For the immediate needs of the community of Bulacan, the province has formulated and implemented programs for efficient delivery of health and social services. They wanted to improve the hospital facilities and services. They wanted to decrease the number of infant mortality rate, and other related deaths connected with severe illnesses across the province. They also wanted to strengthen programs related to maternal and children’s health. Moreover, they have formulated and implemented programs for upgrading the quality of public education. The government of Bulacan wants to have equal opportunity to education by giving scholarship programs to the youth. They had agreed with the DepEd to become partners in order for them to build new schools for the Bulakenyos. Lastly, they wanted to mold and to harness talented and skillful young bulakenyos for the betterment of the society.
For the needs of individual and family development, Bulacan has formulated and implemented two programs for this particular area. First, they promote positive Filipino values among the families. In order for the province to prosper, they wanted to build on its people first by strengthening their moral values. In this way, Bulacan could have responsible and good citizens. Second, in relation with promoting positive Filipino values, Bulacan implemented programs for drug free and responsible youth sector. They wanted to remove the vices of the youth and make them more productive. This is done by empowering the youth. Bulacan started the YIPEE, it means Youth-Initiated Program for Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurship. It aims to give the youth the skills and the knowledge to build their own business.
For the needs of sector and sub-communities, Bulacan has formulated and implemented programs for strengthening SME’s, promotion of arts, culture, and tourism, and provision of quality services of all sectors. Strengthening the SME’s will make the province more productive. This will eventually increase the production of the province in terms of good and services in the microeconomics scale. In addition, bulacan wanted to foster the development of arts, culture, and tourism. It means that they wanted to enrich and to enhance the tourism sector. In this way, more opportunities and jobs will come to the province of Bulacan. Lastly, they wanted to provide the best quality of service of all sectors. They don’t want to concentrate on the development of one sector but to they wanted to make the entire sector to give the best quality of service that they can. Having this kind of mentality, Bulacan aims to have a strong province that will satisfy their people and the tourist as well.
Bulacan wanted to make their province as a complete package for all. Not only focusing on a particular area but making sure that all areas are equally important to the province, they wanted to integrate and to harmonize the province as a whole. They wanted to make sure that all the important parts of the province is harnessed and built to make it a well-rounded province ready to provide all kinds of services.
For the needs of the inter-local and regional cooperation, it has basically three main objectives which are programs for sustainable development, programs to develop highly competent information technology in local governance, and proficient, motivated and inspired workforce in the bureaucracy. All of these three program aim to address the needs of the inter-local and regional cooperation. Nowadays, a sustainable development program is very critical to one province because this particular program will be the foundation of all the programs of the province. It is evidently clear that sustaining the needs and wants of the people in the province is the primary concern of the government which make this program more needed. Likewise, having a competent information technology is equally important. Technology today is very necessary to make things possible especially creating plans and framework for the province. Technology is a powerful tool that would make the programs and plans easier to implement. Lastly, all of these will be nothing if there are no proficient, motivated and inspired workforces. The people in the bureaucracy is very important because they are the one doing the work.
A Constituency-Responsive type of Governance is being practiced in Bulacan. It started with the Vice-Governorship of Josie dela Cruz in the year 1998. This type of governance that establishes, maintains, and deepens the government’s ways of relating with its constituents, has been continued in dela Cruz’s Governorship and up to the present. Constituents and the citizenry are being treated as customers and their priorities and feedbacks are constantly monitored through scientific surveys before and after Government projects and programs. This unique method of governance has garnered Bulacan local and international awards such as: The Most Outstanding LGU in Population Development, Human Development Award for its development programs in health, livelihood and education, Konrad-Adenauer Local Governance Award for its exemplary bureaucratic innovations and vital reforms in governance and Presidential Lingkod Bayan Award for its exemplary public service.
We, the study team, commend Bulacan and its top leaders for the good quality governance it has established; unfortunately, this doesn’t trickle down in the smaller government units as efficient as expected. There are still many corrupt and unprogressive leaders in the municipalities and baranggays who don’t translate the innovative governance from their upper hands. We recommend an Ad Hoc Committee to be built for the sole purpose of monitoring how the BSDP is actualized in the smaller government units with the hope that it will encourage efficiency and accountability among leaders and stakeholders. Having the constituents and citizenry as customers, the government should make sure that opportunities are given to them equally and that the brand of leadership they receive are of good quality from the head until the smallest government units.
The development planning process in the different communities in the Philippines may be best studied through a hands-on case study in which an evaluation with a holistic approach is done. The development planning process cannot just be studied after a few visits in the government offices and short-term surveys, it needs to be evaluated in connection with the citizenry’s culture and performance, the programs’ long term effectiveness, the issues and problems that come along with it, and the over-all effect of the plan. All of these should be scientific based and supported by hard facts from in-depth study. Its assessment should not be based from Western Models or any foreign style because the most effective development planning process is the one designed by the stakeholders, which are the learned locals. The measures of its efficiency should be derived from its sustainability and capability of innovation.
c. The Conduct of the Study
Our team has planned the study by parts with the use of the LOG Frame, SWOT and Time/Task table as our bases. We were very fortunate that the officials have been very cooperative thus making us fulfill our aims efficiently. They have given us enough data about their development framework/programs and they were keen to answer our queries during the interviews. Our group followed the Time/Task table well and we have evaluated the data given to us to come up with the other bases. We have observed well how the development plan is actualized to tell that they did not just put it on paper but more importantly, on action. We have learned how democracy may be put into effective use through constituency-responsive governance and how with decentralization, it is possible for a province to do away with the culture of mediocrity. There is a big difference between studying development in theory and studying it on the field. It is best to be hands-on to get the real facts and situation of the object of study. This study about Bulacan and its development honed our skills as development studies majors for it was a challenging application of the lessons we have learned inside the class.
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