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Forest Policy Change in the Philippines: An Analysis from the Perspective of
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TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITÄT DRESDEN
FACULTY OF FOREST, GEO AND HYDRO-SCIENCES
FOREST POLICY CHANGE IN THE PHILIPPINES: AN ANALYSIS
FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE ADVOCACY COALITION
FRAMEWORK (ACF)
By
GRACE BALLESFIN VILLAMOR
NOVEMBER 2003
1

Forest Policy Change in the Philippines: An Analysis
from the Perspective of the Advocacy Coalition
Framework (ACF)
by
GRACE BALLESFIN VILLAMOR
Bay, Laguna, Philippines
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the examination requirements for the academic
degree of
Master of Science in Tropical Forestry and Management
M.Sc. Forest Trop.
Institute of International Forestry and Forest Products
Faculty of Forest, Geo and Hydro Sciences
Dresden University of Technology, Germany
Date of Submission: 18 th November 2003
Scientific Supervisor: Prof. Dr. rer. sil. Jürgen Pretzsch
Co-Supervisor:
Institute:
Dr. Norbert Weber
Institute of International Forestry and Forest Products, Tharandt
Lending admitted/not admitted
Dresden, November 2003
Chairman of Examination Commission
2

Dedication
Acknowledgement
Table of Contents
Abbreviation
List of Tables and Figures
Abstract
Chapter
1 Introduction
Table of Contents
Page
i
ii
iii
v
vii
viii
1.1 Philippine Forest Policy Perspective 1
1.2 Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines 1
1.3 Recent Forest Policies: Trends and Development 3
1.4 Problem Statement and Approach in Policy Analysis 4
1.5 Objectives of the Study 5
2 Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF): Theoretical Framework
2.1 General Overview 7
2.2 Policy Subsystem 7
2.3 Belief Systems 9
2.4 External Variables 11
2.5 Policy Change 11
2.6 Policy-Oriented Learning 11
2.7 ACF: A Brief Justification of Choice 12
3 Methodology
3.1 General Overview 14
3.2 Content Analysis of Public Accessible Documents 14
3.3 Conceptual Analysis 15
3.4 Case Study 17
3.5 Data Collection 17
3.6 Data Processing 18
3.7 Reliability and Validity 19
3.8 Constraints and Limitations 21
4 Towards Protected Area Conservation: The NIPAS Act
4.1 Overview 22
4.2 Historical Background of protected Area Policy 22
4.3 Protected Area Policymaking Subsystem: Internal Structure 23
4.3.1 Policy Actors and Conceptual Analysis 24
4.3.2 Advocacy Coalitions and its Beliefs 28
4.3.3 Policy Outputs: Translated Beliefs 30
4.4 External Perturbations Affecting the Subsystem 31
4.4.1 Relatively Stable Parameters: Basic Legal Structure 32
4.4.2 Dynamic System Events: Change un Socioeconomic Condition 34
4.4.3 Dynamic System Events: Change in Systemic Governing Coalitions 38
4.5 Policy Change Reflecting ACF: Its Diagnostics and Discussions 40
3

5 Case Study: Subic Bay Protected Area (SBPA)
5.1 Introduction 45
5.1.1 Study Area 46
5.1.2 Historical Background 48
5.2 Issues and Concerns 51
5.3 SBPA Management Plan Subsystem: An Overview 52
5.3.1 Internal Structure: Actors & their Concepts 52
5.3.2 Advocacy Coalitions and its Belief Systems 55
5.4 External Perturbation: Dynamic System Events – Policy Decisions
and Impact from Other Subsystem 57
5.5 Diagnostics and Discussions 58
6 Policy Change: Overall Diagnostics and Outlook
6.1 Overview 61
6.2 Overall Diagnostics and Discussions 61
6.3 Theoretical Outlook and Limitations 64
7 Conclusions and General Outlook 69
References 72
Appendices 78
4

List of Tables
Page
Table 1 Revised Structure of Belief Systems of Policy Elites 10
Table 2 Measures for reliability of Content Analysis 19
Table 3 Interest-groups’ documentations supporting the categories 20
Table 4 Concepts and its Frequencies from Content Analysis of National level 27
Table 5 Beliefs of Advocacy Coalitions at the National Level 29
Table 6 Timber Licenses: FY 1970-1975 to CY 1990 39
Table 7 Forestland regulatory status of Subic Bay 47
Table 8 Concepts and its Frequencies from Content Analysis of Local level 56
Table 9 Summary of categories from each group of actors at the Local level 57
Table 10 Belief Systems of the Advocacy Coalitions at the Local level 58
Table 11 Comparison between two policy analyses 64
List of Figures
Figure 1 Timeline of forest related legislations enacted from 1975 to 2001 3
Figure 2 Advocacy Coalition Framework of Policy Change (Sabatier, 1999) 8
Figure 3 Steps in Conducting Conceptual Analysis 16
Figure 4 The internal structure of protected area policy making subsystem 24
Figure 5 The external perturbations of the protected area policy making subsystem
Figure 6 The effect of the change in socioeconomic conditions 36
Figure 7 Participants during the Public Consultations at the National level 37
Figure 8 Framework of protected area policy making subsystem 40
Figure 9 Policy change influenced by external perturbations 43
Figure 10 The map of the Philippines locating the Subic Region 48
Figure 11 Land Sat Image and Topographic map of Subic Region 48
Figure 12 Subic Bay in 1898 under the Spanish occupation in the Philippines 49
Figure 13 Infrastructure establishment of Subic Bay US Naval Base in 1958 50
Figure 14 Subic US Naval Base in 1987 50
Figure 15 The map of the Subic Bay Watersheds 51
Figure 16 Framework of Subic Bay protected management plan subsystem 60
Figure 17 Forest Policy Timeline and the External Perturbation 67
Figure 18 Synthesis of Protected Area Policy Subsystem 69
Figure 19 Combining the policy cycle (Anderson, 1984) and ACF Approach 70
5

Abbreviations
ACF
Advocacy Coalition Framework
ADB
Asian Development Bank
A&D
Alienable and Disposable
BFD
Bureau of Forest Development
CBFM Community-Based Forest Management
CENRO Community Environment and Natural Resources Office
CPPAP Conservation of Priority Protected Areas Project
DA
Department of Agriculture
DAO
Department Administrative Order
DENR Department of Environment and Natural Resources
DoT
Department of Tourism
EIA
Environmental Impact Assessment
E. O. Executive Order
FMB
Forest Management Bureau
FSI
Foundation for Sustainable Development Inc.
GNP
Gross National Product
IP
Indigenous People
IPAS
Integrated Protected Areas System
IPRA
Indigenous People’s Right Act
IRR
Implementing Rules and Regulations
LGUs Local Government Units
LOI
Letter of Instruction
NGOs Non-Government Organizations
NIPAS National Integrated Protected Areas System
NIPAP National Integrated Protected Areas Project
NPC
National Power Corporation
OCS
Outer Continental Shelf
PAs
Protected Areas
PAMB Protected Area Management Board
PAWB Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau
P. D. Presidential Decree
POs
People’s Organizations
6

PSSD
R.A.
SC
SBMA
SBFZ
SBPA
SWFR
WWF
ZNAS
Philippine Strategy for Sustainable Development
Republic Act
Social Concerns
Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority
Subic Bay Freeport Zone
Subic Bay Protected Area
Subic Watershed Forest Reserve
World Wide Fund for Nature
Zambales National Agricultural School
7

Abstract
Forest policies in the Philippines saw a change from forest utilization to forest conservation
through the establishment of protected areas. This forest policy change was analyzed from
the perspective of Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF). This study looks into whether
the NIPAS Act, the first major law instituted between 1975 and 2003 to address both
conservation strategies and people’s participation, came into fruition due to the belief
systems of the policy actors. The various belief systems during the policy making process
of the NIPAS Act were determined using conceptual (content) analysis of documents, the
primary method of the study. The analysis was done on two levels: at the national level and
at the local (represented by Subic Bay Protected Area). As a result, three major advocacy
coalitions were identified (Social Concern, Environment and Economic Development) at
both levels. Each coalition has its own belief systems which bind its policy actors.
Moreover, external perturbations were identified which influenced these advocacy coalitions
in the same manner as causal drivers of policy change.
The synthesis of the outputs of the two analyses undertaken at national and local levels shed
new light on what the Philippine protected area policy making process looks like.
Key words:
Advocacy Coalition Framework, Policy Change, Philippine Forest Policy, Policy Process,
Belief Systems, Protected Areas, NIPAS Act, Policy Actors, Conceptual Analysis,
Advocacy Coalitions
8

1 Introduction
1.1 Philippine Forest Policy Perspective
The latter half of the 1980s marked the beginning of a paradigm shift in the forest policy in
the Philippines. Forests are no longer seen solely as economic development engines, but
also as important protectors of ecosystems, watersheds, endangered and threatened wildlife
species, and homes for endangered cultures and indigenous communities. Moreover, there
is a growing emphasis on the notion of civil society’s participation in the decision-making
process related to the management of forest resources. These interesting shifts toward
conservation and people’s participation are stated expansively in the Philippine forest
policies.
Historically, Forestry Act of 1904, enacted by the United States Congress during the
Philippine Commonwealth era, was considered the backbone of the Philippine forest policy.
Overtaken by the events, it was succeeded by Presidential Decree No. 705 (P.D. 705), as
amended, otherwise known as the “Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines.” Since its
issuance in 1975, the Revised Forestry Code became the lynchpin of forest policies to this
date. However, the growing awareness to the fact that most of its provisions are no longer in
accord with the current trends on resource conservation and management, has led to ongoing
agitations amongst interest groups to revise the 1975 Code. This seemingly infantile stage in
foreseeable change in policy poses a new opportunity and challenge to study them.
Nevertheless, the study on policy change that had prior occurred and hereto discussed in this
paper, is considerably of equal importance.
1.2 Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines
The revised 1975 Forestry Code outlines the policies of the State in the management of
forest and its resources. The policies indicate that:
- The multiple uses of forest lands shall be oriented to the development of the
country, the advancement of science and technology and the public welfare;
- Land classification and survey shall be systematized and hastened;
- The establishment of wood processing plants shall be encouraged and
rationalized; and
9

- The protection, development and rehabilitation of forest lands shall be
emphasized so as to ensure their continuity in productive condition.
In implementing the provisions of the revised Code, four strategies were identified, namely:
(1) management of productive forest through selective logging; (2) reforestation strategy; (3)
stabilization of upland communities; and (4) protection of critical watersheds.
However, this Code was heavily criticized and marred by policy failures among various
stakeholders. From the point of view of socially concerned activists, the Code has
developed the most notorious reputation amongst indigenous communities. The definition
stated for ‘forest land’ puts any forests out of bounds for the local population and against
their interests (Hurst 1990; & ADB 2001). Rather, it pictures the extensive government
ownership of forest lands and the intensification of forestry activities to meet the exportation
demand for forest products. Some policy analysts believe that the policy statement and
objectives of the Code are not clearly specified when compared to other legislations
(Fuentes, 2002). Yet, the Code is more explicit on the utilization component such as the
granting timber licenses, concessions and putting-up wood industries. The overall
vagueness of the policy was blamed for conflicting directions of management which
significantly contributed to the diminution of the resources over the past thirty years.
Among field implementers, overlapping provisions, inconsistencies and unrealistic or
unfounded activities in enforcing the stated policies were raised against the Code (Ibid).
Findings from the reviews of forest policy in the Philippines from 1995 - 2001 showed that
in the case of imposing fees and charges for the use of forest resources, there were obvious
improper valuation of resources and that the ‘rental system’ applied for the use of forest
lands and its resources no longer attune with the provisions of the Constitution (Catindig,
2001). Furthermore, most scholars opined that many of the provisions of the Code do not
encompass recent policy shifts on forest resource allocation and management by the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) – the major agency
implementing the code. Between the two standpoints of criticisms and opinions on why the
aforesaid policy failed, the latter is the center of attention of this study.
1.3 Recent Forest Policies: Trends and Development
In more than two decades, the Revised Forestry Code was overtaken by various forestrelated
policies. Fig. 1 shows the policy development on forest-related issues from 1975 to
10

