Philippines: Case Study on Human Development Progress Towards the MDG at the Sub-National Level

human development, millennium development goals, mdgs

Engendering Development

This article discusses the productive and reproductive roles Filipino women perform and assesses their contributions to human development. It also examines the reality of their marginalization from the country’s social, economic and political life. It then suggests on measures by which women can be empowered to achieve the goals of gender equality and equity.women's issues, vulnerable groups, development program, MIMAP

Political intervention in the Philippine bureaucracy, 1987 to 2010: How, where and to what effect

The act of increasing the number and penetration of presidential appointees in the bureaucracy is referred to as politicization. While politicization can be a short-term strategy for improving agency performance, it has been argued that politicization erodes the civil service corps in fundamental ways even when selected appointees are of consistently high quality [Lewis 2008]. Motivated by the continuing discussion on 'good governance' and how it can or should be pursued in the Philippines, this essay revisits the theme of political intervention in the bureaucracy by using updated sources of data to understand how politicization occurs, where it occurs and to what effect across five presidential terms from 1987 to 2010

Is government really solving the housing problem?

Informal housing arrangements, substandard structures, congestion, and land use conflicts characterize the urban housing problem in the Philippines. The record suggests that the response of the State, especially its reliance on below-market priced mortgage loans, has aggravated rather than helped solve the situation. If the housing problem is to be solved, government needs to rethink its role in housing finance, delink housing social assistance from finance markets, and turn its attention to fundamental supply side and urban governance issues

Government "underspending" in perspective: Incompetence, inertia, or indigestion?

The measured underspending over the last 5 years has more to do with ambitious targets rather than apathetic or incompetent bureaucrats: while actual disbursements fell short of planned disbursements by about ten percent per year from 2011 to 2015, real per capita disbursements on capital outlays and maintenance and operating expenses increased relative to levels in 1999 to 2010 by an average of 41.6 and 76.8 percent respectively. The bureaucracy was unable to keep up with its own ambitions because of absorptive capacity constraints which were driven in part by the inertia from three decades of maneuvering in tight fiscal space as well as coordination problems and other structural bottlenecks, some of which have long-attended budget and plan design and execution but have not been recognized as binding constraints until now. The fund absorption problem is not uniform across agencies however indicating more fundamental organizational issues in certain sectors, and the need for actions beyond public finance management reforms to optimize the contribution of fiscal spending to inclusive growth

Time to let go of CARP? Not so fast

The following note seeks to clarify the appreciation of data pertaining to agrarian reform as used in the discussion paper "CARP: time to let go" (henceforth Fabella (2014)). Fabella (2014) has three parts: the first part argues that "the cumulative weight of evidence suggests that the hypothesis that in economic terms CARP is a government failure has not been rejected." The second part offers possible reasons for that failure. The third part concludes, saying it is time to let go

The economy on a cusp: The proposed VAT amendments and their larger significande

Debates on the revision of the value-added tax (VAT) are about to reach the penultimate stage. Once house and senate have passed their respective versions of the bill, congress - through a bicameral conference committee sometimes referred to as the 'third chamber' - must then agree on the final form of the law. After all the media-posturing, the politicking, and horse-trading have subsided, politicians of both chambers are still left to confront the nation's true interests - and their own consciences. It is vital that they finally pass a law that is right in form and adequate to the economy's needs

Population, poverty, politics and the reproductive health bill

Following an earlier paper titled 'Population and Poverty: The Real Score' (UPSE Discussion Paper 0415, December 2004), the present paper was first issued in August 2008 as a contribution to the public debate on the population issue that never seemed to die in this country. The debate heated up about that time in reaction to a revival of moves to push for legislation on reproductive health and family planning (RH/FP). Those attempts at legislation, however, failed in the 13th Congress, and again in the 14th Congress. Since late last year, the debate has been heating up further on the heels of President Noy Aquino's pronouncements seeming to favor RH/FP, though he prefers the nomenclature 'responsible parenthood'. With some updating of the data, this paper remains as relevant as ever to the ongoing public debate. It is being re-issued as a Discussion Paper for wider circulation

Estimating Plasma Glucose from Interstitial Glucose: The Issue of Calibration Algorithms in Commercial Continuous Glucose Monitoring Devices

Evaluation of metabolic control of diabetic people has been classically performed measuring glucose concentrations in blood samples. Due to the potential improvement it offers in diabetes care, continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) in the subcutaneous tissue is gaining popularity among both patients and physicians. However, devices for CGM measure glucose concentration in compartments other than blood, usually the interstitial space. This means that CGM need calibration against blood glucose values, and the accuracy of the estimation of blood glucose will also depend on the calibration algorithm. The complexity of the relationship between glucose dynamics in blood and the interstitial space, contrasts with the simplistic approach of calibration algorithms currently implemented in commercial CGM devices, translating in suboptimal accuracy. The present review will analyze the issue of calibration algorithms for CGM, focusing exclusively on the commercially available glucose sensors

Factors influencing adoption model of continuous glucose monitoring devices for internet of things healthcare

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Elsevier in Internet of Things on 18/01/2021, available online at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iot.2020.100353 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published versionContinuous Glucose Monitoring Systems (CGMs) device is the most developed technology, which has reshaped manual diabetes management with smart features having sensor, transmitter and monitor. However, the number of users for CGMs device is still very low compared to existing manual systems although this device provides a smart landmark in blood glucose monitoring for diabetes management. Consequently, the aspire of the assessment is to explore the factors that influence users’ intention to adopt CGMs device on the Internet of Things (IoT) based healthcare. This paper provides an adoption model for CGMs device by integrating some factors from different theories in existing studies of wearable healthcare devices. The proposed adoption model also examines current factors as a guideline for the users to adopt the CGMs device. We have collected data from 97 actual CGMs device users. Partial least square and structural equation modelling were involved for measurement and structural model assessment of this study. The experiential study specifies that interpersonal influence and trustworthiness are the strong predictors of attitude toward a wearable device, which shows significant relationships to use for CGMs device’s adoption. Personal innovativeness shows no significant relationship with attitude toward a wearable device. Besides, self-efficacy has no direct influence on a person’s health interest where heath interest directly influences users’ intention to use CGMs device. Moreover, perceived value is not found to be significant for measuring intention to use CGMs devices. The results from this research provide suggestions for the developers to ensure users’ intention to adopt CGMs device