Journal Article by Maria Pilar Lorenzo
Globalisation, Societies and Education , Sep 12, 2021
By applying New Regionalism Approach, this paper delves into a rather unexplored area of regional... more By applying New Regionalism Approach, this paper delves into a rather unexplored area of regionalism (higher education) in a less investigated region (Southeast Asia) and state (Philippines). It treads through a relatively recent terrain of bridge-building between higher education and regionalism. Through in-depth interviews and document analysis, the exploratory study investigates how ASEAN regionalism has influenced the cross-border research of a Philippine university. Examining cross-border research sheds light on the dynamics of ASEAN regionalism as research is considered crucial to the formation of a knowledge society, which, in turn, serves as a potent tool to pursue regional and national objectives. The findings of this study demonstrate that the ASEAN higher education regionalism offers vital mechanisms to enhance the university’s research performance and its overall competitiveness in an era of globalisation. However, in spite of these advantages, there are ideational, political and material challenges that pose limits to this potential. This paper argues that cross-border research has not yet been robustly activated as a mechanism for regional and national pursuits, and that the points of collaborations and contestations are still to be addressed adequately to maximise the promises and mitigate the perils of ASEAN higher education regionalism.
Encyclopedia Entries by Maria Pilar Lorenzo
Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance, Sep 16, 2021
Public reorganization refers to the rearrangement or restructuring of administrative structures w... more Public reorganization refers to the rearrangement or restructuring of administrative structures within a government. It involves abolishing, merging, or creating governmental bodies and removing duplicate and overlapping functions. It is a bureaucratic response to the confluence of managerial goals set by an administration vis-à-vis the political currents and reforms impacting the government. The term has been associated with concepts like rationalization, reengineering, and rightsizing.
Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance, Mar 9, 2021
Given the development context of the Philippines, the foremost question confronting the disciplin... more Given the development context of the Philippines, the foremost question confronting the discipline of Public Administration is not only in junction with its identity – "What is Philippine Public Administration" – but to expand the boundaries and inquire, "For whom is Philippine Public Administration?" The publicness of public administration signifies that emphasis should not be placed only on the traditional components of 3 Es, but primordial consideration must also be given to additional principles of equity, ethics, and accountability in order to create and sustain a public administration that is truly agile and Filipino people-oriented. As such, a Philippine version of Public Administration can be framed as the “5 Es and an A,” juxtaposing effectiveness, efficiency, and economy with three other pillars, namely, equity, ethics, and accountability.
Book Chapters by Maria Pilar Lorenzo
Handbook of Regional Cooperation and Integration, 2024
Regional cooperation in higher education has grown in recent decades due to political drivers and... more Regional cooperation in higher education has grown in recent decades due to political drivers and the increasingly salient role of knowledge in economies and societies. The term ‘regional cooperation’ in this chapter signifies the multi-directional and multi-level coordination of higher education collaborations that are mediated through the regional space. Set against this backdrop, this chapter offers an overview of how regional cooperation has emerged and evolved in the higher education sector. It first details the motivating factors that drive key policy and institutional stakeholders to take up regional higher education agendas. In particular, this chapter specifies five sets of rationales: human resource development; political development; social-cultural development; commercial trade; and academic development. The second part reviews the various regionally-based collaborations that have been organised in regions across the world, including Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America. It showcases the different forms of regional developments that have taken place, including those that have been instigated and promoted by global actors such as UNESCO. The next part maps out the outcomes, impacts, and effects of these regional collaborations and includes both constructive and critical reviews. A cautious assessment is offered, taking into account the difficulty of measurements, moving targets, the complexity of higher education policies, attribution problems, and lack of comprehensive studies. The last part reflects on the chapter’s findings, discussing the possible futures of regional cooperation in higher education amidst a growing complexity of policy challenges. In summary, this chapter shows how the regions have become an accepted governance level for higher education cooperation between states, higher education institutions, stakeholder groups, and supranational agencies.
