Good afternoon, Co-Masters.

Our topic for today is about public policy and the policy-making
process.

So in the introduction, it was stated by the 1987 constitution Art. 2 Sec. 1, “The Philippines
democratic and republican State. Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority
emanates from them.” is we have this picture on the citizens who would vote for the political
leaders of their country or state. These citizens are the ones who would again put their political
leaders to whom they would forward their interests or concerns. The political leaders, the
politicians, are the ones who would represent the citizens' interests. They are the ones who would
lobby for them in the legislature, for example, in Congress and the Senate, and the politicians are
the ones who would formulate laws or policies with regard to the interests of the citizens who
voted for them. And whatever the law or policy the politician has crafted for the citizens would
eventually be in the hands of the bureaucrats. The bureaucrats, or those in government agencies,
are the ones who would implement the policies. Then, this would be monitored. Whatever the
implementation of our bureaucrats or government servants, they would be monitored through a
feedback mechanism. It would then go to the citizens who would also be part of those people
who would evaluate the actions of our government servants, our government, and then the cycle
would go on.

But in reality, the public policy process rarely follows this orderly pattern, which I showed you
earlier, because sometimes there would be instances that, instead of soliciting or having
consultation with the citizens or the constituents, politicians would craft their own laws or
policies based on their agenda. This would then be translated to some sort of policies by the
government agencies. That's why we don't have this orderly pattern as usual or at all times.

Carrying out the policy of the state is the responsibility of public administration. Hence, the ends
of public administration are the ultimate objectives of the state itself. The role of public
administration in designing the country's policies depends primarily on the nature of the
objectives being pursued and the social conditions prevailing at the moment.

So, what then is policy? There's this definition of policy. When you talk of policy, it refers to
laws, regulation, procedure, administrative action, incentive, voluntary practice of governments
and other institutions. I’m also referring to those private institutions or companies. They also
have their own sets of policies for their own benefit or for the benefit of their company or their
people.

Before anything else, let’s define policy first.

Policy is a plan of action adopted by an individual or social group. It is a written contract or

certificate of insurance. You should always read the small print of your policy.

Policy can also mean a plan or course of action—as in government, political party, or business
—intended to influence and determine decisions, actions, and other matters. Policies are general
statements of undertakings which guide our thinking and actions in decision-making.
Another meaning of policy is that it is both a process and a product. It refers to the decision-
making process and the resulting decisions or outcomes. Policy can also be seen as an output,
such as the actual delivery of goods and services by the government—like in education, health,
or agriculture.

Policies are predetermined decision rules applicable to a range of managerial decisions and
actions. They can be understood as political, financial, and administrative mechanisms arranged
to reach explicit goals. Policy encourages discretion and initiative within certain boundaries.
That is according to Harold Lasswell.

Now, what about public policy?

Public policy is an attempt by the government to address a public issue. It includes principles
and standards regarded by legislatures or courts as fundamental concerns of the state and society.
It is a course of action—or inaction—taken by government entities concerning a particular issue
or set of issues.

In any society, governmental entities enact laws, make policies, and allocate resources at all
levels. Public policy can generally be defined as a system of laws, regulatory measures,
courses of action, and funding priorities concerning a specific topic, as decided by a
governmental body or its representative.

Public policy is often embodied in constitutions, legislative acts, and judicial decisions. It may
also come from executive orders, bureaucratic regulations, or local ordinances—from the
province, city, municipality, or barangay. It is also considered an academic discipline and is
studied in public policy schools of major universities.

In essence, public policy is the legal framework within which society operates. It is a
composite of government decisions and programs implemented to achieve goals. It involves
formulating and promoting programs based on principles. It’s a rule of action that clarifies goals
and values and prescribes how to achieve them.

Public policy is what the government chooses to do—or not to do. It reflects the relationship
between government units, a specific field, and the political environment in a given
administrative system.

Public policy can be positive or negative. Positively, it reflects government concern and action
on a particular problem. Negatively, it may involve a decision not to act on a particular issue.

So, why do we study public policy? Each one of us already gave their insights on this. How
relevant is it to our daily lives? We have here some reasons why we need to study public policy.
Because we are affected by the action or inaction of the government. Just imagine our
government not enforcing traffic laws. There would be chaos in our traffic. There would be
traffic jams all over, and then all of us would be late in going to school or going to work. Or we
would not have garbage collectors who would collect our garbage or trash every day. Then we
would have rats or really bad or foul smells all over if we don't have these garbage collectors
doing their daily jobs or weekly jobs to collect our garbage. So, just imagine that one. Imagine
the inaction of the government. We would have chaos, we would have problems.