2001 in the Philippines. The policies during 1975 to early part of 1980s were enacted
mostly by the executive branch of government in the form of Presidential Decree (P.D.) and
Letter of Instruction (LOI) while the beginning of 1990s most policies were passed by
legislative branch through Republic Acts (R.A.). However, the turning point can be seen
after the declaration of Executive Order (E.O.) 192 which institutionalized the new direction
of policies by reorganizing and merging of several agencies into one implementing body -
the now existing Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
▼Wildlife Act
(R.A. 9147)
▼Social Reform & Poverty &
Alleviation Act (R.A. 8425)
▼ IPRA (R.A. 8371)
▼ CBFM (E.O. 263)
▼ Phil. Mining Act (R.A. 7942)
▼ Bio-Prospecting (E.O. 247)
▼NIPAS Act (R.A. 7586)
▼Local Government Code (R.A 7160)
▼Comprehensive Agrarian Reform (R.A. 6657)
▼ Reorganization of DENR (E.O. 192)
▼Integrated Social Forestry Program (LOI 1260)
▼Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) – (P.D.1586)
▼Philippine Environment Policy (P.D. 1151)
▼Revised Forestry Code (P.D.705)
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
Fig.1. The time-line of forestry-related legislations enacted from 1975 – 2001
Source: Field data, 2003.
Under the new organizational set-up, the DENR was tasked to “ensure the sustainable use,
development, management, renewal and conservation of the country’s forests, mineral lands,
offshore areas and other natural resources, including the protection and enhancement of the
quality of the environment.” Interestingly, the National Integrated Protected Areas System
(NIPAS) Act was the very first law enacted after the DENR re-organization that exemplifies
both on people’s participation and forest protection through establishment of protected areas.
Other notable forest-related policies after this reorganization are: the Local Government
Code of 1991; Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM) - E.O. 263; Indigenous
People’s Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997 and recently, the R.A 9147 – entitled “An Act
Providing for the Conservation and Protection of Wildlife Resources and Their Habitats,
Appropriating Funds and Other Purposes ” or otherwise called as Wildlife Act of 2001.
These policies are oriented towards conservation and/or people’s participation particularly
11

by the indigenous communities in the implementation and enforcement.
policies surpassed the Revised Forestry Code.
All of these
1.4 Problem Statement and Approach in Policy Analysis
Worrell (1970) states that forest policy is dynamic, it does not stay the same over any long
period of time. Changes in forest policies often times are influenced by a variety of issues
and how it came about set forth a learning challenge in the field of policy studies. One issue
believed to have acted as catalyst to the evolution of major important laws (i.e. NIPAS Act)
is the set of belief systems of each individual that participated in the formulation and
drafting/writing of the policy.
The issue or question whether NIPAS Act – considered as the first major law that emanated
from the period 1975 to 2003, and that which addresses both conservation strategy and
people’s participation came into fruition as determined by the belief systems of the actors
behind the formulation of the said policy. The intent of this study is to analyze and
understand how changes occur rather than in what policies are in static sense. From this
point, the issues of “why and how forest policies in the Philippines changed” are imperative
to understand the resultant effects to Philippine forests. To develop this understanding,
policy context, actors, process, contents as well as impact are essential. Also, the dynamics
of evolution, formation and the extent to which beliefs and strategies change over time are
very vital to understand.
Explaining the process of policy change has its own complexities, that is why policy
analysts used approaches. Although numerous paradigms have been presented, most have
been devoid of structural attributes that are necessary for a clear and concise systematic
approach to analyze policy change (Vanegas, 2001). It was recently, that an actor-based
approach was introduced to understand the policy change. Keeley and Scoone (2003)
identify the potentials of this approach especially in analyzing environmental policy change,
saying:
“It enables us to understand how received wisdoms are built, and subsequently
upheld, through actions of different actors operating in the context of
organizations and bureaucratic settings seen as constituted by social relations
and embedded in cultural norms and values. With this tool we can explain for
example, why exactly there is a widespread consensus that forest are
12

disappearing at a particular rate in a particular place; why an action plan is
being formulated to deal with it; or why it is widely accepted that soil losses
are this many tons per hectare in this county; and why certain technologies are
necessary for amelioration.”
One of the potentials of an actor-based model is a way of understanding the spread of
knowledge (most cases that initiates policy change). Consequently, the Advocacy Coalition
Framework (ACF) is consistent to actor-based approach. Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith (1988
& 1993) developed ACF as a new theoretical framework of understanding the policy process.
ACF focuses on the interaction of advocacy coalitions – each consisting of actors from a
variety of institutions who share a set of policy beliefs – within a policy subsystem and sees
policy change as a function of both competition within the subsystem and events outside the
subsystem.
The ACF approach has been widely applied in most developed countries particularly in the
United States, Europe and Commonwealth countries in analyzing policy change 1 . However,
very little is known about its applicability, possibilities and potentials in the policy context
of developing countries like in the Philippines. Consequently, the presence of coalition
(Legaspi, 1994) and the policy context in the Philippines made ACF an appropriate
framework of the study in analyzing the policy change. The ACF, as the theoretical setting
of this study is further described in chapter 2.
1.5 Objectives of the Study
The primary goal of this study is to dissect and analyze the process of forest policy change
in the Philippines through ACF approach. To achieve this goal are the ancillary objectives
which are:
(1) To describe the policy formulation, its actors and their views and intentions
using the advocacy coalition approach;
(2) To identify and describe the causal drivers of policy change; and
(3) To determine the impacts of changed belief systems on the forest policy in
the Philippines.
1 To see the studies conducted around the world refer to
http://www.des.ucdavis.edu/faculty/Sabatier/Research.htm
13

Linked to these ancillary objectives are the research questions which are:
(1) Was the change in forest policy towards conservation and people’s
participation due to the degradation of forest resources in the country?
(2) Are the participants and the barriers involved in the policy change
identifiable? and
(3) Did the data generated using ACF approach provide vital information in
analyzing the policy process and policy change in the Philippines?
14

2 ACF: Theoretical Framework
2.1 General Overview
The Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) was introduced to understand policy change and
explain its role in the policy process. An Advocacy Coalition “consists of actors from a
variety of governmental and private organizations at different levels of government who
share a set of policy and seek to realize them by influencing the behaviour of multiple
government institutions over time” (Sabatier, 1993). It has four premises: (1) that
understanding the process of policy change and the role of policy-oriented learning therein –
requires a time perspective of a decade or more (enough to show one complete cycle of the
formulation/implementation/reformulation process); (2) that the most useful way to think
about policy change over such a time span is through a focus on “policy subsystems”, that is,
the interaction of actors from different institutions who follow and seek to influence
governmental decisions in a policy arena; (3) that those subsystems must include an intragovernmental
dimension, that is, they must involve all levels of government (at least for
domestic policy); and, (4) that public policies or programs can be conceptualized in the same
manner as belief systems (Sabatier, 1993).
For a better understanding of the framework of ACF, the key features and the subsystem
structure are described in this chapter. Fig.2 shows how ACF framework looks like. It has a
policy subsystem, belief system and external variables that are dealt in the subsequent
sections. In addition, the process of policy change and policy-oriented learning are
presented and elaborated.
2.2 Policy Subsystem
The policy subsystem or domain is the most useful unit of analysis for understanding policy
change due to the inclusion of the broadest range of socio-political interest. A policy
subsystem is defined as “those actors from a variety of public and private organizations who
are actively concerned with a policy issue” (Sabatier 1993) and who regularly seek to
influence public policy. Sabatier’s policy subsystem is not merely focusing on policy elites
from private and public institutions, he also recognizes latent or potential actors who would
become active if they had the appropriate information (Balbus, 1971).
15

Relative Stable
Parameters
1. Basic attributes of the
problem area.
2. Basic distribution of
natural resources.
3. Fundamental sociocultural
values and social
structure.
4. Basic constitutional
structure (rules).
External (System)
Events
1. Changes in socioeconomic
conditions.
2. Changes in systemic
governing coalition.
3. Policy decisions and
impacts from other
subsystems.
Degree of
consensus
needed for
major policy
change
Constraints
and
Resources
of
Subsystem
Actors
Coalition A
a. Policy beliefs
b. Resources
Strategy A1
Policy Subsystem
Policy Brokers
Decisions by Sovereigns
Institutional Rules, Resource
Allocations and Appointments
Policy Outputs
Policy Impacts
Coalition B
a. Policy beliefs
b. Resources
Strategy B1
Fig.2. The revised advocacy coalition framework of policy change.
Adopted from Sabatier, 1999.
This policy subsystem broadened the traditional concept of “iron triangles” that limits the
analysis to administrative agencies, legislative committees and interest groups at a single
government level. Also, it challenges the traditional way of focusing a specific
governmental institution involved in the policy making. Within the policy subsystem, it is
assumed that actors can be aggregated into a number of advocacy coalitions who share a set
of normative and causal beliefs and who often act in concert. In this study, the protected
area policy making subsystem is the unit of analysis and it is elaborated in Chapter 4.
16

2.3 Belief Systems
Sabatier conceptualizes policies as belief systems. Within any policy subsystem, there are
several “advocacy coalitions” which are composed of individuals sharing normative
commitments and causal belief and work concomitantly towards their respective objectives.
Belief systems involve value priorities, perceptions of important causal relationships, and
perceptions/assumptions concerning the efficacy of various policy instruments (Sabatier and
Jenkins-Smith, 1999). The belief systems of each coalition are organized into a hierarchical
tripartite structure as shown in the revised structure of belief systems in table 1. At the
highest level is the deep core which includes the basic ontological and normative beliefs. At
the next level are the policy core beliefs which correspond to coalition’s basic normative
commitments and causal perceptions across an entire policy domain or subsystem.
According to Sabatier, the policy core – not the deep core - beliefs are the fundamental glue
of coalitions. Lastly, the secondary aspects of a coalition’s beliefs are beliefs which concern
on the seriousness of the problem, relative importance of various causal factors in specific
locals, budgetary allocations, etc. The coalition may evolve from their beliefs and strategies
while policies turn into programs and activities or whether avery solid empirical evidence
will convince the coalition to change policy core beliefs (Sabatier, 1993).
17