Theory and Method in Higher Education Research (Theory and Method in Higher Education Research, Vol. 8), 2022
Despite the multitude of regional-based collaborations in higher education, regionalism theories ... more Despite the multitude of regional-based collaborations in higher education, regionalism theories have received relatively little attention in the literature on higher education. In view of this gap, this chapter seeks to make a case for the study of regionalism and explores how this field could enrich higher education research. This chapter discusses the context of the rise of the regional landscape vis-à-vis the acceleration of globalisation and internationalisation of higher education. It further probes into theoretical and empirical insights, elucidating in particular core regionalism concepts, theories and approaches within the more recent 'turns' in regionalism. Empirical cases from regions across the world are presented to help expound on the conceptual points raised.
Public Administration in conflict-affected countries, 2021
Philippine Public Administration, as a discipline and a practice, has played a key role in instit... more Philippine Public Administration, as a discipline and a practice, has played a key role in institution building and capacity development over the years. This has been true even during conflict and post-conflict periods. The chapter delves into how conflict situations have affected Philippine Public Administration by discussing it through an interstate and intra-state conflict that the country has been confronted with through different periods of its history. The first case discusses the various public reorganization and civil service initiatives within the ambit of the interstate backdrop of post-World War II reconstruction. The second case tackles how public administration mechanisms and institutions have been designed and set up as a response to an intra-state conflict in the Southern Philippines, more popularly known as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, that has seen armed struggle since the 1970s brought about by the Muslim minorities' rebellion against the central government.
Religion, Fundamentalism, and Identity Politics, 2021
b4176_Ch-03.indd 37 12-04-2021 5.32.45 PM b4176 Religion and Identity Politics: Global Trends and... more b4176_Ch-03.indd 37 12-04-2021 5.32.45 PM b4176 Religion and Identity Politics: Global Trends and Local Realities 2nd Reading 9"x6" b4176_Ch-03.indd 38 12-04-2021 5.32.45 PM b4176 Religion and Identity Politics: Global Trends and Local Realities 9"x6" 2nd Reading An Alternate State of Faith 39 it is thus crucial to scrutinise the ramifications of this shifting panorama on contemporary Philippine society. Against this backdrop, this chapter seeks to provide a general overview and context of the interplay between religion and politics in the Philippines, by spotlighting manifold Christian groups as the starting point of inquiry into the national and local politics of the country. We find that religious organisations have become a substantial political force in the country. They are political in the sense that they "marshal their beliefs in the form of a political theology which makes demands of [its] group members, the public sphere, and the governments of the day" (Rowe, 2019: 38). In this vein, we suggest that their political activities-not only of the Catholic Church but also militant Christian groups, such as the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) (Church of Christ) and the Jesus is Lord (JIL) Movementalter Philippine politics in three ways: shaping policy, shaping elections, and shaping the state. Understanding the present-day confluence of religion and politics in the Philippines needs to be situated as well within the ascendancy of what David (2016, 2017) calls "Dutertismo". The election of the incumbent President Rodrigo Duterte, the first Filipino President who has openly lambasted the Catholic Church and its leaders, has signposted growing support for the secularisation of the country. This may consequently inform our understanding of the evolving state-church interactions. It is crucial, therefore, to unpack how religious groups and practices have evolved under Duterte's administration; and how they have, in turn, shaped Philippine politics. This chapter also intends to mend the relative lacuna in the literature on the role of Christian militias in conflict within the Mindanao region 3 (Adam, Verbrugge & Boer, 2014). To this regard, we use the case of the Ilaga, a Christian militia group, to shed light on the interplay of Christian religion and conflict in the Philippines. Discussing the group's violent approaches vis-à-vis their Christian identity reveals the contentious and conflictual nature that religion can accord to socio-political interactions. Although it is not always a given that religious diversity will result in 3 There are three major groups of islands in the Philippines: namely Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. b4176_Ch-03.indd 