Overview

Editors:

• Teresa S. Encarnacion Tadem⁰,
• Maria Ela L. Atienza¹

1. Teresa S. Encarnacion Tadem

   1. Department of Political Science, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines
      

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2. Maria Ela L. Atienza

   1. Department of Political Science, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines
      

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This book contributes to efforts in furthering the democratization and development processes in the Philippines by examining the decentralization efforts in Metro Manila. It explores existing as well as proposed development models for governance with focus on the effective and efficient delivery of social services, bringing forth growth with equity through development efforts, and addressing national-local concerns to promote political and socio-economic stability in the country. In doing so, the book examines the strong and weak governance points in the National Capital Region of the Philippines, and identifies areas for reform.

• Decentralization in the Philippines
• Empowering local governance in the Philippines
• Multidisciplinary views of decentralization in the Philippines
• Current debates on devolving power in the Philippines
• Development, equity and decentralization in the Philippines
• The state of social services delivery in the Philippines
• Urban development in the Philippines
• Local-national relations in the Philippines
• Regionalism and metropolitanization
• Metro Manila
• Alternative models of governance in the Philippines
• Decentralization experiments in the Philippines
• Decentralization challenges in the Philippines

"This book edited by Teresa Encarnacion Tadem and Maria Ela Atienza is very timely. It sheds light to one of the burning issues of our time, a better Metro Manila within the context of local governance, decentralization and equitable development  

Indeed, the search forappropriatepolitico-administrative institutions for Metro Manila — then known as the Greater Manila Area (GMA) — continues to this day even after half a century of existence. Metro Manila’s experience is an excellent study of how institutions continue to evolve given the challenges of metropolitanization and rapid urbanization. These range from rapid population growth, pollution, flood control, traffic, housing, urban decay, solid waste management, etc. The imperatives of robust inter-local cooperation among the component local governments, and clear lines of authority and responsibility  — vertical and horizontal — are indispensable if metropolitan institutions are to be responsive. Similar concerns have been addressed by metropolitan institutions in Jakarta, Bangkok, Seoul and Tokyo. A continuing concern over the decades is the debate whether Metro Manila should evolve into a local government similar to its counterparts in the region.

This book is a must reading for public administration and governance scholars and practitioners who want to understand the Philippine experience on metropolitan governance not only in the Philippines but in Asia as well. (--Alex Brillantes, Jr., PhD, Professor and former Dean, National College of Public Administration and Governance, University of the Philippines Diliman)"

"As Tadem and Atienza convincingly assert, the framework of decentralized local governance in the Philippines is at a crossroads. Urban governance presents particularly daunting challenges, and nowhere more so than in the megalopolis of Metro Manila. When the Local Government Code was passed in 1991, the Philippines’ urban population totalled roughly 30 million persons; today it is some 53 million. Since the Metro Manila Development Authority was created in 1995, the population over which it watches has grown by roughly 50% (to some 14 million persons).

Across the chapters of this landmark volume, the authors present innovative and timely reform proposals across a range of policy realms: health, education, housing, water service and water supply, flood mitigation and disaster risk management, solid waste management, urban farming and land use planning, and revenue generation. This volume thus offers a critical first step toward “a better Metro Manila” as it provides policy guidance toward the goal of more responsible local governance and more equitable development outcomes. There are, literally, at least fourteen million reasons why the conclusions of the book should be closely heeded. (--Paul D. Hutchcroft, Professor of Political Science and Social Change, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University)"

• Department of Political Science, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines

  Teresa S. Encarnacion Tadem, Maria Ela L. Atienza

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