Dr. Romulo A. Virola

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EMPOWERING AND CHALLENGING VOTERS THROUGH
GOVERNANCE INDICATORS THE PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCE
By Dr. Romulo A. Virola Secretary
General National Statistical Coordination
Board OECDs 2nd World Forum on Statistics,
Knowledge, and Policy Measuring and Fostering
the Progress of Societies The Construction and
Use of Indicator Sets Lessons to Build Modern
Democracies Istanbul, Turkey 27-30 June 2007
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OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION

• Introduction
• Philippine Experience Good Governance Index
  (GGI)
• Lessons Learned
• Concluding Remarks/Future Directions

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I. INTRODUCTION
EXISTING INDICATOR SETS TO MEASURE PROGRESS

• Internationally
• National Accounts (GDP/GNP(GNI))
• Human Development Index (HDI)
• Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
• Global Competitiveness Index (GCI)
• Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)
• Gross National Happiness Index (GNH)

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I. INTRODUCTION
EXISTING INDICATOR SETS TO MEASURE PROGRESS

• in the Philippines
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP) / Gross Regional
  Domestic Product (GRDP) / Provincial Product
  Accounts (PPA)
• Provincial Human Development Index
• Localized Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
• Countryside in Figures
• Good Governance Index (GGI)

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I. INTRODUCTION
LIMITATIONS OF EXISTING INDICATOR SETS TO MEASURE
PROGRESS

• Data support constraints
• Regularity and timeliness of generation
• Indexing and Methodological issues
• Consistency with country priorities
• Policy and program relevance

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I. INTRODUCTION
THE INDICATOR SETS LANDSCAPE

• Proliferation of initiatives and will continue to
  proliferate
• They have limitations
• But they have their uses they contribute to
  public debate
• Most are done outside of the national statistical
  systems

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I. INTRODUCTION
INVOLVEMENT OF NATIONAL STATISTICAL AGENCIES IN
BUILDING INDICATOR SETS TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC
PROCESSES (MEASURING OVERNANCE)
SOME REALITIES

• Mindset among official statisticians to do only
  the traditional functions of statistical offices
• Apprehension/anxiety/fears of statistical
  agencies to produce and disseminate data on
  democracy, human rights and governance
• Lack of conceptual knowledge of DHRG among
  statisticians

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I. INTRODUCTION
INVOLVEMENT OF NATIONAL STATISTICAL AGENCIES IN
BUILDING INDICATOR SETS TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC
PROCESSES (MEASURING OVERNANCE)
SOME REALITIES

• Lack of statistical capacity of DHRG institutions
  to generate high quality statistics
• Disconnected efforts among various stakeholders
  including civil society the academe
• Offer opportunities to mainstream statistics in
  policy formulation and decision-making to enhance
  relevance of statistics to society

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I. INTRODUCTION
INVOLVEMENT OF NATIONAL STATISTICAL AGENCIES IN
BUILDING INDICATOR SETS TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC
PROCESSES (MEASURING OVERNANCE)

• INSPIRATION FROM METAGORA
• Implemented under the auspices of PARIS21 (an
  OECD-hosted North/South consortium to foster more
  effective dialogue between producers and users of
  statistics on development issues)
• METAGORA intends to measure good governance in
  the context of human rights and democracy
• Implemented by 7 partner organizations around the
  world

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I. INTRODUCTION
INVOLVEMENT OF NATIONAL STATISTICAL AGENCIES IN
BUILDING INDICATOR SETS TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC
PROCESSES (MEASURING OVERNANCE)

• INSPIRATION FROM METAGORA
• In the Philippines A pilot survey on the rights
  of indigenous peoples with focus on rights to
  ancestral domain implemented by the CHR in
  cooperation with the NCIP, the statistical
  agencies and research community
• National statistical agencies can and should be
  actively involved in the measurement of
  democracy, human rights and governance in the
  construction and use of indicator sets to
  strengthen democratic processes

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I. INTRODUCTION
INVOLVEMENT OF NATIONAL STATISTICAL AGENCIES IN
BUILDING INDICATOR SETS TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC
PROCESSES (MEASURING OVERNANCE)

• Involvement of NSCB
• Development of a Conceptual Framework for the
  Survey of the Philippine Governance Indicator
  Users (NSCB-NCPAG Project) under the UNDP
  Pro-poor and Gender-Sensitive Democratic
  Governance Indicators for Policy Reform
• Tracking Governance Reforms NSCB Development of
  Statistical Framework and Indicator System -
  aims to monitor and evaluate governance reform
  initiatives