39 12-04-2021 5.32.45 PM b4176 Religion and Identity Politics: Global Trends and Local Realities 2nd Reading 9"x6" b4176_Ch-03.indd 40 12-04-2021 5.32.45 PM b4176 Religion and Identity Politics: Global Trends and Local Realities 9"x6" 2nd Reading An Alternate State of Faith 41 7 Among the different icons of Filipino Catholicism, Bautista (2010) points out that the Santo Niño serves as the most capable one in capturing the adaptability of Roman Catholicism in local life. 8 The complete title is the Act Rationalising the Celebration of National Holidays Amending for the Purpose Section 26, Chapter 7, Book 1 of Executive Order No. 292, As Amended, Otherwise Known as the Administrative Code of 1987. This was passed to amend the previous list of regular holidays and special days. b4176_Ch-03.indd 42 12-04-2021 5.32.45 PM b4176 Religion and Identity Politics: Global Trends and Local Realities 9"x6" 2nd Reading An Alternate State of Faith 43 Calling for the secularisation of the church-demanding equal rights and roles between Spanish and Filipino priests-was considered an act of treason punishable by death. This struggle for secularisation led to the public execution of three Filipino secular priests, namely, Mariano Gómez, José Burgos and Jacinto Zamora, or collectively known as GomBurZa. The death of the GomBurZa triggered nationalist sentiments and inspired the Philippine Revolution (Malacañan Palace Presidential Museum & Library, n.d.). All Philippine Constitutions in ensuing periods after the Spanish era 9 adopted a strict separation of church and state (Pangalangan, 2015). The current 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines states in the Declaration of Principles and State Policies (Article II of the Constitution), that "The separation of Church and State shall be inviolable" (Constitution, 1987, Art. II, Sec. 6.). However, while a formal separation is mandated in law, it is difficult to uphold it in reality. This practical difficulty is one of the complexities persistently underlying state-church interactions. For instance, the 1987 Philippine Constitution itself invokes divine aid in its Preamble 10 (Constitution, 1987, Preamble, Para. 1.). Agustin (2019) suggests that the principles of the Philippine Constitution are inspired to a certain degree by the Christian imaginary and praxis. This is because the Catholic Church and its influence have become so deeply rooted in the country, that it would be hard to distinctly delineate the affairs of church and state. Moreover, the Catholic Church interprets the separation not as a directive to stop its involvement in the public sphere (Gonzales, n.d.). Although 9 These include the 1899 Malolos Constitution instituted in the wake of Philippine independence from Spain, the "organic acts" during the American colonisation, and the three constitutions since the country's independence from the United States of America. 10 The Preamble states, "We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society, and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity, the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution" (emphasis by the authors). b4176_Ch-03.indd 43 12-04-2021 5.32.45 PM b4176 Religion and Identity Politics: Global Trends and Local Realities 2nd Reading 9"x6" b4176_Ch-03.indd 44 12-04-2021 5.32.45 PM b4176 Religion and Identity Politics: Global Trends and Local Realities 9"x6" 2nd Reading An Alternate State of Faith 45 b4176_Ch-03.indd 53 12-04-2021 5.32.46 PM b4176 Religion and Identity Politics: Global Trends and Local Realities 2nd Reading 9"x6" b4176_Ch-03.indd 58 12-04-2021 5.32.46 PM b4176 Religion and Identity Politics: Global Trends and Local Realities 9"x6" 2nd Reading An Alternate State of Faith 59 b4176_Ch-03.indd 62 12-04-2021 5.32.46 PM b4176 Religion and Identity Politics: Global Trends and Local Realities 9"x6" 2nd Reading An Alternate State of Faith 63 b4176 Religion and Identity Politics: Global Trends and Local Realities 9"x6" 2nd Reading
In J. Morgen (Ed.), Social equity in the Asia-Pacific Region: Conceptualizations and realities (pp.187-213). New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019
This paper focuses on the imperatives of social equity as a fundamental but normative principle ... more This paper focuses on the imperatives of social equity as a fundamental but normative principle for contemporary Philippine public administration. The pursuit of social equity may be seen as a response to the problems of pervasive poverty and inequality in spite of, paradoxically, the rapid economic growth. The paper cites two government programs that ostensibly aim to bring about social equity, that is, the Conditional Cash Transfer program and the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law. Evidence has shown that both programs still have to make a significant impact to redistribute wealth in a lasting way within the context of social equity. Hence, the paper argues that social equity in the Philippines is a continuing process but remains elusive a goal.