Table 1. Revised Structure of Belief Systems of Policy Elites
Deep (Normative) Core Near (Policy) Core Secondary Aspects
Defining
characteristics
Fundamental normative and
ontological axiom
Fundamental policy positions
concerning the basic strategies
for achieving normative axioms
of deep core.
Instrumental decisions and
information searches
necessary to implement
policy core.
Scope
Part of basic personal
philosophy. Applies to all
policy areas.
Applies to policy area of interest
(and perhaps a few more).
Specific to policy area/
subsystem of interest.
Susceptibility
to change
Very difficult; akin to a
religious conversion.
Difficult, but can occur if
experience reveals serious
anomalies.
Moderately easy; this is the
topic of most administrative
and even legislative
policymaking.
Illustrative
components
1. The nature of man:
i. Inherently evil vs.
socially redeemable.
ii. Part of nature vs.
dominion over nature.
iii. Narrow egoists vs.
contractarians.
2. Relative priority of
various ultimate values:
freedom, security, power,
knowledge, health, love,
beauty, etc.
3. Basic criteria of
distributive justice:
Whose welfare counts?
Relative weights of self,
primary groups, all
people, future
generations, nonhuman
beings, etc.
1. Proper scope of
governmental vs. market
activity.
2. Proper distribution of
authority among various
units (e.g. levels) of
government.
3. Identification of social
groups whose welfare is
most critical.
4. Orientation of substantive
policy conflicts, e.g.
environmental protection
vs. economic development.
5. Magnitude of perceived
threat to those values.
6. Basic choices concerning
policy instruments, e.g.
coercion vs. inducements
vs. persuasion.
7. Desirability of
participation by various
segments of society:
i. Public vs. Elite
participation.
ii. Experts vs. elected
officials.
8. Ability of society to solve
problems in this policy
area:
i. Zero-sum competition vs.
potential for mutual
accommodation.
ii. Technological optimism
vs. pessimism.
1. Seriousness of specific
aspects of the problem
in specific locales.
2. Importance of various
causal linkages in
different locales and
over time.
3. Most decisions
concerning
administrative rules,
budgetary allocations,
disposition of cases,
statutory interpretation,
and even statutory
revision.
4. Information concerning
program performance
of specific programs or
institutions.
Source: Sabatier, 1999
18

2.4 External Variables
There are two sets of exogenous variables or external perturbations that affect the constraints
and opportunities of the subsystem actors, namely; relatively stable parameters and external
dynamic system events. According to Sabatier, the first set of variables is difficult to change
and he discourages the actors from making the object of strategizing behaviour. Under the
relatively stable parameters are the factors which are:
(1) Basic attributes of the problem area;
(2) Basic distribution of natural resources;
(3) Fundamental socio-cultural values and social structure; and
(4) Basic legal structure (rules).
The second set of external variable is known to change over the course of a few years or a
decade and can be substantial (Sabatier, 1993). The following factors under the dynamic
system events are:
(1) Changes in socio-economic conditions;
(2) Changes in systemic governing coalition; and
(3) Policy decisions and impacts from other subsystems.
2.5 Policy Change
According to Sabatier (1993), policy change within a subsystem can be understood as a
product of two processes. First, advocacy coalitions within the subsystem attempt to
translate the policy cores and the secondary aspects of their belief systems into
governmental programs. Compromise among coalitions will arise in formulating programs
although there will usually be dominant coalitions and/or more minority coalitions. The
second process is one of external interference that is the effect of system-wide events,
changes in socio-economic conditions, outputs from other subsystems, and changes in the
system-wide governing coalition on the resources and constraints of subsystem actors.
2.6 Policy-Oriented Learning
Policy-oriented learning involves alteration of thoughts or behavioural intentions that result
from experience and which are concerned with the attainment or revision of the precepts of
the belief system of individuals or of collectivities. This results from experience and/or new
19

information that are relevant to the attainment or revision of policy (Heclo, 1974). Sabatier
(1993) mentions five processes wherein the beliefs change:
“- individual learning and attitudinal change;
- the diffusion of beliefs and attitudes among individuals;
- turnover in individuals within any collectivity;
- group dynamics, such as polarization of homogenous groups or groups in
conflict; and
- rules for aggregating preferences and promoting communication among
individuals.”
Policy-oriented learning is only one of the factors affecting policy change which often alters
secondary aspects of the coalition’s belief system. Changes in the policy core aspects of a
government require perturbation in noncognitive factors external to the subsystem.
2.7 ACF: A Brief Justification of Choice of Approach
In policy analysis, policy approaches and models are used to aid in understanding the
process, help individuals to work within the system of implementing the policies and/or
assist to change policy outcomes to those favored by the participants or actors. Cubbage
(1993) identifies several approaches in analyzing forest policy such as: (1) the historical
approach which reviews the past events and laws in order to describe the evolution of forest
resources policy; (2) the institutional approach which focuses on the institutions or
organizations that make forest policy; and (3) the analytical/procedural approach which
relies on a model of political decision-making process. However, all of them have
shortcomings. According to Cubbage (1993) the first approach tends to oversimplify the
policy processes which in reality are detailed and complex, whereas, the second approach
limits the activities of a policy or processes to specific institutions. While the third approach,
it has no clear criteria for judging when a policy action is completed. The last approach is
related to `stages heuristics’ that divides the policy process into a series of stages. The
stages heuristics is considered to be the most influential approach or framework for
understanding the policy process (Nakamura, 1987). It gained a wider recognition to most
policy researchers, practitioners and teachers. However, it has been subjected to some
criticisms (Nakamura, 1987; Sabatier, 1991; Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith, 1993). Sabatier
(1993) enumerates six limitations of stages heuristic as a basis of research and teaching:
20

(1) It never identifies a set of causal drivers that govern the process within and
across stages;
(2) The proposed order of stages is often descriptively inaccurate;
(3) It does not provide a clear basis for empirical hypothesis testing;
(4) The stages heuristics is typically focused on the passage and implementation of
a major piece of legislation and neglects the interaction of the implementation
and evaluation of numerous pieces of legislation;
(5) It inappropriately emphasizes the policy cycle as the temporal unit of analysis;
and
(6) It falls short in providing a good means for integrating the roles of policy
analysis and policy-oriented learning all through the public policy process.
As a conclusion, stages heuristics has outlived its usefulness to explain a very complex
policy process (Sabatier, 1999).
The ACF addresses the limitations of the stages heuristics. Sabatier (1999) equips four
criteria of ACF and two of these criteria are related to this study, which are:
(1) Address the broad sets of factors of public policy-making such as conflicting
values and interests, information flows, institutional arrangements and
variation in the socioeconomic environment; and.
(2) Each framework must be the subject of a fair amount of recent conceptual
development and/or empirical testing. A number of currently active policy
scholars must view it as a viable way of understanding the policy process.
With these criteria, the ACF among the other approaches will provide much more
information in understanding the policy process and policy change in the Philippines.
21

3 Methodology
3.1 General Overview
Several methods were used in achieving the objectives of this study. Content analysis of
available document was used as the main method in dealing the primary goal of the study
which is analyzing the forest policy change in the Philippines as well as the first and the
third ancillary objectives (see page 5). Review of literature and informal interviews of key
informants and related policy actors were undertaken to achieve the third objective.
The study was confined to policy documents that evolved during the period of 1975 to 1992,
the timeframe where drastic change in policy direction arose in the Philippines. From
amongst the policies evolved during that period (see Fig.1), the NIPAS Act was selected and
interpreted. Because the interest of this study is on the policy change towards forest
conservation and towards people’s participation, the NIPAS Act illustrates both types of
change. Furthermore, NIPAS Act was the very first major law enacted after the
reorganization of DENR (see 1.3).
Analysis was done on two levels: (1) at the national level, particularly drawing on available
data from a national government agency such as the DENR central office; and (2) at the
local level, specifically from the data of the Subic Bay Protected Area. This analytical
strategy was chosen because policy innovations are normally first manifested at more
localized levels and may later be expanded into nationwide programs (Sabatier 1993). This
case study was therefore prepared for the local level.
In the following subchapters, a description of the ACF methodology employed by Sabatier
and Jenkins-Smith (1993) is presented and the methods mentioned above are described in
detail including data collection, data processing, reliability and validity, and constraints and
limitations of the study.
3.2 Content Analysis of Public Accessible Documents
Content analysis is a technique for gathering and analyzing the content of a text – wherein
the content could be in words, meanings, ideas, symbols, themes or any message that can be
communicated (Neuman, 1994). For example, public documents where policy elites express
22

their positions, values, and beliefs provide a valuable source of data (Holsti, 1969;
Krippendorf, 1980). Documents, where the same individual or representative repeats
expression of policy beliefs over time foster retrospective content analysis. Records of
Congressional hearings are also examples of public documents which contain formal,
informal and interrogatory expressions by individuals extensively involved in attempts to
shape a given policy debate (King, 1989). By content analysis, primary data sets can be
obtained.
In ACF, to capture expressed beliefs, interests, and policy positions of the governmental and
interest-group documents, the use of content analysis involves three steps: (1) the
identification of the target population and a representative sampling of that population to be
coded; (2) the development of a coding frame consisting of the relevant elements in the
belief systems of the target population; and (3) attention to reliability and validity problems
when inferring beliefs from documentary sources (Sabatier, 1993). Identifying the target
population can be accomplished easily by referring to the policy subsystem or set of policy
actors. However, developing a coding frame is an arduous task because it requires the
researcher to have a thorough understanding of the issues that arose and major positions
taken through out the period under study. Aside from that, coding frames typically go
through several iterations as their preliminary applications to the material under
investigation repeatedly uncover new ideas or positions that merit inclusion or refinement
(Sabatier 1993). The codeforms developed by Jenkins-Smith, H. & G. St. Claire in the U.S.
Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) project (Jenkins-Smith, et.al, 1993) and Sabatier in
Environmental Policy at Lake Tahoe, 1964-1985 project (Sabatier, 1993) took
approximately a year to develop code frames alone and suffered numerous revisions in the
process of being fleshed out and refined (Sabatier, 1993). For this reason, the methodology
for this study was modified due to time limitation in the collection of data and data analysis.
3.3 Conceptual Analysis
In order to capture the beliefs of the policy actors from the collected data, instead of the
development of coding frames for counting and recording procedures, conceptual analysis
was used. Conceptual analysis is one of the major types of content analysis. As the word
itself, a ‘concept’ is chosen for examination whereas ‘analysis’ involves quantifying and
tallying its presence. The main focus of conceptual analysis is to look at the occurrence of
23

selected terms within texts, either implicit or explicit terms . To capture the beliefs of policy
elites or actors, the choice of concepts was based on the revised structure of belief systems
of policy elites (Sabatier, 1993) as shown in Table 1, as well as theoretical questions cited in
chapter 1. Fig. 3 2 was prepared to present the steps of conducting conceptual analysis of
public accessible documents.
Steps of Conceptual Analysis 2 of Public Documents
Step 1. Identifying research questions - Conceptual analysis begins with identifying research questions.
For the purpose of this study, the specific research questions related to the hypotheses in chapter 1 were
used. These are:
a. What problems raised during the policy making?
b. Who are the participants in the policy making?
i. Who are the advocates and supporters?
ii. Who are the opponents?
c. Who and what influences the key decision-makers?
i. What are their beliefs?
ii. What arguments are they most likely to respond to?
iii.What are their priorities and intentions?
Step 2. The choice of level of analysis - This is to decide whether to code for a single word or for sets of
words or phrases that will constitute a concept. In this study, both single words and phrases were used in
constituting a concept. For example, “return to its original state” is a phrase while “preservation” is a single
word.
Step 3. Deciding the number of concepts to code for – To determine how many concepts to code for,
an interactive concept choice was applied in the study. Sets of concepts and categories were developed
during the coding process. This coding flexibility allows new and important material to be incorporated in the
coding process that could have significant results in the analysis.
Step 4. Choice of concepts and categories – Aside from the research questions stated in step 1, the
choice was based on the following:
a. Revised structure of belief system (Sabatier, 1999) – this allows to determine particularly the
beliefs of the actors. Specific components are shown in Appendix A.
b. Interest groups documents and publications (see Table 3).
Step 5. Level of generalization - Because terms may be implicit as well as explicit, concepts which are
similar in definition but in different or altered forms were generalized. For instance, “return to its original
state” was coded as same as “restoration”.
Step 6. Frequencies of concepts – Concepts were coded for frequency. The frequency of the concept
indicates the importance. For example, in the case study of Subic Bay Protected Area, under the category
of Social Concern, the concept of “IP’s rights” appeared 14 times in the documents while the concept of
“local community” was 4 times. Here, an interpretation can be drawn that IP’s rights is more important than
local communities.
Fig.3. Steps in conducting Conceptual Analysis based on Carney (1992) and Weber (1990)
Source: Writing Guide at Colorado State University Home Page. For further detailed procedures please refer
to the website written in the list of references.
2 The steps of conducting conceptual analysis was made based on Carley (1992) and Weber (1990) and is
accessible in http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/WritingCenter/references/research/content/page2.htm
24

