Triangulation Framework for Local Service Delivery - Philippine ...

• Minimum service standards. The difficulty of evaluating LGU performance in improving service
delivery is as much a result of the LGUs’ incapacities, lack of political will, and the design of the
decentralization as the lack of minimum service delivery standards, at least for those services
which the LGUs can comply with, given their capabilities. The national government must
initiate and formulate Minimum Service Delivery Standards for every sector or for the sectors
under LGU responsibility. Defining such a “minimum,” setting its implementation guidelines,
and formulating its required monitoring and evaluation system is a fertile area of study. A
deeper look into it will help concretize an otherwise abstract accountability. Would-be
beneficiaries could also use it as a barometer of their local officials’ performance or as guide
during elections, thus making LSD an electoral issue and establishing a strong correlation
between LSD performance and electoral winnability.
• Need for performance benchmarking. Given that there are goals and targets for MDG-critical
public goods and services, what are the local indicators for measuring performance Local
performance benchmarks (input and output indicators) for service delivery, as in most LGUs,
have yet to be made consistent with the outcome indicators in the Local Government
Performance Monitoring System (LGPMS) and CBMS. This would therefore require an improved
monitoring and evaluation mechanism and good quality data.
• Design of an innovative incentive system. The short supply, if not lack of, incentives has a
negative effect on the performance of service providers. For service providers, especially public
servants, an effective incentive system should be institutionalized at all levels of government to
ensure their effective performance. Financial constraints should not be used as an excuse for
not being able to design an innovative incentive system for stakeholders and service providers.
• Private-Public Partnership (PPPs). The public sector institutions 12 cannot do it alone, that is,
cannot serve the public with its limited resources. Tapping PPPs would harness the talents,
money, and ideas of private entities, thus, making corporate social responsibility part and parcel
of improving LSD.
12 Public sector institutions, which consist of the national government, LGUs, major government owned and
controlled corporations (GOCCs), and government financial institutions (GFIs), have contributed to weak public
sector governance, which in turn, has negatively impacted on disappointing economic performance of the
Philippines, with its persistent boom‐bust cycle along with relatively high poverty incidence. For an excellent
discussion on public sector governance and decentralization in the Philippines, see Miral (2009).
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