From Reconstruction to Innovation: 65 years of NCPAG’s Role in Shaping the Discourse of PhilippinePublic Administration and Governance

Vincent Q. Silarde (University of the Philippines)

The paper is a historical accounting and valuation of the role of the National College of Public Administration and Governance (NCPAG), the first and premiere school of public administration in the Philippines, in shaping the academic and popular discourse on governance in the country and the internal and external factors that molded its intellectual foundations, focus and traditions since its birth in 1952. The focus of inquiry is on the development of the College’s academic, research, and extension programs in relation to the changing politico-economic landscape in the Philippines as bookmarked by the post-war reconstruction and postcolonial transition of the Philippine republic, the Marcos dictatorship, neoliberalism, and post-EDSA regimes, to name a few. It examines the dialogue and engagement that transpired between NCPAG and the broader systems of both academia and the Philippine nation-state around which the College defines its significance and existence. The concepts of discourse and episteme popularized by philosopher Michel Foucault are employed to perform an analysis on how and to what extent the College played an enabling role in introducing and propagating paradigms and practices in governance such as decentralization, corporate governance, new public management, and citizenship, among others. The same framework of analysis also allows for a profiling of the College’s identity and influence on Philippine social and political affairs across different historical junctures. 

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