100% of Davao region’s LGUs submit Devolution Transition Plans, according to National
Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). Frankly, this is already expected since
devolution in local government in Davao may allow the widening of financial control which will
be easier to manage where it expands the bureaucratic authority to the representatives.
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Political Dynasty on Decentralization
During the four election cycles between 2007 and 2016, the proportion of political
dynasties increased, specifically in the elections of House of Representatives (Congress)
members. Most of the members of these influential families have succeeded in securing
prominent positions in the local government, where they are in charge of setting up and carrying
out decentralization reforms.
The Duterte dynasty is expected to continue its hold over Davao City. With a well-
established political dynasty and the backing of the majority of Davaoe1that has only known him
and his family as leaders, Rodrigo Duterte has retired for now. Although, he had served 36
different years in office as: OIC vice mayor from 1986 to 1987, mayor from 1988 to 1998,
representative of the first congressional district from 1998 to 2001; and mayor from 2001 to
2010, vice mayor from 2010 to 2013; mayor from 2013 to 2016, and president from 2016 to
2022. As well as his lineage, Inday Sara ran for Vice President, Rep. Paolo sought reelection as
Representative of the 1st congressional district; and Sebastian ran for mayor, a post held by his
father for 22 years and by his sister for nine years. The Dutertes were proclaimed winners in the
latest elections. This has been the case over decades – the leadership in the executive and
legislative offices of Davao City held by the Dutertes.
This long-faced dilemma has been dismissed by the citizens, even though dynasties pose
a problem when the family controlling the city monopolizes businesses, kills their rivals and in
some cases, engage in the illegal drugs trade. Nevertheless, the residents of Davao could not be
the one to blame as they are under the manipulation that what is happening in their area is the
people’s clamor. To sum it up, political dynasty that is consistently present in Davao has been
affecting the potential growth of the city negatively. The local autonomy has become a legacy –
an inheritance within the family, dissolving the fair distribution of power in a region, which is the
sole objective of decentralization.
Cycles and Denials of Violence in Davao City
Over its long existence, the Philippines has seen periodic waves of the communist
insurgency known as EJK. This pattern has resurfaced in the light of the ongoing drug war,
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which began in 2016. This time, it involves criminal justice. Certain sectors of the public
perceive EJK as a much-needed shortcut for inflicting punishment. They see vigilante justice as
"popular justice," which is "a form of common self-defense against crime that is unregulated by
the state," where people take the law into their own hands and take punishment as they see fit
when authorities and law enforcement agencies are incapable of or unwilling to do their job, as a
quicker alternative to the broken, inefficient, and slow-moving legal system.
During his tenure as Davao City's mayor, Duterte waged a brutal war on drugs, executing
alleged drug pushers and users with the assistance of the "Davao Death Squad" (DDS). That
hasn't, however, appeared to diminish the support Dutertes has been receiving ever since, in
contrast to the "unprecedented" amount of deaths he has caused during his campaign against
illegal drugs. There has been a considerable deal of uncertainty concerning estimates of the
number of extrajudicial killings that occurred after Duterte's election. Officially, police drug
operations resulted in the deaths of 5,500 suspects. Of the 30,000 recorded homicides through
mid-2019, approximately 3,000 were considered to be drug-related homicides by anonymous
perpetrators. However, an independent investigation set the number of drug-related homicides at
50% of all homicides, and many of these were found to have not been officially recorded by the
police at all. With Duterte's execution of EJK as the standard policing norm in Davao, a
local epidemic of violence eventually swept the country.
Even before the former president's son, Mayor Sebastian "Baste" Duterte, announced his
war on illegal drugs, residents of Davao City had already seen rampant bloodshed. Regardless,
this latest statement of the mayor has the potential to escalate the bloodshed. Surveillance by the
Dahas Project of the University of the Philippines' Third World Studies Center indicates that
between July 1, 2022 and March 15, 2024, there were at least 97 drug-related killings in Davao
City. This indicates that since Baste Duterte has assumed office, at least one person has died
every week.
With these statistics gathered, it is arguable to state that the security in Davao has brought
more danger than its purpose to protect the safety of the citizens. The claims of the province as it
is one of the safest places in the Philippines has been debunked by its police forces who were
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manipulating of crime statistics to create a misleading impression of low crime rates in the city.
To protect to image of the city, multiple entries in the city’s record books were either inaccurately
classified as crimes or were marked as “for record only,” indicating that they were entered in the
book solely for documentation and would not be reported as actual crimes. Therefore, the
security in Davao City in general, either you committed a crime or not, is hardly existing as it is
in the palm of the authorities’ abusive hands.
Standard of Living of Davaoeños
According to Official Poverty Statistics of the Philippines, Davao City poverty rate rose
from 6.0% to 21.7% in a span of two years. What happened? The lack of meaningful city
planning and infrastructure projects took a toll in the economic status of the region, leaving most
areas in the city underdeveloped. Regardless of P51 billion allocation for Davao district,
negligence of proper budget planning resorts into poor flooding and traffic management were
experienced recently.