3.4 Case Study
The content analysis on the national level was complemented by a case study. A case study
is a form of qualitative descriptive research that is used to look at individuals, a small group
of participants, or a group as a whole. It involves an in-depth description of the entity being
evaluated, the circumstances under which it is used, the characteristics of the people
involved in it, and the nature of community in which it is located. In relation to the
understanding of policy process, a case study is employed to identify actual problems, to
recognize key players and their agenda and to become aware of those aspects of situation
that contribute to the problem (Merseth, 1991) 3 . Also, according to Yin (1993), a case study
should have research issue, units of analysis, and criteria for selection of the case. In this
study, the illustrative type of case study was used. The research issue is specific on how the
policy change at the national level gets translated to the local level as well as how policy at
local level affects the national level. The unit of analysis is the protected area management
plan. For the criteria for study area selection, the following aspects were considered:
- Proximity and accessibility;
- Encompassing existing forest stands;
- Belonging to the protected area (PA) priority sites identified by DENR; and
- Social-political stability and personal safety.
The following were performed for the case study: data collection, content analysis of
comprehensive documents (see Fig. 3), interviews of key informants to verify the collected
documents as well as to gather information which were not available from the collected
documents.
3.5 Data Collection
A number of public documents such as records of congressional and legislative hearings,
public consultation proceedings, drafted bills, statements of interest groups and related
literature were collected and used as primary data source. For the national level, 22
documents were obtained from various national agencies such as the DENR Central Office,
The House of Representatives, and Archives of the Senate. The content analysis at the local
level was based on 5 comprehensive documents obtained from the Ecology Centre under the
3 For further information on case study, see
http://writing.colostate.edu/references/research/casestudy/index.cfm
25

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA). The list of documents is shown in Appendix A.
The documents present the whole official documentation of the policy making process.
Aside from public documents, informal interviews with policy actors and key informants
involved in the policy making and literature reviews were carried out for the purpose of
validation and verification of beliefs identified from the content analysis as well as factors
affecting their decisions (stated in the documents).
3.6 Data Processing
There are three main parts in the processing of data:
(1) Policy actor identification – the information about the actors involved during
the policy making process were identified from the attendance sheets of
public consultations, congress and senate hearings, and committee meetings;
letters of statement of interest groups; and journalists in news clippings;
(2) Advocacy coalitions – the coalitions at the national level were identified
based on the result of content analysis where codings were done according to
the main sources of documents. While at the local level, the same content
analysis was carried out however, codings were done based on the main
group of actors. This is because the ways of documenting their policy
making process were different; and
(3) Belief systems – In capturing the belief system of the advocacy coalitions,
five types of information were utilized. These are:
- Output of the conceptual analysis;
- Selected code forms (see Appendix B);
- Revised structure of belief system (see Table 1);
- Research questions (stated in Fig.3, Step 1); and
- Verification from interest groups’ publications and informal
interviews.
Because of these methodologies, the structure of the chapters 4 and 5 as the result chapters
of the study has three main parts: a) the internal structure of the policy subsystem is
dissected to identify actors and their concepts (as output of content analysis of public
documents), advocacy coalitions and belief systems and policy outputs; b) the external
factors affecting the subsystem; and c) the diagnostics and discussions.
26

3.7 Reliability and Validity
There are three types of determining reliability pertinent to content analysis: stability,
reproducibility and accuracy (Krippendorff, 1980). Weber (1993) identifies possible
reasons or causes why reliability should be taken into account. He opined that stability,
considered as the weakest form of reliability occurs when only one person is coding on the
other hand, conflicting codings resulted from cognitive differences among coders,
ambiguous coding instructions or from random coding errors causing unreliability for
reproducibility. Moreover, human coders are subject to fatigue and are more likely to make
more mistakes during coding process. To address this reliability issues, table 2 shows the
measures conducted during the content analyzes of the documents.
Table 2. Measures performed for reliability of content analysis 4 .
Reliability Types
Stability
Measures
To allow coders to consistently re-code the same data in the same
way over a period of time, the research questions and list of code
frames 5 were used as basis of coding:
1. Relatively priority of various ultimate values:
a. Economic well-being
b. Preserve natural resources
c. Aesthetic value
d. Security
2. Whose welfare counts?
a. directly affected
b. future generations
3. Orientation of substantive policy conflicts; Ex.:
environmental protection vs. economic development.
4. Salience/Magnitude of perceived threats to those values:
a. property rights
b. environmental/aesthetical quality
c. economic viability
5. Seriousness of specific aspects of the problem (in this case,
the status of forest biological resources and positions of
different actors towards the problem).
Reproducibility or intercoder
reliability
Accuracy
The tendency for a group of coders to classify categories in the
same way, Appendix C presents the listings of words and phrases
coded from the documents including the generalization of related
words.
The conduct of content analyzes both the national level and the
case study, were done repeatedly (3 times) to address accuracy.
4 For further information on issues of relativity, see http://writing.colostate.edu/references/research/casestudy/index.cfm
5
These are parts of the hundred code frames designed by Sabatier to generate policy elites’ beliefs and position for
Environmental Policy at Lake Tahoe. Only relevant code frames to the study were selected. The selected code frames
present the different levels of belief systems.
27

Gottschalk (1995) points out that the issue of reliability may be further complicated by the
inescapably human nature of researchers. For this reason, he suggests that coding errors can
only be minimized, and not eliminated (he shoots for 80% as an acceptable margin for
reliability).
Measurement validity is one of the general types of validity. It is a degree of fit between a
construct and indicators. It refers to how well conceptual and operational definitions mesh
with each other - the better the fit, the greater the measurement validity (Neuman, 1994).
One indicator of validity of a content analysis is the correspondence of categories to the
generalizability of the results to a theory. Weber (1990) states that “to assert that a category
or variable (Economic, for example) is valid is to assert that there is a correspondence
between the category and the abstract concept that it represents (concern with economic
matters) and to assert that a research result based on content analysis is valid is to assert that
the finding does not depend upon or is generalizable beyond specific data, methods, or
measurements of a particular study.”
Stemler (2001) mentions that validation of the inferences made on the basis of data from one
analytic approach demand the use of multiple sources of information. To address the
validity of those categories, Table 3 indicates interest-groups documents supporting the
choice of categories.
Table 3. Interest-groups documentation supporting the validity of categories.
Categories
Economic Development
Source of Information
The aim of the Philippine government towards economic
development was well recorded by Guiang, 1993; Amado,
1994; Boado, 1993; Breganza, 1996; and McDowell, 1989.
Environmental Concerns
Social Concerns
Awareness of environmental issues such as soil erosion,
deforestation and loss of biodiversity are well documented by
Bautista, 1990; Ganapin, 1987a; Environmental Research
Division, 1988; Petocz, 1988; and Walpole et al., 1993.
Issues on indigenous cultural communities and migrant
upland farmers are well described by Breganza, 1996;
Ganapin, 1987a; Ganapin, 1987b; Kummer, 1992; Pulhin,
1996; and Pulhin, 1997.
28

3.8 Constraints and Limitations
Usually, to adequately measure beliefs in a policy arena over a fairly long period of time, the
coding frame will probably be quite extensive, as it will presumably contain a number of
quite abstract beliefs as well as items dealing with the specific policy disputes that arose
during the decade or more under investigation (Jenkins-Smith, et. al, 1993). But since the
study was constrained by time, only a specific policy that arose during the period of 1975-
1992, specifically the NIPAS Act was selected and underwent interpretations (see the forest
related legislation timeline in Fig.1). The scope of policy change that the study intends to
deliver should encompass both the quality of change in conservation strategies and in the
level of people’s participation. In this case, the NIPAS Act (among other laws and
legislations) was chosen as the appropriate policy for the conduct of policy change analysis.
While the application of ACF requires a time perspective of a decade or more, there were
some difficulties in retrieving old documents. Many documents were not readily available
for public use, particularly at the national level. This may be due to substandard archival
practices, reasonably attributed to the Martial Law Period (1972-1981), or to issues
revolving around the archival responsibilities of disbanded, legacy public agencies and their
newer replacements. This may also merely reflect the logistics of maintaining archival
materials in the tropics. Note also that during the period of data collection, the selection of a
case study area was influenced by the presence of terrorist threats to civil order in the
Philippines.
29