Another reason is for scientific inquiry. It's for us to understand the factors that affect the
government's decision-making. So, we are talking about the behavior of political and policy
actors. They are the ones who would give some advice or insights. These are actually people, the
learned ones, who would craft, for example, theories relative to public policy so that our
decision-makers would have a clear understanding of where they are going. They have the basis,
a theoretical basis or conceptual basis, for their decisions. So, for scientific inquiry.

Let’s now talk about the characteristics of public policy:

 It has a purpose and is goal-oriented.

 It is made by public authorities.
 It consists of patterns of action taken over time.
 It is a response to public demand.
 It is government-directed.
 It can be positive or negative.

Now, the aims of public policy include:

 Reconciling conflicting claims.

 Distributing scarce resources.
 Encouraging cooperation that wouldn’t happen without government influence.
 Prohibiting morally unacceptable behavior.
 Protecting individual rights.
 Providing direct benefits to citizens.

Let’s discuss the nature and scope of public policy:

 It is the authoritative allocation of values for a society.

 It determines who gets what, when, where, and how.
 It defines what the government chooses to do or not to do.
 It establishes the boundaries of freedoms and influences social, political, and economic
interactions.

What about the importance of studying public policy?

 It informs learners about what public policies are and how they are made.
 It explains the politics involved in policy formulation.
 It introduces theoretical models for policy analysis.
 It shows the impact of policies on citizens.
Public policy plays a vital role in society. It helps reveal the intentions of government for
specific sectors. The public can measure government achievements through policy. It also
enables a scientific understanding of cause-and-effect relationships in society.

Some public policy areas include:

 Education policy
 Social welfare policy
 Health care policy
 Criminal justice policy
 Social policy
 Economic policy
 Environmental policy
 Energy policy

Let’s move on to the approaches to public policy:

1. Analytic policy approach: Focuses on individual problems and solutions. Its scope is
micro, and its interpretation is usually technical.
2. Policy process approach: Focuses on political processes and stakeholder involvement.
Its scope is meso, and its interpretation is political.
3. Meta-policy approach: A systems and context approach. Its scope is macro, and its
interpretation is structural.

Now let’s talk about public policy in the Philippines.

There are several institutions involved in policy-making:

 NEDA (National Economic Development Authority) – socio-economic policies

 NSC (National Security Council) – security and defense
 LEDAC (Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council) – legislative agenda
 MMDA (Metro Manila Development Authority) – local concerns and basic services

Of these, NEDA has the most defined mandate and permanent structure.

Who are the stakeholders in Philippine public policy?

 Executive branch
 Political parties
 Legislative branch
 Citizens
 Judicial branch
 Media
 Local governments (LGUs)
 Interest groups
 Political consultants
There are three parts to public policy making: problem, player, and policy. Problem is the issue
that needs to be addressed, which is why you have to propose or create a policy. Players are
individuals or groups that influence the formation of the plan to address the issue, including the
executive branch or legislative. Policy is the finalized course of action decided upon by the
government, widely open to interpretation by the NGO players or non-governmental
organizations and the private sector, including church and cultural institutions.

The policy-making process involves actions taken by public officials and public institutions to
meet the challenge of real-world issues. Public policy can differ based on political affiliation or
the type of challenge under consideration. Officials create public policy in response to a problem
and involve what the government will do to address the issue. Public policy can take the form of
a new law, a city ordinance, or a government regulation.

The main idea of creating policy is to improve life for members of the public. Goal-oriented or
problem-based policies aim to move the public closer to a desired state or public goal. Even if
the ideas come from outside government, the creation of policy falls to public officials.

Okay, we have here stages of the policy process. So, we have five stages of the policy process.

Harold Lasswell, an important figure in the development of policy sciences at the University of
Chicago and Yale University in the 1950s, created a policy-making model that is still used today.
It contains five distinct steps or stages, according to the International Encyclopedia of the Social
and Behavioral Sciences.

In the first stage, we have agenda setting or identification of issues and problems. A problem or
challenge that impacts the public is initially identified. No solutions are put forward by interested
parties both inside and outside of the government.

Typically, agenda setting classifies this as the "json" agenda setting. We have a systemic agenda,
in which all issues public officials feel are worth addressing are listed. We have an institutional
agenda, which is distilled from the systemic agenda, where these issues are chosen as the ones
policymakers should analyze and consider acting on. Then we have what we call a discretionary
agenda. This list comes directly from lawmakers, not from the systemic and institutional
agendas.