In terms of access to basic amenities, based on DSWD-Field Office Davao, 3 out of 10
households lack access to electricity, totaling exactly 100,746 out of the 333,513 self-identified
poor households. Although there are poverty alleviation programs such as Pantawid Pamilyang
Pilipino Program (4Ps), the beneficiaries still call for help due to insufficient subsidy. Along with
4Ps, poverty reduction strategies like conditional cash transfer (CCT) seem to be ineffective in
Davao, lacking of appropriate implementations and systematic methods of distribution.
Comparable to other Philippine regions, Davao has undergone decentralization, yet there
have also been issues throughout the process, such as problems with corruption and inefficiency.
According to certain studies, decentralization potentially improve the responsiveness of local
governments, nevertheless, it can also instigate illicit activities that often result in abuse of
power.
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II
LITERATURE REVIEW
The study, "The Quality of Local Governance and Development under Decentralization
in the Philippines," examines the connection between local government and growth in the
country following fiscal decentralization in 1991. The study discovered that although
decentralization substantially increased community involvement and brought up certain
improvements in local service delivery, there are regional differences in the caliber of local
governance. The inconsistent development of the region has been aggravated by this unevenness.
The study makes the case that nurturing equitable development in the Philippines calls for better
local governance.
A government viewpoint on the Local Government Code's role in implementing
decentralized democratic governance in the Philippines is given in an article published in 1998
by Brillantes Jr. He talks about how decentralization is important for developing democracy
while strengthening local service delivery. The Local Government Code's salient aspects are
examined in this article, including the delegation of authority and responsibility to local
government units (LGUs). Brillantes Jr. also discusses problems and difficulties that have come
up when the code has been put into practice, like insufficient funding, capacity limitations, and
intergovernmental relations. All things considered, the paper provides insightful information
about the advantages, disadvantages, and future prospects of decentralized government not
only for the City of Davao, but also applicable in the Philippines.
A thorough examination of Davao City, Philippines, city development is given in
Dumayas' 2015 narrative. It looks at what influences businesses' decisions on where to go and
how regional policies affect how a city grows. In order to draw investments and promote
economic development, the study emphasizes the significance of developing human capital,
infrastructure, and a favorable business climate. Dumayas also talks about Davao City's
problems, like its lack of resources and rivalry with other developing cities. All things
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considered, the paper provides insightful information about the dynamics of urban development
in building nations and the essential duty that efficient regional policies play in promoting
sustainable growth.
III
CONCLUSION
The study argues that the poor state and quality of local public services, that stem to
ineffective local governance processes, are partially to blame for the slow regional development
during the past two decades or so. Due to the absence of compliance with the mandatory creation
of local consultative agencies and the implementation of other governance components of the
Local Government Code of 1991, the overall effectiveness of local government is mediocre.
However, the analysis is constrained by the lack of sufficient data. Official statistics on
development indicators, government outputs and processes necessary to measure the quality of
local governance are not uniformly available. These data constraints therefore make it difficult to
measure local governance quality and tease out its direct development payoffs, amidst changes in
national governance and policies and other socioeconomic factors that likewise influenced the
pace of regional development during the last previous years.
Nonetheless, Davao City indeed contributes in the economy of the Philippines in line with
agribusiness, so maybe they should prioritize the enhancement of their agricultural strategy,
utilize their natural resources, and formulate programs and policies to prosper the support for the
workers involved, especially the farmers. In terms of the standard of living in the area, in a
perspective of non-resident of Davao, transparency on their crime records would not discourage
tourists to visit the place, rather it could impose integrity that might persuade and capture the
interest of Filipino and foreign visitors.
This paper also proves that the City of Davao has chosen to favor devolution in local
governance as their advantage wherein the government officials and agency can freely control
9
the money allotted for the city with devolution. It has affected the city government’s
independence, yet it has been also another way to operate illegal agendas and exploit the given
power of devolution.
References:
Adriano, M. N. I. (2014). Quality of governance and local development: The case of top nine
performing local government units in the Philippines. Asia Pacific Journal of Multidisciplinary
Research| Vol, 2(4).
Ayuste-Bastian, J. (2018). PEOPLE’S ROLE IN PROMOTING TRANSPARENCY IN LOCAL
GOVERNANCE LEVERAGED BY SIAD IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF NEW CORELLA,
DAVAO PROVINCE, MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES, 14(2), 88-101.
Brillantes Jr, A. B. (1998). Decentralized democratic governance under the local government
code: a governmental perspective.
Capuno, J. J. (2005). The quality of local governance and development under decentralization in
the Philippines (No. 2005, 06). UPSE discussion paper.
Capuno, J. J. (2010). Leadership and innovation under decentralization: A case study of selected
local governments in the Philippines (No. 2010, 10). UPSE Discussion Paper.
Dumayas, A. D. R. (2015). City Development in Emerging Economies: The Case of Davao City
in the Philippines. Firms’ Location Selections and Regional Policy in the Global Economy, 267-
280.
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https://www.omct.org/en/resources/urgent-interventions/extrajudicial-killings-and-attacks-
against-human-rights-defenders-surge-under-duterte
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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
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