4 Towards Protected Area Conservation: the NIPAS Act
4.1 Overview
The presentation regarding policy change towards protected area conservation consists of
three parts. The first part is a discussion of the historical background of protected area
policy in the Philippines. Second, the structure of the protected area policy making
subsystem is presented and elaborated upon. Finally, the interplay of external perturbations
and the policy-oriented learning in the coalitions are dealt as part of diagnostics.
4.2 Historical Background of Protected Area Policy
The primary law for the establishment of National Parks in the Philippines was Act 3915
known as “An act providing for the establishment of National Parks as Game Refuges and
other Purposes”. Passed in 1932, it centered on the withdrawal of settlers from forests and
other forms of unauthorized occupancy; and on an absolute ban on wildlife hunting.
Subsequently, proclamations creating national parks were issued, mostly through
presidential decrees, focused mainly on enhancing recreation and tourism rather than on
protection and conservation. No policy-oriented studies were undertaken on parks and
wildlife management or conservation issues during that time, although they were recognized
to be important (Magno, 1979).
The emergence of new perceptions and pressure from various interest groups in both the
national and international arena edged out the policy perspectives of the 1932 Act. Interest
in modern national parks management and in the promotion of sustainable development
came into the forefront (IPAS legislative study, 1992).
In 1986, an Integrated Protected Areas System (IPAS) project was initiated and
implemented by a local NGO in the Philippines. For the first time, the project initiated the
concept of protection and preservation of all representative ecosystems and habitat types,
including the species of plants and animals – in short, the whole biodiversity. This project
served to list and map protected areas (PAs) with its conservation priorities.
One year later, the legal concept of protected areas was introduced, during the
reorganization of DENR by virtue of E.O.192 (see 1.3). DENR was mandated with primary
30

responsibility of conserving, managing and developing the country’s environment and
natural resources including those in reservation, watershed areas and land of public domain.
The Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) was created under the reorganized
structure of the DENR, with the following functions which supporting the objectives of
IPAS project:
“Section 18a. Formulate and recommend policies, guidelines, rules and
regulations for the establishment and management of an Integrated Protected
Areas Systems such as national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and refuge,
marine parks and biospheric reserves;” (Section 18a, E.O.192)
“Section 18c. Formulate policies, guidelines, rules and regulations for the
preservation of biological diversity, genetic resources, the endangered
Philippine flora and fauna;” (Section 18a, E.O. 192) and
“Section 18d. Assist the Secretary in the monitoring and assessment of the
management of the Integrated Protected Areas System and provide technical
assistance to the regional offices in the implementation of programs for these
areas.” (Section 18d. E. O. 192)
The functions given to PAWB, led to the continuation of IPAS project in 1988 with the
objectives of formulating new policy for establishing PAs and to modernize the old system
of national parks, biological reserves and protected areas in the Philippines. In 1990, a
proposed bill was submitted to the Philippine Congress and in June 1, 1992, Republic Act
No. 7586, otherwise known as the National Integrated Protected Areas Systems (NIPAS)
Act was signed into law.
The next sub-chapter analyzes the specifics of the policy process of NIPAS Act through the
lens of ACF. The analysis starts from the actors of the subsystem and ends with the external
perturbations affecting the policy subsystem.
4.3 Protected Area Policy-Making Subsystem: The Internal Structure
ACF assumes that policy subsystem is the most useful unit of analysis in understanding
policy change. A policy subsystem is composed of sectors from a variety of public and
private organizations actively concerned in a policy issue. For this study, the policy issue is
the establishment of a protected area system and the unit of analysis for understanding the
policy change is the protected area policy making subsystem. It is divided into two
structures: the internal structure and the external perturbations. In this sub-chapter, the
31

emphasis of discussions is on the internal structure - its policy actors, advocacy coalitions
and their belief systems and policy outputs. Fig.4 illustrates the overview of the internal
structure of the protected area policy-making subsystem. The result of this study differs
from that of Sabatier, in which three coalitions were identified.
Policy Subsystem
Coalition
A
Coalition
B
Coalition
C
Policy
Brokers
Policy Outputs
Policy Impact
Fig.4. The internal structure of the policy subsystem.
Adopted from Sabatier, 1993
4.3.1 Policy Actors and Conceptual Analysis
The protected area policy-making subsystem, during the period of 1980s and 1990s
consisted of actors 6 from:
1. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), including the
funded programs and 2 staff bureaus namely: FMB, PAWB and DENR funded
programs;
2. The Department of Agriculture (DA);
3. The Department of Tourism (DoT);
4. Two local government units (Office of the Government and Provincial House);
5. The Congressional House of Representatives (represented by the members of
the Committee on Natural Resources);
6. The Philippine Senate (represented by members of Committee on Natural
Resources and Ecology);
32

7. The National Power Corporation (NPC);
8. Eighty-six non-government organizations (NGOs), people’s organizations (POs)
and various foundations with interest in the environment, economic
development, legal rights, religious concerns and cultural communities;
9. Researchers from seven academic institutions;
10. The Agri-Business Group from Sime Darby Philippines 7 ;
11. Seven newspaper journalists;
12. A Farmer’s Cooperative concerned in protected area issue; and
13. An independent NGO as mediator in the policy arena.
Attention was given in the third premise of ACF (see page 7) to include an intragovernmental
dimension. The internal structure of the said subsystem was composed of
diverse agencies, local/national government offices, sets of interest groups (such as NGOs
and POs) and people interested in generating and transmitting policy information (e.g.
journalists). Appendix E shows the detailed list of NGOs, POs and academic institutions
involved in policy making.
In order to capture the beliefs of these actors, the concepts used by these actors during the
policy formulation were analyzed using conceptual analysis of available public documents
(see Fig. 2). The contents of about 22 official and public documents (see Appendix A. for
detailed list of documents) were analyzed. Documents were grouped according to their
sources, such as: documents from public consultations, legislative committees, other interest
groups and media or journalists. In this way, the analysis of coded words was facilitated.
Table 4 shows the result of the conceptual analysis. It presents the concepts that appeared
from the documents and the number of times each concept occurred. The concepts then
were grouped together under the three main categories 8 , namely: environmental, social
concerns and economic development (see pages 19-21 for the validity and reliability of
content analysis).
In analyzing table 4, the results showed that the most frequent concepts are “IPs recognition
in the protected area” (39%), “participation/consultation/representation” (28%),
6 For the sources of policy actors see page 18 under the sub-heading Data Processing.
7 A private manufacturing company in the country.
8 For basis of setting categories, refer to chapter 3.
33

“conservation” (26%) and “biodiversity” (23%). By categories, the social concern has the
highest total frequency (46 %) of concepts (see Appendix F for further percentage
computation of frequencies). By looking at the groupings of sources, it can be shown that
concepts under social concern category are the most frequent concepts to appear in the
public consultation documents, whereas concepts under the environmental category ranked
highest in legislative documents. Also, it is interesting to note that legislative committees
were quite vocal about the concepts of “conservation”, “preservation” and “biodiversity”
although the terms were new at that time. On the other hand, actors from public
consultations (where most of NGOs and POs are represented) were vocal on “IPs
recognition” and “participation.” Of all the three categories, economic development has the
lowest frequency of concepts in all the documents.
34

Table 4. Frequency of concepts.
Categories
Public
Consultations 9
Sources
Legislative Media
Committees
Interest
Groups
10
Social Concern
Rights/Protection of IPs/local
5 1 0 3 9
communities
Ancestral domain claims/tenure 6 3 4 7 20
Steward 1 1 2 0 4
Participation/consultation/representation 19 6 9 3 37
Livelihood Activities 3 2 0 1 6
Development/Benefits 3 0 0 0 3
IP`s Recognition in the protected area 17 15 5 14 51
Subtotal 54 28 20 28 130
Environmental
Buffer zones 11 4 3 0 1 8
Conservation 3 17 3 4 27
Preservation 1 12 5 1 19
Protection 1 5 2 2 10
Maintenance 0 2 2 1 5
Enhancement 0 1 1 3 5
Restoration 1 3 0 0 4
Rehabilitation 0 0 0 2 2
Biodiversity 3 12 9 0 24
Subtotal 13 55 22 14 104
Economic Development
Economic Potentials 5 0 1 5 11
Economic/Development Opportunities 3 4 0 0 7
Potential income, funds or grants 0 3 3 0 6
Economic use/activities (multiple use) 4 8 1 1 14
Privatization (alienable and disposable) 0 2 0 0 2
Linkage Connectivity 0 8 0 0 8
Subtotal 12 25 5 6 48
Source: Result from the Content Analysis of 22 documents, 2003
Total
In examining the list of concepts from the documents on protected area policy making, it
shows that the actors were most articulate about concepts of social concerns. The following
subchapter captures the beliefs of the identified actors using the results of the content
analysis.
9 Public consultations were composed of GOs, NGOs and Academes. Four public consultations were held
during the policy making.
10 Refers to the statements of NGOs and Foundations (see Appendix D).
11 Natural divide is included.
35

4.3.2 Advocacy Coalitions and Their Belief Systems
The results of content analysis presented in Table 4, show that the identified policy actors
can be placed into three main groups of actors articulating concepts of: social concerns,
environment, and economic development. These groups of actors in the perspective of ACF
are advocacy coalitions which share a set of normative and causal beliefs (in this case, the
concepts under each category as shown in table 4). Therefore, the three main advocacy
coalitions are the Social Concern Coalition, the Environmental Coalition and the Economic
Development Coalition.
From the same table, the composition of each advocacy coalition 12 can be drawn. The
Social Concern Coalition was dominated by NGOs and POs concerned with indigenous
cultural communities, along with allies from the Congress and Senate, the DENR, journalists
and academic institutions. The Environmental Coalition on the other hand, was composed
of the environmental NGOs, with allies from the Congress particularly the Committee on
Natural Resources, journalists, academic institutions and the DENR. The Economic
Development Coalition was consisted of the National Power Corporation, the Department of
Tourism, a business group and some allies from the Senate and the DENR. One NGO, the
Foundation for Sustainable Development Inc. (FSI), played the role as a policy broker
whose task was to find a reasonable compromise when conflicts arose between different
coalitions.
According to Sabatier, these advocacy coalitions share particular beliefs. The beliefs of the
three advocacy coalitions are presented in Table 5 (see 3.6 for data processing).
12 The grouping of documents according to its sources during the conceptual analysis was helpful to trace the
composition of the coalitions. Also, the interest groups’ publications and interviews from some actors
contributed in aggregating actors to each coalition.
36

Table 5. Advocacy Coalitions’ Belief in the Protected Area Policy.
Coalitions
Beliefs
Social Concern
Environmental
Economic Development
Recognition of ancestral domain claims and rights are very
important; IPs are part of the Biodiversity to be protected;
livelihood activities for the IP’s and local community
development. Policy strategy: participation and consultation in
the decision making process; Protected Area Management Board
(PAMB) and tenureship.
Values the preservation and conservation of the natural resources
particularly the biodiversity in the protected area and its aesthetic
values. Believes that natural park’s condition is at continuing
deteriorating state. Policy strategies: buffer zones and
environmental impact assessment (EIA).
Priority is given to economic development. Protected areas can be
used for projects like geothermal reservations and tourism and can
generate income, funds or grants. Policy strategy: Incorporation
of a comprehensive development plan.
Source: Result from the Content Analysis of 22 documents, 2003
The Social Concern Coalition apparently had beliefs centered on the recognition of
indigenous rights in protected areas and their ancestral domain claims, and the yearning to
be part of the establishment and management of PAs through participation, consultation and
representation.
The Environmental Coalition obviously had beliefs stressed on the protection and
preservation of biodiversity through the establishment of protected areas and buffer zones,
the conduct of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and the perception that the
environment is at declining state. Although biodiversity was a very new concept at that time,
the Environmental Coalition was quite vocal in expressing the concept of conservation and
protection of biodiversity.
Lastly, the Economic Development Coalition held beliefs that conservation can be coupled
with economic development. The coalition was lobbying to include areas within the
protected areas for development purposes to generate income such as geothermal
reservations.
37