Then we have the decision agenda. This is the final list of issues that policymakers will consider
for action. They can identify issues that publicize demands for government action, which can
lead to the identification of policy problems. Attention that prompts the need for government
action on certain problems is viewed as needing action while others are postponed. Competing
claims and prioritization can gain or decline in prominence over time.

Many people contribute to the identification of issues and problems, such as the president,
members of Congress, executive branch officials, political parties, interest groups, media, and
the general public in shaping public opinion.
Next is policy formulation. This is the second stage of the policy process. Policy formulation
involves the development of policy options within the government. This occurs after officials
narrow the range of possible policy choices by excluding infeasible options. In this step, different
interested parties attempt to have their favorite policy solution rank high among the remaining
options. The step often involves a period of intense debate.

Policy proposals can be formulated through political channels by policy planning organizations,
interest groups, government bureaucracies, state legislatures, the president, and Congress. During
this stage, several alternatives are considered.

The next stage is policy adoption or legitimization. In this step, government leaders decide on a
particular course of action, ideally the course that will best address the problem for the most
members of the public. Then policy is legitimized as a result of the public statements or actions
of government officials, both elected and appointed, such as the president, Congress, state
legislators, agency officials, and even the courts. This includes executive orders, budgets, laws
and appropriations, rules and regulations, and administrative and court decisions that set policy
directions.

After policy adoption or legitimization, we move to policy implementation. In this step of the
policy-making process, governments put the chosen public policy option into effect. To
implement it, officials use the tools of public administration that impact the distribution of
government goods and services or make changes in how the government interacts with the
public.

The changes should reflect the sentiments and values of the affected parties. Policy
implementation includes all the activities that result from the official adoption of a policy. This is
what happens after a law is passed. However, we should never assume that the passage of a law
is the end of the policy-making process. Sometimes, laws are passed, and nothing happens in
terms of actual implementation.

The last stage is policy assessment or evaluation. Both within and outside the government,
monitoring the impact of the policy helps determine if it is achieving the intended goal. This can
lead to further changes in public policy based on the impact of the original policies.

In reality, the policy-making process is not typically so linear. However, these five steps provide
a framework to better understand public policy formation and help students like you identify the
strengths and weaknesses of the system.

There are reasons why we formulate, make, or pass such policies. Policy implementation on the
stage provides data. Policies can be influenced by new developments and emerging issues in the
local and international economies or by shifts in the policy emphasis of the administration.

Policies actually can present challenges in assessing policies. The kind of factors may need to be
taken into consideration. Policies can be difficult to assess; it's really difficult to assess some
policies that aim to accomplish broad conceptual goals that are subject to different
interpretations.
For example, healthy air quality can be difficult to define in ways that will be universally
accepted. Policies may also contain multiple objectives that may not be compatible. Some
policies may also contain multiple objectives that may not be compatible, as in the case of the
1919 Telecommunications Act, where the objectives of creating jobs and reducing cable rates
may conflict. If sufficient amounts of revenues are not generated, companies must either cut jobs
to maintain low rates or must raise rates to create more jobs.

Policies with compatible objectives can still be difficult to evaluate when only a few of the
objectives are accomplished. One person may deem the policy successful for accomplishing
some of the objectives well, while another may deem the policy unsuccessful for not
accomplishing all of the objectives.

Now, let's talk about types of policies. First, we have regulatory policy, which is designed to
limit the actions of persons or groups to protect the general public or a substantial portion of the
public. Examples include the Fire Code of the Philippines, the Sanitation Code of the
Philippines, and the Consumer Act of the Philippines. Among the more important national
regulatory agencies are the Bureau of Fire Protection, the Department of Trade and Industry, the
Securities and Exchange Commission, the FDA, and the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources.

Next, we have distributive policy, which is the most common form of government policy. It uses
taxes or tax revenues to provide benefits to individuals or groups by means of grants or
subsidies. These policies are meant for specific segments of society and include all public
assistance and welfare programs. Examples include adult education programs, food relief, social
insurance, employability, and more.

Then, we have redistributive policy, which takes taxes from certain groups and gives them to
another group. This includes income stabilization to support the unemployed or retired, social
welfare providing direct payments to indigents, and health care programs like PhilHealth.

An example of this is the requirement for college students to have insurance for limited face-to-
face classes, particularly since the pandemic. PhilHealth can be applied for by students through a
certificate of indigency.

Now, what are the differences between regulatory, distributive, and redistributive policies?
Distributive policies collect from the many and benefit a few, while regulatory policies focus on
one group while benefiting society at large. Redistributive policies share the wealth and income
of some groups with others.

Thank you for listening, and I will upload this to our model for you to view at your convenience.
Thank you, and God bless!