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I. INTRODUCTION
INVOLVEMENT OF NATIONAL STATISTICAL AGENCIES IN
BUILDING INDICATOR SETS TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC
PROCESSES (MEASURING OVERNANCE)

• Involvement of NSCB
• NSCB Countryside in Figures ranks provinces in
  various aspects of governance but no overall
  ranking
• Good Governance Index (GGI)

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I. INTRODUCTION
INVOLVEMENT OF NATIONAL STATISTICAL AGENCIES IN
BUILDING INDICATOR SETS TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC
PROCESSES (MEASURING OVERNANCE)

• Construction of Useful Indicator Sets
  Considerations
• Indicators are policy relevant with wide
  application
• Indicators are understandable and comparable
• Combine top-down bottom-up approaches to
  enhance ownership
• Use both quantitative and qualitative data

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I. INTRODUCTION
INVOLVEMENT OF NATIONAL STATISTICAL AGENCIES IN
BUILDING INDICATOR SETS TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC
PROCESSES (MEASURING OVERNANCE)

• Construction of Useful Indicator Sets
  Considerations
• Construction is participatory and transparent
  with wide consultation
• Indicators have timely data support
• Indicators should be regularly monitored
• Capacity building for both producers and users of
  indicator sets

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I. INTRODUCTION
INVOLVEMENT OF NATIONAL STATISTICAL AGENCIES IN
BUILDING INDICATOR SETS TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC
PROCESSES (MEASURING OVERNANCE)

• Construction of Useful Indicator Sets
  Considerations
• The power of statistics lies not so much in its
  capacity to tell stories about yesterday and
  today as in its use to shape and influence the
  stories that will be told tomorrow!

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II. Philippine Experience Good Governance Index
(GGI)
THE PROVINCIAL GOOD GOVERNANCE INDEX (GGI)

• Provincial Good Governance Index aims to
  provide information on the performance of the
  local chief executives in the hope of guiding the
  voters in selecting their leaders during
  elections

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II. Philippine Experience Good Governance Index
(GGI)
GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK

• Uses the framework developed by NSCB in 1998
• Covers 3 aspects of governance
• Economic Governance
• Administrative Governance
• Political Governance

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II. Philippine Experience Good Governance Index
(GGI)
GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK

• Economic Governance
• Sustainable Management of Resources
• Enhanced Government Responsiveness to the Poor

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II. Philippine Experience Good Governance Index
(GGI)
GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK

• Administrative Governance
• Efficiency in the delivery of services
• Improved transparency and accountability
• Continuous building of capabilities
• Expanded use of ICT

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II. Philippine Experience Good Governance Index
(GGI)
GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK

• Political Governance
• Improvement of security
• Law enforcement and administration of justice
• Elimination of Graft and Corruption

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II. Philippine Experience Good Governance Index
(GGI)
GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK

• Includes 40 indicators for the 3 areas of
  governance
• Includes some MDG indicators

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II. Philippine Experience Good Governance Index
(GGI)

• Improvement of internal and external security
• Law enforcement and Administration of justice
• Elimination of graft and corruption

• Sustainable Management of Resources
• Enhanced Government Responsiveness to the poor

• Efficiency in the delivery of services
• Improved transparency and accountability
• Continuous building of capacities
• Expanded use of ICT

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II. Philippine Experience Good Governance Index
(GGI)
METHODOLOGY FOR COMPUTING GGI

• GGI is the unweighted arithmetic average of
• Economic Good Governance Index,
• Administrative Good Governance Index
• Political Good Governance Index

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II. Philippine Experience Good Governance Index
(GGI)
METHODOLOGY FOR COMPUTING GGI

• Each subindex of the GGI is the unweighted
  arithmetic average of the corresponding
  sub-sub-indices
• Year 2000 is used as the base year

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II. Philippine Experience Good Governance Index
(GGI)
METHODOLOGY FOR COMPUTING GGI

• For positive indicators, the value of the
  index/subindex is computed by dividing the value
  of the indicator for the province by the value of
  the indicator for the Philippines 2000.
• For negative indicators, the index for a
  province is obtained by dividing the value of the
  indicator for the Philippines 2000 by the value
  of the indicator for the province.

