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| February 14, 2007 By Roderick T. de la Cruz Manila Standard Today |
The government's chief statistician has identified the best performing provinces in the country in terms of political and economic governance. Secretary-General Romulo Virola of the National Statistical Coordination Board said these data can help voters discriminate and discern the good candidates from the bad and the dirty. "Statistical agencies can and should get involved in the measurement of democracy, human rights and governance. This is a challenge that official statisticians must address if we want to be relevant to society and respond to the aspirations of our people," Virola said. In guiding the voters, Virola presented a paper titled 'The Best and Worst Provinces in the Philippines: What Happened to their Leaders in the 2004 Elections?' The paper used a governance framework developed by the NSCB in 1998 which combines economic governance and administrative governance. Economic governance is measured in terms of the following indicators: per capita financial resources generated, per capita tax and non-tax revenue, per capita bank deposits, per capita expenditure on social services, unemployment and underemployment rates, poverty incidence and poverty gap. Administrative governance is measured in terms of the following: total health personnel per thousand population, percentage of live births weighing less than 250 grams, proportion of households with access to safe water, teacher to pupil ratio for elementary schools, number of elementary schools per thousand population, enrollment in government elementary schools per thousand population, cohort survival rate in elementary education, percentage of housing made of strong roofs, percentage of housing made of strong walls, length of national and local roads per thousand population, proportion of energized barangays and telephone density. Virola said that based on the NSCB Good Governance Index, the 10 best provinces in 2003 were Batanes, Rizal, Laguna, Bulacan, Cavite, Bataan, Benguet, Siquijor, Apayao and Pampanga. The 10 most improved provinces, in terms of their economic and administrative governance between 2000 and 2003, were Siquijor, Northern Samar, Oriental Mindoro, Agusan del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Bukidnon, Aklan, Surigao del Norte, Eastern Samar and Basilan. Five provinces are in Mindanao, four in Visayas and one in Luzon. "Congratulations to these provinces and to their leaders! Those not on the list, bato-bato sa langit, tamaan ay 'wag magagalit, grab every chance to catch up and improve," Virola said. But the NSCB chief said that based on the Voters' Index, candidates whose provinces do well are most likely to be re-elected. But candidates whose provinces do badly in the good governance index get re-elected just the same. "Good governance is the responsibility of the governed as much as it is of the governors," he said. "Pinoy voters have not matured... we cannot and should not complain when our leaders desert us in our search for a better quality of life. We get what we deserve, don't we?" _________________________ Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. - George Bernard Shaw ____________________________ The study, 'The Best and Worst Provinces in the Philippines: What Happened To Their Leaders in the 2004 Elections,' by Romulo A. Virola (NSCB Secretary-General), Severa B. de Costo, Joseph M. Addawe and Leonor G. Reyes was presented in a plenary session of the triennial National Convention on Statistics (NCS). In the 10 best provinces that include Batanes, 8 of their leaders were either re-elected or ran and won for congressman or a spouse won in 2004. Comparing performances in 2000 and 2002, the 10 most improved provinces were Aklan, Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Compostela Valley, Bohol,, South Cotabato,, Negros Occidental, Leyte, Sorsogon and Northern Samar. All governors (and/or their relatives) of these provinces either ran for re-election or for Congressman and won. However, 8 of the leaders of the 10 worst provinces (Masbate, Sulu, Maguindanao, Romblon, Northern Samar, Surigao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Sultan Kudarat, Camarines Norte and Sorsogon) still got re-elected. In the 10 worst-performing provinces (Kalinga, Maguindanao, Mt.Province, Ifugao, Abra, Lanao del Norte, Sulu, Capiz, Albay and North Cotabato), 5 were re-elected and 5 (or their relatives) lost. Worst performing means that their GGI deteriorated from 2000 to 2002. The NSCB's GGI covered three types of governance: economic, political and administrative. Economic governance indicators included sustainable management of resources (per capita financial resources, per capita revenue, per capita total deposits, per capita expenditure on social services, and unemployment and underemployment rates), and enhanced government responsiveness to the poor (poverty incidence and poverty gap). The indicator used for political governance was improved internal and external security (crime solution efficiency rate). The NSCB wanted to include law enforcement and administration of justice, and elimination of graft and corruption as political governance indicators but there were no data available. Indicators for administrative governance included enhanced delivery of services (teacher-pupil ratio, number of public and private elementary schools per 1,000 population, total enrolment in government elementary schools per 1,000 population, health personnel per 10,000 population, live births less than 250 grams per 1,000 births, length of national and local roads per 1,000 population, and percentages of households with access to safe water, housing made of strong roofs, housing made of strong walls, and energized barangays) and expanded use of information technology. Improved transparency and accountability, and continuous building of capacities were considered as part of administrative governance but there were no data available. |
| Know the good bets from the bad ones Nacha'ngay du Nanun'ma u Vatan ___________________ |
| NSCB chief said that based on the GGI (Good Governance Index) , the 10 best provinces in 2003 were Batanes, Rizal, Laguna, Bulacan, Cavite, Bataan, Benguet, Siquijor, Apayao and Pampanga. ___________________ |
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