An important question regarding these coalitions and their belief systems in the policy arena
is that of “Who dominates the protected area policy making subsystem?” This question can
be answered by referring back to Table 4. It shows the frequency of concepts that the actors
had used/mentioned in the documents. In conceptual analysis, frequency indicates
importance of the concept. In addition, Weber (1990) states that the most frequently
appearing words reflect the greatest concerns. However, instead of using words, the use of
categories is more appropriate in addressing the “Who” question. Thus, the Social Concern
Coalition is dominating the subsystem by acquiring the highest total frequency of concepts.
On the other hand, because the Economic Development Coalition has the lowest total
frequency, it can be argued that the coalition was the weakest among the three coalitions.
Therefore, the beliefs of the Social Concern Coalition are dominating the protected area
policy making.
These beliefs shown in table 5 are principal “glue” holding the actors within their coalitions,
in the ACF perspective. The importance of these beliefs is well understood in the succeeding
subchapter.
4.3.3 Policy Outputs: Translated Beliefs
ACF assumes that coalitions seek to translate their beliefs into public policies. In the NIPAS
Act, all the three coalitions´ beliefs were incorporated. The following are the sections where
beliefs of the three coalitions were clearly translated:
I. Social Concern Coalition:
“Section 10 (o). Control occupancy of suitable portions of the protected area
and resettle outside of said area forest occupants therein, with the exception
of the members of indigenous communities’ area.” (Section 10(o), R.A.7586);
“Section 13. Ancestral lands and customary rights and interest arising shall
be accorded due recognition. The DENR shall prescribe rules and
regulations to govern ancestral lands within protected areas: Provided, that
the DENR shall have no power to evict indigenous communities from their
present occupancy nor resettle them to another area without consent ...”
(Section 13, R.A. 7586)
II.
Economic Development Coalition:
“Section 14. Consistent with the policies declared in Section 2, hereof,
protected areas, except strict nature and natural parks, may be subjected to
38

exploration only for the purpose of gathering information on energy
resources and only if such activity is carried out with the least damage to
surrounding areas.” (Section 14, R.A. 7586)
III.
Environmental Coalition:
“Section 2. Policy Declaration: …recognizing the critical importance of
protecting and maintaining the natural biological and physical diversities of
the environment notably on areas with biologically unique features to sustain
human life and development, as well as plant and animal life, it is hereby
declared the policy of the State to secure for the Filipino people of present
and future generations the perpetual existence of all native plants and
animals through the establishment of a comprehensive system of integrated
protected areas ...” (Section 2, R.A.7586)
The underlined phrases and statements found in the above mentioned sections can be traced
from the beliefs of advocacy coalitions in table 5 that were translated in the NIPAS Act. To
cite an example, the phrase in Sec. 10 (o) saying “with the exception of the members of
indigenous communities’ area” argues that it belongs to the beliefs of Social Concern
Coalition because they viewed the indigenous communities as part of biodiversity. Hence,
they must not resettle them outside the protected area.
Furthermore, these sections were further implemented into governmental programs (with comanagement
of NGOs and international organizations) such as the Conservation of Priority
Protected Areas Project (CPPAP) and the National Integrated Protected Areas Project
(NIPAP). In addition, the implementing rules and regulations of NIPAS Act under DAO 25,
further detailed the said sections.
The next sub-chapter describes the outside forces or external perturbations affecting the
policy subsystem.
39

4.4 External Perturbations Affecting the Subsystem
In ACF, it is assumed that the subsystem coalitions are constrained by a variety of external
factors or perturbations that affect the policy development. Out of the eight factors Sabatier
(1999) mentions, three are very influential in the policy making, namely: basic legal
structure under the relatively stable parameters; change of socioeconomic conditions and
systemic governing coalitions under the category of dynamic system events as illustrated in
Fig. 5.
Relative Stable
Parameter:
Basic Legal
Structure
Dynamic System
Events:
Socioeconomic
Condition
Systemic Governing
Coalition
Constraints
and Resources
of Subsystem
Actors
Protected Area Policy
Subsystem
Fig.5. The external perturbations of the protected area policy subsystem.
Adopted from Sabatier, 1993.
4.4.1 Relatively Stable Parameter: Basic Legal Structure
The ACF assumes that basic legal norms are quite resistant to change and tend to be stable
over several decades. In the Philippines, the Constitution is the supreme law. It is the
fundamental law that defines the powers and functions of the government, and its relations
with the limitations of those powers. However, the Philippine Constitution had been
significantly altered right after the declaration of martial law in 1972. During that time, the
economic course of the government was driven towards economic development and
industrialization. The altered Constitution was instrumental in abetting then President
Ferdinand Marcos to assume all powers - including the legislative and judicial in the
Ferdinand Marcos was the 10 th President of the Philippines who declared martial law in 1972.
40

government. When Marcos was removed from the office in 1986, the 1973 Constitution
was jettisoned and replaced by the 1987 Constitution.
Under the 1987 Constitution, many new provisions were recognized. One of these is the
recognition of national parks or protected areas. The 1987 Constitution now became the
primary legal basis for establishing protected areas. Two significant clauses acknowledged
this and state the following:
“Section 3. Lands of the public domain are classified into agricultural, forest
or timber, mineral lands and national parks.” (Article XII, Section 3)
“Section 4. The Congress shall, as soon as possible, determine by law the
specific limits of forest lands and national parks, marking clearly their
boundaries on the ground. Thereafter, such forest lands and national parks
shall be conserved and may not be increased nor diminished except by law.
“(Article XII, Section 4)
The first provision heightened the importance of national parks and distinctly identified
them as one of the land classifications in the Philippines. This is a crucial development for
natural resource law in the Philippines. In the previous constitutions, for example the 1935
Constitution, there was no specific provision for classifying public lands but merely
mentioned agricultural, timber and mineral lands in Article XII, Section 1. In the 1973
Constitution, lands were classified into seven categories, namely: (1) agriculture, (2)
industrial or commercial, (3) residential, (4) resettlement, (5) mineral, (6) forest or timber
and (7) grazing land, and protected areas or national parks were not included in the
classification.
The second provision under the 1987 Constitution directs the congress to determine the
specific areas and legal identities of national parks as soon as possible. Furthermore, the
provision modifies the old practice of establishing and defining national park boundaries by
presidential proclamations.
In the 1987 Constitution, there are new provisions requiring that the State and particularly
the congress shall recognize the rights of the people, especially the IPs, as follows:
“Section 16. The State shall protect and advance the right of the people to a
balanced and healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of
nature.” (Article II, Section 16.)
41

“Section 22. The State recognizes and promotes the rights of indigenous
cultural communities within the framework of national unity and development.”
(Article II, Section 22)
“Section 1. The Congress shall give the highest priority to the enactment of
measures that protect and enhance the right of all the people to human dignity,
reduce social, economic, and political inequalities, and remove cultural
inequalities by equitably diffusing wealth and political power for the common
good.” (Article XII, Section 1)
These provisions respond to the many Filipinos who were threatened and abused by the
dictatorship of Marcos regime, particularly to indigenous communities who were displaced
from their lands in the upland areas. The indigenous cultural communities lost their ancestral
lands both to encroaching lowland migrants and to timber companies because they were
unable to produce the legal claims or title to their domain.
In addition, the legitimacy of social groups and organizations was well recognized and
encouraged by the Constitution. A clause states as:
“Section 23. The State shall encourage non-governmental, community-based,
or sectoral organizations that promote the welfare of the nation.” (Article II,
Section 23)
Significantly, these constitutional principles, as the new standard of validity for laws,
policies, regulations, ordinances and programs relating to environmental protection and
governance, are the primary guidance for courts when interpreting and applying the laws,
regulations, and programs in litigation.
4.4.2 Dynamic System Events: Change in Socioeconomic Condition
One of the examples of socioeconomic conditions that Sabatier identified in his studies of
the application of ACF was the dramatic rise in public concern on environmental
degradation. Environmentalism in the Philippines was American inspired. It can be traced
as early as when Charles Lindbergh visited the country and opened-up the minds of the
many about the endangered wildlife species such as the Tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis)
and the Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) as a consequence of the massive
deforestation in the Philippines (Amado, 1994). However, there is an even stronger reason
which drove the forest policy to change – collective mass action due to socioeconomic and
political crises during mid-1970s to mid-1980s.
42

In 1972, when Marcos declared martial law, the thrust of the government that time was
toward an economy based on an industrialized, export-oriented development model (Amado,
1994). To finance the infrastructure to support this model, the government extensively
resorted to large loans from transnational commercial banks, multilateral organizations and
the United States. At first, there were economic returns: an export processing zone was
opened, a range of additional investment incentives was created and GNP grew at an
average of almost 7 percent per year in the five years after declaration (U.S. Library of
Congress, n.d.). However, the internal governmental problems became increasingly visible
because of rampant mismanagement, corruption and fraud. Commodity prices slumped,
short-term credits became unavailable, and massive capital flight from the country trapped
the Philippines in an economic and political crisis (Amado, 1994). The country experienced
great social unrest as the balanced distribution of wealth resulted in the glaring division of
rich and poor. But because the Philippines has its own revolutionary tradition 13 (Alegre,
1996), NGOs started to organize themselves while sectoral alliances steadily grew especially
in the poor and marginalized sectors. Apolitical welfare agencies and private and corporate
foundations that had lost faith in government responded seriously to calls for social
responsibility. Even the Catholic and Protestant churches led regional groupings and
became focal points for church-based activism. In 1986, all of these social movements
peaked in a mass protest movement against Marcos dictatorship, leading to the famous
People’s Power Revolution and the overthrow of the regime.
After the 1986 Revolution, a new social climate arose for many social organizations with an
interest in environmental policy. Although social organizations were already evolving in the
Philippines during the Spanish era, the period after 1986 was identified as “golden age of
coalition-building” for POs and NGOs that were formed around specific sectors and issues
(Alegre, 1996). With the wave of democracy and the legitimacy given by the Aquino
government, these NGOs, POs and other social organizations became actors of country’s
policy development.
To illustrate this external perturbation with the emphasis on the NIPAS Act and the Revised
Forestry Code (in relation to the timeline in Fig.1), Fig.6 illustrates the two different periods
of socioeconomic and political conditions when the Revised Forestry Code and the NIPAS
13 This evolved during the three hundred years of Spanish colonization in the Philippines where there had been many secret
societies as well as peasant groups who were lobbying for recognition and separation from colonialists.
43

Act were created. Because of the change in socioeconomic and political conditions after
1986 many groups of actors participated in the policy making of NIPAS Act.
Socioeconomic and political condition
during the mid-1970s to mid-1980s
Socioeconomic and political condition
after 1986
Political Crisis/
Social Unrest/ &
etc.
Change in
Socioeconomic
Condition
Coalition-building
NIPAS Act
P.D. 705
Revised Forestry Code
1986-1987
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
Fig.6. The effect of the change in socioeconomic conditions.
- Group of policy actors
In the protected area policy making subsystem, NGOs and POs were policy actors that
played an important role in policy making. Fig.7 presents the pie charts of the participants
during the four public consultations (see Appendix F for the detailed number of participants).
The NGOs and POs actively participated in the series of consultations and made up to 50-
60% of the participants. Most of NGOs and POs were in the field of indigenous and cultural
minorities’ concerns, while some belonged to the environmental field (see Appendix D for
detailed list of participating institutions and organizations in the public consultation).
44

7%
0%
3%
62%
2% 8%
18%
Total No. Of Participants = 60
Academe
Business Org.
Government Org.
Non-Government Org.
International Org.
M edia
Others
1st Public Consultation
Academe
0%
10%
58%
Business Org.
3% 13% 6%
Government Org.
Non-Government Org.
10% International Org.
M edia
Others
Total No. of Participants = 31
2nd Public Consultation
62%
5%
0%
0%
19%
0%
14%
Academe
Business Org.
Government Org.
Non-Government Org.
International Org.
M edia
Others
3rd Public Consultation
Total No. of Participants = 21
Academe
5%
0%
Business Org
Government Org.
Non-Government Org.
52%
43%
Total No. of Participants = 21
4rt Public Consultation
Fig.7. Participants during the public consultations (see appendix F for detailed number of
participants in each group of actors).
Source: attendance sheets of the four consultations, 1992.
45