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II. Philippine Experience Good Governance Index
(GGI)
METHODOLOGY FOR COMPUTING GGI

• To limit the influence of extreme
  values/indices, limits are set
• 500 for the lowest level,
• 400 at the second level and
• 300 at the third level.

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II. Philippine Experience Good Governance Index
(GGI)
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II. Philippine Experience Good Governance Index
(GGI)
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II. Philippine Experience Good Governance Index
(GGI)
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II. Philippine Experience Good Governance Index
(GGI)

• RANKING OF PROVINCES (AND THEIR GOVERNORS!)

• According to GGI
• The Best (or Worst) Provinces
• According to change (increase/decrease) in GGI
  between beginning and end of the current term
• The Best ( or Worst) Performing Provinces

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II. Philippine Experience Good Governance Index
(GGI)
2004 ELECTIONS 3 OF THE 30 BEST LOST, 25 WON!
(2 DID NOT RUN)
2007 ELECTIONS( Worse Results for
Governance!) 7 OF THE 30 BEST LOST, 18 WON! (1
DID NOT RUN, 4 NO RESULTS YET)
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II. Philippine Experience Good Governance Index
(GGI)
2004 ELECTIONS 4 OF THE 30 BEST PERFORMING
LOST, 24 WON! (2 DID NOT RUN)
2007 ELECTIONS (Worse Results for
Governance!) 7 OF THE 30 BEST PERFORMING LOST,
18 WON! (2 DID NOT RUN, 3 NO RESULTS YET)
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II. Philippine Experience Good Governance Index
(GGI)
2004 ELECTIONS 23 OF THE 30 WORST STILL WON, 7
LOST! (ALL STILL RAN!)
2007 ELECTIONS 19 OUT OF THE 30 WORST STILL
WON, 4 LOST! (28 STILL RAN, 5 NO RESULTS YET)
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II. Philippine Experience Good Governance Index
(GGI)
2004 ELECTIONS 22 OF THE 30 WORST PERFORMING
STILL WON, 7 LOST! (29 STILL RAN!)
2007 ELECTIONS 19 OF THE 30 WORST PERFORMING
STILL WON, 4 LOST! (29 STILL RAN,6 NO RESULTS
YET)
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II. Philippine Experience Good Governance Index
(GGI)

• THE VOTERS INDEX
• Aims to measure the wisdom of the voters in
  selecting candidates
• A rate or grade of 0 or 1 is assigned to a
  province, depending on the results of the
  election and their GGI

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II. Philippine Experience Good Governance Index
(GGI)
Voters Index not very encouraging! Although not
hopeless, has deteriorated between 2004 and 2007!
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III. LESSONS LEARNED

• Increasing interest, nationally and
  internationally, for governance indicators
• Public reaction to involvement of a statistical
  agency (NSCB) in measuring governance has been
  overwhelmingly positive and encouraging
• Imperative that methodologies are transparent,
  especially with limitations
• Media as an indispensable partner in advocating
  for construction and use of governance indicators

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III. LESSONS LEARNED

• Governance indicators are being used by
  politicians too.
• Rankings give especial attraction to indicator
  sets - media interest greater on nonperformers
• Timing and extent of dissemination are important
  for maximum impact
• Relevance and usefulness of indicator sets depend
  on data support
• National statistical systems not generally able
  to provide the necessary data

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IV. CONCLUDING REMARKS/FUTURE DIRECTIONS

• Indicator sets, such as those on governance,
  have their uses, both positive and negative,
  despite their limitations.
• Compilers of indicator sets must recognize their
  responsibility towards stakeholders ( in the case
  of governance indicators GOVERNORS, VOTERS,
  MEDIA)
• Proper (best practices) Dissemination of
  results, timewise and areawise
• Need for consultations

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IV. CONCLUDING REMARKS/FUTURE DIRECTIONS
3. Refine methodologies
4. There is a need for greater advocacy for the
indicators to be used - ADVOCACY FOR VOTERS TO
USE INFORMATION VOTERS INDEX MUST INCREASE OVER
TIME

• It is highly desirable for national statistical
  agencies to get involved in the measurement of
  democracy, human rights and governance
• Government and the private sector must invest in
  statistics

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EMPOWERING AND CHALLENGING VOTERS THROUGH
GOVERNANCE INDICATORS THE PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCE
Thank you
Salamat po
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www.nscb.gov.ph