Welcome to the Philippines !

Country Repor

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The Philippines & its Basic Facts…………

Republika ng PilipinasRepublic of the Philippines

                                                      

Flag Coat of arms

Motto: Filipino: For God, People, Nature & CountryAnthem: Luoang Hinirang (Chosen Land)Capital: ManilaLargest City: Quezon CityOfficial Language: Filipino and English

Government: Unitary-Presidential Republic President: Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Vice President: Noli de CastroIndependence: from Spain and US Declared: June 12, 1898 Recognized: July 4, 1946 Current Constitution: March 25, 1986Area: Total: 300,000 km2 115,831 sq mi Water: 0.6%Population: July 2005 est.: 83,054,000 (13th) 2000 census: 76,504,077 Density: 276/km2 715/sq miGDP (PPP) : 2005 estimate Total: $ 453 billion (25th) Per Capita: $ 4,923 (102nd)HDI (2203): 0.758 (84TH) – MediumCurrency: Philippine peso (piso) (PHP)Time Zone: PST (UTC+8)Internet: .phCalling Code: +63

Brief Introduction to my organization

My organization is part of an agency of the government

which is called the Department of Interior and Local

Government (DILG). It is the Local Government Sector. We

are task to undertake the delegated supervisory function of

the President over local government units, as embodied in

Executive Order 339 and RA 7160 or the Local Government

Code of the Philippines.

The head of the organization is the Secretary of the Interior

& Local Government, ably supported by Undersecretaries

and Assistant Secretaries.

There is an extensive organizational field operation as there

are established Regional Offices under which we have

Provincial Offices which subsequently supervises the

Municipal Offices. All these level of operation are manned

by Regional as well as field officers and organic personnel.

So it is assured the our function is saturated in all levels of

local government clientele.

The DILG organizational structure and tasks focus on

seeing to it the local government administration is carried

out in accordance with government rules, laws and

regulations to render better government service.

Present status & future prospects of the urban & regional development & management in home country

• Government policy and legal framework regarding urban and regional development

The Philippine Government observes the democratic

approach to development, whether urban or regional.

Being a democratic country, development planning is

done through consultation. There is the hierarchy of

Development Councils created at all levels, namely:

•The National Development Council

•The Regional Development Council

•The Provincial Development Council

•The Municipal Development Council

•The Barangay Development Council

Development plans are brainstormed at the Barangay

Development Council, in the context that development needs

should be best determined by the people themselves in the

barangays. Hence development efforts to answer these needs

should also emanate from them.

These development plans are then consolidated and

crystallized at the next level of hierarchy of Municipal

Development Council and so forth until the highest level of the

council.

There are a lot of existing laws, legal frameworks and policies

(e.g. Environmental Law, Zoning Laws and Ordinances,

Housing and Land Use Laws, etc.) that supposedly support the

development strategy of the government, however, there

seemed to be the lack of political will to implement these

policies and laws that development efforts of both the national

and local governments are hindered.

• Issues & countermeasures relevant to the topic

There are a lot of issues that affect urban and regional

development policy in the Philippines. These, if not addressed,

will surely affect the future development of the

country, as a whole. General assessment would bear the

following concerns/issues:

• Bloated government red-tape, too much hierarchy of

councils to handle planning and decision making;

• Too much politics in the government, both national and

local;

• Graft and corruption in the government system.

Countermeasures:

• Cut down the hierarchy of councils, reduce red tape.

Create practical levels of Councils to handle

development. Organize and capacitate fewer but

dedicated people to take the responsibility of urban and

regional development

• Politicians, political leaders should not get involved in

urban and regional development policy formulation,

because as always, the politics of patronage will prevail

which is very curtailing to coming up with sound

development policies.

• Graft and corruption should be eradicated, if not,

minimized, in the government system. This is really a

hindrance to any development effort and objective.

Problems that hinder development of work, project, organization and necessary countermeasures against them, and future aspects of organization or vision

There are identified problems and felt needs that hinder

development in the work/project/organization. These

include a). lack of capacity of organic personnel in charge

of urban and regional policy formulation; b). Absence of

professional drive to improve; c). Organic personnel do not

cope up with global competitiveness; d). Politics in the

organization; e). Deficient support or incentives to

workforce.

As it is, necessary countermeasures should be undertaken

to address these problems/issues, viz: a). Capacitate

technical personnel in the aspect of urban and regional

development policy formulation and other related function of

the organization focused on; b). Update professional

environment and technologies, provide career exposures to

technical personnel; c). Eradicate politics in the

organization, this is affecting professionalism and

performance; d). Create and implement a program that

would provide appropriate incentives to organic personnel.