Analysing these charts shows that while all the groups of actors were diminishing in
numbers, the two main groups, GOs and NGOs, were consistently present during the
consultations. However, the trends of involvement between these two groups were different
with a decrease in the number of NGO participants and an increase of the GOs’ participants
(particularly during the final public consultation). Nevertheless, there were always more
NGO actors than actors from GOs.
4.4.3 Dynamic System Events: Change in Systemic Governing Coalitions
During the martial law period from 1972-1981, Marcos was invested with dictatorial powers
over the entire country. At his command, the Philippine Congress was abolished and he
ruled by presidential decrees from 1972 until 1978. At that time, a parliamentary
government with a legislature, called the National Assembly, replaced the presidential
system. Newspapers were shut down and the mass media were brought under tight control.
Those who were well positioned within the economic and social elites supported the
imposition of martial law. In 1972 the dictatorship was linked to a market preference for the
development path of export-oriented industrialization. Treading this new path required “the
assembly of a fresh political coalition that included the vast majority of foreign investors,
their local partners (such as the technocrats in the Marcos cabinet), those in the business
community linked by political interests to the President, local politicians who remained in
office because of their allegiance to Marcos, and the military officers who enforced martial
rule” (Amado, 1994). In the 1970’s, the Philippines deliberately shifted from an importsubstitution
industrialization strategy to an export promotion strategy.
Timber was the major foreign-exchange earner from 1970s to early 1980s. The government
itself smoothed the path of exploiting the forest resources by allocating much of unclassified
land as public forestland eligible to be licensed for logging, issuing timber license agreement
(TLAs), and implementing policies of low forest charges and export taxes (Boado, 1988).
To give an example, in the 1970s, Presidential Letter of Instruction (LOI) 818 was issued for
reforestation. However, the plantations were established to meet the industrial demands of
the woodchip industry rather than any social or environmental needs (Hurst, 1990).
46

Table 6. Timber Licenses: FY 1970 – 75 to
CY 1990
Year
Timber License Agreement
No. Area▫ AAC♦
CY 1990 75 2,812 4,730
1989 99 4,259 6,315
1988 110 4,421 6,913
1987 137 5,404 8,204
1986 142 5,675 8,231
1985 148 6,093 8,903
1984 142 5,878 9,027
1983 125 5,392 9,228
1982 186 6,709 12,879
1981 184 6,539 13,322
1980 191 6,500 13,699
1979 198 6,776 13,741
1978 207 7,060 14,672
1977 230 8,279 15,921
1976 219 8,005 15,592
FY 1974 - 1975 171 6,921 13,736
1973 - 1974 171 7,305 13,589
1972 - 1973 120 5,252 10,373
1971 - 1972 64 - 7,279
1970 - 1971 63 3,571 5,777
Source: 2000 Philippine Forestry Statistics, DENR
▫ Thousand hectares of forest area
♦ AAC in thousand cubic meters
Under Marcos regime, logging
concessionaires grew. He authorized the
concessionaires by TLAs and issued shortterm
“special permits” to cut trees as a
means to strengthen and maintain his
political network (Vitug, 1993). Table 6
shows how TLAs increased in number
during his political term from 1970 to
1986. The highest number of TLAs ever
recorded was during after the declaration of
the Code, including the forest area and
annual allowable cut (AAC). Furthermore,
between 1974 and 1978, export tax on logs
was suspended though the forestry sector
had been an important part of the export
economy during that time (Boado, 1988).
These are some specific examples of “policy failure” (Gupta et al., 1995) and some are
epitomized by the Revised Forestry Code. As soon as the government knew that there was
not enough timber to be harvested, it decided to export only processed timber. After the
revolution in 1986, the Aquino government took over the responsibilities of the former
coalition. The change in government ushered new changes in natural resources and
environmental administration by virtue of E.O. 192 (see chapter 1). Along with these
changes was “Our Common Future” A publication that gained wide recognition in the
forestry sector and influenced the creation of the Philippine Strategy for Sustainable
Development (PSSD) (Amado, 1994). In 1989, through Cabinet Resolution No. 37, the
Aquino government endorsed and approved the adoption of the conceptual framework of
PSSD as a basic response to the global call of sustainable development. And one of the
auxiliary objectives of the PSSD was to develop a management program to preserve the
country’s heritage of biological resources (DENR, 1990).
47

4.5 Policy Change reflecting ACF: its Diagnostics and Discussions
After identifying and describing the internal structure and the external perturbations of
protected area policy making subsystem, it is better to fit both structures altogether into one
framework. Fig. 8 shows the whole framework of the subsystem. There are five diagnostics
that were considered in the following paragraphs relating to policy change in forest policy
and one of these diagnostics emphasized the policy-oriented learning.
Relative Stable
Parameter:
Basic legal structure
Protected Area Policy Making Subsystem
Environmental
Coalition
Social
Concern
Coalition
Economic
Development
Coalition
Dynamic System Events:
Changes in
socioeconomic
conditions
Changes in
systemic governing
coalitions
Constraints
and
Resources
of
Subsystem
actors
- Policy Beliefs - Policy Beliefs - Policy Beliefs
- Resources - Resources - Resources
Policy Brokers
Policy Output
(NIPAS ACT)
Policy Impact
Fig.8. Framework of Protected Area Policy Making Subsystem in the Philippines. Adopted
from Sabatier (1993)
- The blue lines depict the policy-oriented learning.
First, according to Sabatier, coalitions seek to translate their beliefs into public policy or
programs. Translating the beliefs of the coalition happens inside the policy subsystem (see
Fig. 8). The previous paragraphs showed that main the beliefs of the three coalitions were
incorporated in the NIPAS Act as policy output (see page 30). Although the overall
philosophy of the Act remained consistent with the beliefs of the Environment Coalition, the
Social Concern Coalition sought ways to have their beliefs recognized, such as imposing the
exception of the members of indigenous communities from resettlement outside of the
48

protected area. The active participation as well as the support of actors from Social Concern
Coalition especially during the public consultations significantly helped in translating their
beliefs in the NIPAS Act. By referring back to table 4, it shows that the beliefs of Social
Concern Coalition were frequently expressed in the public consultations. In addition, the pie
charts in Fig.7 (see page 37) picture that the percentage of NGOs and POs participating in
the public consultation was much bigger than the other groups of actors and maintained its
consistency in all consultations. Because of this, sections pertaining to the recognition of
IPs and local communities became very pronounced provisions of the NIPAS Act as well as
a unique added component to the protected areas system. Despite the fact that the beliefs of
the Economic Development Coalition were translated in the NIPAS Act such as
compromising some parts of protected area for income generating activities (e.g.
establishment of geothermal reservations), the manner in which their beliefs were translated
is not as evident as that of the other Coalitions. Even though some of the legislative
committees were supportive of the beliefs of the Economic Development Coalition (see
table 5), a much thorough and in depth study is needed with this coalition in order to
determine their methods of translating their beliefs.
The second aspect pertains to the policy change through policy-oriented learning.
According to Sabatier, the most likely reason for the emergence of a new subsystem is when
a group of actors become dissatisfied enough with an existing subsystem and its neglect of a
particular problem to go and form their own. Chapter 1 describes the policy objectives of
the Revised Forestry Code focusing on economic growth and industrialization. The forest
policy subsystem (featuring the Revised Forestry Code) was obviously dominated by
Economic Development Coalition 14 . Hurst (1990) even describes the policy as geared
toward industrial rather than social or environmental concerns. Those two concerns had
been neglected in the said policy. The desire of the Philippine government to foster
development led to concentration in the establishment of wood processing industries and
reforestation using fast-growing species. In addition, land reclassification and survey of
forest lands were hastened in order to convert these lands to forest plantations while most of
the indigenous peoples inhabiting the area were forced to move out.
However, it cannot be said that the protected area policy making subsystem is a newly
emerged subsystem because the idea of protected areas had already existed since 1932 in the
14 Because the Code was issued by Presidential Decree, few actors participated in the decision-making of this
policy and many literatures claimed that the Code is inclined toward Economic Development.
49

Philippines, as presented in the previous sub-chapters (see page 22). Rather, there was a
change in terms of dominant coalitions. The Social Concern and the Environment
Coalitions were the ones now dominating the protected area policy making subsystem. This
can be explained through policy-oriented learning. Following Heclo (1974), it refers to
alteration of thoughts as result of the experiences which are concerned with the attainment
or revision of the precepts of the belief system of the individuals. Sabatier depicts policyoriented
learning as internal feedback loops, perception concerning external dynamics and
increased knowledge of problem parameters (see Fig.8). In the case of protected area policy
making subsystem, two processes are involved in the policy-oriented learning:
(1) Individual learning – Actors within the forest policy subsystem learned from the results
of the studies conducted by local and international foresters and researchers about the
alarming decline of forest areas in the Philippines including the biodiversity, habitat
destruction and other consequences which resulted from forest exploitation (Boado,
1988; Ganapin, 1987a; Ganapin, 1987b; Magno, 1979; McKinnon, 1986; Ooi, 1987;
Revilla, 1984; Revilla et al., 1978; and Umali, 1988).
(2) Diffusion of beliefs and attitudes among individuals – After learning from the technical
analyzes, information, and impact of the policy, the beliefs of some actors were altered.
The diffusion of beliefs was a result of the wide publicity given to the consequences by
media (Saastamoinen, 1996).
According to Sabatier, policy-oriented learning is instrumental in how the actors could seek
to learn and better understand how the world operates in order to improve their policy
objectives. In addition to this cognitive activity, there is a real world that directly changes
the forest policy and this is discussed as the third aspect.
The third diagnostic applies to the external perturbation. ACF argues that the major shift
comes from the external perturbations, particularly the effects of system wide events.
Sabatier postulates that the only way to change the policy core attributes of governmental
policy in that jurisdiction is through some shock originating outside the subsystem that
substantially alters the distribution of political resources or the views of coalitions within
the subsystem. From this chapter, two main external perturbations (relative stable parameter
and the dynamic system wide events) were described.
50

Forest Policy
Subsystem*
External Perturbations
Protected Area
Policy
Subsystem
A A C
Social Concern
Coalition
B
B
NIPAS Act
P.D. 705
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
Fig.9. Policy change influenced by external perturbations.
A - Economic Development Coalition
B - Environment Coalition
C - Social Concern Coalition
* The main policy objective of P.D. 705 is forest resource utilization.
Under R.A. 7586, the main policy objective is conservation through protected area establishment.
These perturbations can be viewed by policy actors as either advantages or constraints to
their beliefs. However, it can be argued that the most likely effect of the outside
perturbations to the protected area policy making subsystem was favourable for the Social
Concern and Environment Coalitions. For example, the change of basic legal structure
brought new provisions such as the recognition of indigenous communities, or the
encouragement of participation of civic organizations in support of the policy actors (see
page 32). The effect of dynamic system events allowed actors on social concern to coalesce,
while the weaker Environment Coalition regained strength in policymaking. In some way,
these perturbations can be seen as constraints by other actors because the events might be
unfavorable for them, or constitute a hindrance to the realization of their beliefs.
Fig. 9 illustrates how external perturbations affect the protected area policymaking
subsystem. And comparing the protected area policymaking subsystem to the forest policy
subsystem (represented by the Revised Forestry Code), four main changes are can be shown:
51