Books by Maria Pilar Lorenzo
Philippine Society for Public Administration & United Nations Development Programme, 2017
The present study, a 2015 Rapid Field Assessment (RFA) and policy advocacy project seeking to app... more The present study, a 2015 Rapid Field Assessment (RFA) and policy advocacy project seeking to appraise the state of decentralization and democracy in the Philippines and their impact on development after 25 years of local autonomy, represents yet another effort to gain a better understanding and appreciation of the quality of governance at the local levels.
The findings of the study contained in this report present the output of experts and consultants from the regions who willingly undertook independent and objective appraisal of the problems and promise of local autonomy in their respective localities. The PSPA 2015 RFA is precisely just that – rapid and quick, to be redundant about it. But these hopefully may provide us with invaluable insights of how our local governments are proceeding, how they are managing with the powers and authority entrusted to them by the Local Government Code of 1991 of the Philippines and more importantly, how they are coping to comply.
* I served as the Copy Editor (name written on p.40).
Conference Papers by Maria Pilar Lorenzo
Filipino-Australian Student Council of Victoria, 2017
“Gulayan sa Batasan” is a study about a possible urban farming project for the benefit of drug su... more “Gulayan sa Batasan” is a study about a possible urban farming project for the benefit of drug surrenderees from the youth sector of Barangay Batasan Hills, Quezon City. Through urban farming, the project introduces an innovative approach in giving former illegal drug users with a viable source of additional income for their families while providing them with a community that can help them avoid reverting back to drug abuse. It aims to provide supplemental source of income, addressing the issue of financial problems in the family that leads to poor family relations and incidence of out-of-school youth.
Papers by Maria Pilar Lorenzo
Social Equity in the Asia-Pacific Region, 2019
In this chapter, Brillantes, Raquiza, and Lorenzo focus on the imperatives of social equity as a ... more In this chapter, Brillantes, Raquiza, and Lorenzo focus on the imperatives of social equity as a fundamental—but normative—principle for contemporary Philippine public administration. The pursuit of social equity may be seen as a response to the problems of pervasive poverty and inequality in spite of, paradoxically, rapid economic growth. The chapter cites two government programs that ostensibly aim to bring about social equity, the Conditional Cash Transfer program and the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law. Evidence has shown that both programs have yet to make a significant impact to redistribute wealth in a lasting way within the context of social equity. Hence, the chapter argues that social equity in the Philippines is a continuing process but remains an elusive goal.
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Journal Article by Maria Pilar Lorenzo
Encyclopedia Entries by Maria Pilar Lorenzo
Book Chapters by Maria Pilar Lorenzo
Books by Maria Pilar Lorenzo
The findings of the study contained in this report present the output of experts and consultants from the regions who willingly undertook independent and objective appraisal of the problems and promise of local autonomy in their respective localities. The PSPA 2015 RFA is precisely just that – rapid and quick, to be redundant about it. But these hopefully may provide us with invaluable insights of how our local governments are proceeding, how they are managing with the powers and authority entrusted to them by the Local Government Code of 1991 of the Philippines and more importantly, how they are coping to comply.
* I served as the Copy Editor (name written on p.40).
Conference Papers by Maria Pilar Lorenzo
Papers by Maria Pilar Lorenzo
The findings of the study contained in this report present the output of experts and consultants from the regions who willingly undertook independent and objective appraisal of the problems and promise of local autonomy in their respective localities. The PSPA 2015 RFA is precisely just that – rapid and quick, to be redundant about it. But these hopefully may provide us with invaluable insights of how our local governments are proceeding, how they are managing with the powers and authority entrusted to them by the Local Government Code of 1991 of the Philippines and more importantly, how they are coping to comply.
* I served as the Copy Editor (name written on p.40).