Wilfredo G. Villanueva
Cha Coronel Datu
Juana Pilipinas
Karl Garcia
giancarloangulo
Irineo B. R. Salazar
JPilipinas
karlgarcia
JoeAmThe Philippine Impasse: Awareness, Resolve, and Strategic Sovereignty
By Karl Garcia The Philippines has become very good at explaining itself. When reforms fail, when institutions stall, when corruption reappears in familiar forms, the country reaches almost instinctively for a phrase that sounds honest and mature: easier said than done. It conveys realism. It signals complexity. It implies that failure is not denial, but … Continue reading
Performative Governance in the Philippines: Thoroughness, Rationalization, and the Illusion of Reform
By Karl Garcia Philippine governance is marked by a persistent paradox: the state promises streamlining, rationalization, and efficiency while expanding procedures, agencies, and compliance rituals. This paradox is not accidental. It reflects a deeper pattern of performative governance—or thoroughness theatrics—where the appearance of rigor substitutes for real institutional effectiveness. Even reforms explicitly designed to reduce … Continue reading
The Architecture of Disorder
How the Philippines Confuses Signals for Systems—and Pays the Price By Karl Garcia The Philippines does not lack laws, plans, or coercive institutions. What it lacks is coherence. Across decades, administrations, and crises, the same pattern repeats: the state prioritizes signals of control over systems of authority, the appearance of order over the maintenance of … Continue reading
Freedom of Information in the Philippines: Promise, Reality, and the Case for Legislation
By Karl Garcia Transparency is not optional in a functioning democracy. Yet in the Philippines, the promise of freedom of information (FOI) has existed for years in theory but remains uneven in practice. Executive Order No. 2, issued in 2016, formally introduced FOI into the country, giving the public the right to request information from … Continue reading
From Visibility to Verifiable Outcomes:
Government Computerization, Institutional Performance, and the Persistence of Inefficiency in the Philippines By Karl Garcia Introduction: Modernization Without Transformation For more than five decades, the Philippine government has pursued computerization as a pathway to efficiency, transparency, and improved public service delivery. From centralized mainframes in the 1970s to today’s digital platforms and super apps, successive … Continue reading
Recent Comments
kasambahay on Performative Governance in the… Karl Garcia on The Philippine Impasse: Awaren… Karl Garcia on The Philippine Impasse: Awaren… Irineo B. R. Salazar on Performative Governance in the… JoeAm on The Philippine Impasse: Awaren… Irineo B. R. Salazar on Performative Governance in the… kasambahay on Performative Governance in the… kasambahay on Performative Governance in the… CV on The Philippine Impasse: Awaren… Karl Garcia on Performative Governance in the… Irineo B. R. Salazar on Performative Governance in the… Joey Nguyen on Performative Governance in the… Karl Garcia on Performative Governance in the… Karl Garcia on The Architecture of Disor… Karl Garcia on The Architecture of Disor…
The Society of Honor by Joe America 