(1) Clear participation of the Social Concern Coalition as the third coalition in the
protected area policymaking subsystem;
(2) The Environment Coalition as once weaker coalition in the forest policy subsystem
gained much strength in terms of translating beliefs (see Table 4) over the Economic
Development Coalition;
(3) The Social Concern Coalition became the dominant coalition while Economic
Development Coalition became the weakest coalition (after considering the result of
content analysis in Table 4); and
(4) There is policy learning out of these external perturbations which made the policy
content to shift – from forest utilization to sustainable management including forest
conservation through protected areas establishment.
The fourth aspect pertains to policy actors. The application of ACF does not concentrate on
policy elites alone. Instead, it recognizes the potentials of the other interest groups in
shaping a policy. The policymaking of NIPAS Act for example, is an evidence of how
NGOs, POs, journalists and researchers influenced not only in the policymaking but also in
the policy change. This argumentation can be supported by the results of content analysis as
shown in table 4.
The fifth diagnostic deals with the belief systems of the coalitions. In the ACF perspective,
the beliefs that were identified (see table 5) fall basically to the second level of belief
systems hierarchical structure (refer to table 1) – policy core beliefs. The narrower beliefs
(secondary aspects) were difficult to identify since the concepts used by the actors are
general terms. It has to be noted that the protected area policy making was at the national
level concentrated on general issues.
For this reason, a case study in Subic Bay Protected Area was conducted to analyze whether
the coalitions identified at the national level are congruent with those operating at the local
level; to determine what were the narrower beliefs concerning the seriousness of the
problem; to track the design of specific institutions; and how local policy making might
impact the policy change in the national level.
52

5 Case Study: Subic Bay Protected Area (SBPA)
5.1 Introduction
Subic Bay Protected Area (SBPA) was declared under the National Integrated Protected
Area (NIPAS) Act of 1992 as one of the priority area for protection and conservation.
“Healthy ecosystems conserved and enhanced to provide the full complement
of human use and ecological values at levels that are sustained for current and
future generations: planned and managed with stakeholders involvement” –
SBPA Vision.
This is the statement envisioned for SBPA by different actors in the formulation of
management plan. NIPAS Act through Department Administrative Order (DAO) No. 25 –
(NIPAS Implementing Rules and Regulations) required the formulation of a management
plan or blue print guideline and strategies for protecting indigenous cultural communities
and other migrant communities therein (Sec. 9, R.A. 7586).
The 3 rd basic premise in the original version of ACF states that the subsystems involve
actors from all levels of the government. Similarly, according to Sabatier, that the state and
the implementing officials have substantial choices in deciding how exactly a “policy” 15 gets
translated into thousands of concrete decisions in very diverse local situations. In this case
study, the focus is the formulation of SBPA management plan, concentrating on the actors
and their belief systems as well as to analyze how policy change at the national level gets
translated to the local level and vice versa through ACF approach.
Subic Bay is a very unique area in comparison with the other protected areas in the
Philippines. The study area and its historical background are described in the following subchapters.
15 In this case, Sabatier was referring to federal policies of United States where ACF was widely implemented
to analyze policy change.
53

5.1.1 Study Area
The Subic Bay is located in the southwest of the Luzon Island in the Philippines, i.e.
northwest of the Bataan Peninsula and southwest of Zambales Province (see Figs. 9 & 10).
Approximately, it is situated 110 kilometers north of Manila. Subic Bay achieved the status
of Subic Bay Freeport Zone (SBFZ) in 1992. The Freeport zone has a total area of
approximately 67,452 hectares. Of the total land area, 24% (13,141.88 ha.) is classified as
alienable and disposable (A & D) while the rest 75.58% (41,274.95 ha.) is comprised of
forestland. Table 7 presents the regulatory status of forestlands in the Freeport zone.
Table 7. Forestland regulatory status.
Description Area (in hectares) Percent distribution
Timberland 13,141.88 24.06
Watershed 9,005.58 16.49
Military Reservation 7,685.02 14.07
Others 16 11,442.47 20.95
Total 41,274.95 75.58
(Source: CENRO, Olongapo, Pilar and Bagac, 1987)
Inside the Subic Bay is the nucleus of the proposed Subic Bay Protected Area (SBPA) - the
Subic Watershed Forest Reserve (SWFR). The reserve covers a total area of 9,856 hectares
(much bigger than the surveyed area of CENRO), which mostly composed of secondary
forest and is classified as semi-evergreen lowland forest with a yearly period of moisture
(Fernando et al., 1998).
SWFR is considered the last remaining old growth forest in Western Luzon. The reserve is
found to be rich in biological resources. The floral inventory has found that close to onethird
(31.3%) of the 806 plant species recorded in the area are endemic to the Philippines.
Of these, 48 species are endemic to Luzon Island (SBPA Management Plan, 2001).
Furthermore, the mountainous area of Subic Bay was the ancestral homeland of Aytas 17 .
16 These are composed of plantations, reforestation/contract projects, mining claims, forest tree farms, etc.
17 These are the indigenous people in the area.
54

Figs.10 & 11. (right) The map of the Philippines pointing the location of the Subic Region
and (left) its LandSat Image and Topographic Map of Subic Bay. Sources: Woodward Clyde,
2001 & asinah.net
55

5.1.2 Historical Background
The history of Subic Bay begins during the Spanish-American War. During the Spanish
period, the place was selected to be a naval base for the Far East. The Spaniards had
completed dredging the harbor and several permanent buildings had been built. Fig.12
pictures the Subic Bay during the Spanish colonization during 1898.
Fig.12. Subic Bay in 1898 under the Spanish occupancy in the Philippines.
Source: Sgt. H.J. Holub Collection in www.subicbaypi.com
When the country was under American occupation, Subic Bay was reserved for naval
purposes. Its strategic location made it so favorable for the Americans to establish a naval
base. In November 9, 1907, the US Naval Reservation was started. The military base
continued to exist until the Subic naval reserve became the largest American naval
installation outside the United States. Along with the infrastructure development and
logging activities undertaken by the Americans, the naval presence restricted the access to
the area, even for indigenous tribes that resulted to the preservation of important enclaves of
rainforest from the mountains to the seacoasts.
56

Fig.13. Infrastructure establishment of Subic Bay US Naval Base in 1958.
Source: Sgt. H.J. Holub Collection in www.subicbaypi.com
Fig.14. Subic Bay US Naval Base in 1987.
Source: Sgt. H.J. Holub Collection in www.subicbaypi.com
The US Naval presence in the Philippines ended in 1992 and left excellent infrastructures as
shown in Fig.14 that gave opportunity to develop Subic as major “Freeport enterprise”. In
February 5, 1992, by virtue of the Republic Act (R.A.) 7227, otherwise known as the Bases
and Conversion Act, the whole Subic Region was converted into a Subic Bay Freeport Zone
(SBFZ). Under the said legislation, SBFZ has twin objectives which are stated as follows:
57

a. Shall be developed into a self-sustaining industrial, commercial, financial
and investment center to generate employment opportunities in and
around the zone and attract and promote productive foreign investments;
and
b. To protect, maintain and develop the virgin forest within the baselands
which will be proclaimed as a national park and subject to a permanent
total log ban.
Also, the R.A. 7227 has given the authority to the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority
(SBMA) the lands and facilities within the naval base to manage, develop and supervise the
SBFZ.
Subsequently, under Aquino government, the significant natural resources in the area were
declared as Subic Watershed Forest Reserve (SWFR) under the Proclamation No. 926, to
protect and preserve the rare biological diversity of the flora and fauna as well as to keep
intact the production capacity of the hydrologic unit supplying the developable portions of
the Subic Bay Military Reservation and certain parcels of the public domain situated in the
province of Bataan. Fig. 14 shows the watershed areas in the region.
Fig.15. The map of Subic Bay Watersheds. Source: URS Philippines, 2001
58

5.2 Issues and Concerns
Under the Proclamation No. 926, the reserve is withdrawn from sale, entry, settlement,
exploitation and other forms of disposition subject to private rights if there will be any.
Apart from that, there are more legislations and laws which have important implications to
Subic Bay such as:
Republic Act 7942 – An Act Instituting a New System of Mineral Resource
Exploitation, Development, Utilization, and Conservation
Presidential Decree 705 – Revising Presidential Decree No. 389, Otherwise Known
As the Forestry Reform Code of the Philippines
Executive Order 192 Series of 1987 – Reorganizing the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources
Executive Order 247 Series of 1995 – Prescribing Guidelines and Establishing a
Regulatory Framework for Prospecting of Biological and Genetic Resources, their
By-Products and Derivatives for Scientific and Commercial Purposes and for Other
Purposes.
Most of these laws and regulations evolved from the 1987 Constitution, the basic legal
structure as described in chapter 4. In addition to the above laws and legislations, the DENR
issued numerous administrative orders, memorandum circulars and orders. However,
despite of the numerous laws and legislations to support resource protection and
conservation in the area, issues and threats to the survival of the remnant forest continued.
Exploitation and speculation by wealthy power groups; illegal logging and competing legal
claims; proposed built-ups; settlements located within the watersheds are some of the
emerging issues and concerns in the area. Impacts of major developments in the SBFZ
posed another threat to the forest. Among these approved major developments are road
widening and construction, seaport development, road extension and marine Exploratorium
(SBPA Management Plan, 2001).
Another concern was raised to SBMA. Because Subic Bay Watershed Reserve is part of the
contiguous forest area that belts with Bataan Natural Park and other surrounding forests in
the area, the DENR identified the whole forest area as one of the top 10 priority protected
areas in the country. Under the Resolution No.3 of the NPPSC, it is “recognized that the
Subic Watershed Forest Reserve and Bataan National Park are two separate and distinct
59

protected areas within one biogeographical zone.”
Because of this, the SBMA must find
ways to balance the use and protection or whether one of these must be prioritized.
After seven years of taking over the area, SBMA decided to fully implement the NIPAS Act.
In 1999, SBMA initiated to develop a protected area management plan in accordance with
the NIPAS Act. The objective of the plan was to balance the conservation and management
of the natural resources around the Subic Bay area compatible with the development
objectives of the Freeport Zone. The formulation of the management plan through the lens
of ACF is discussed in the following sub-chapters.
5.3 SBPA Management Plan Subsystem: Overview
At the national level, the protected area policy making subsystem as the unit of analysis was
well elaborated. In this case study, the “management plan subsystem” is used as the unit of
analysis and the process of analysis is the same as the national level. The internal structure
of the management plan subsystem including the actors, advocacy coalitions and its belief
systems and the external perturbation affecting the coalitions is described in the next subchapters.
5.3.1 Internal Structure: Actors and Their Concepts
There were 130 actors 18 involved in the formulation of the management plan for Subic Bay
Protected Area. These actors where affiliated to following agencies, offices and
communities (see Appendix E. for detailed listings.):
1. Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), including its several departments,
and locators;
2. Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) particularly the
Regional Office of Bataan and Community Office in Olangapo;
3. Two Indigenous People’s Communities;
4. Local Government Units (LGUs);
5. Funding Agency;
6. Non-government organizations (international and national); and
7. Consultants from URS Philippines 19 .
60

The SBMA is the primary actor of the said plan. The Implementing Rules and Regulations
(IRR) of R.A. 7227 define the detailed functions and authority of the SBMA to manage,
develop and supervise the whole Freeport as well as maintaining the protection and
management of forested area. Under the SBMA, the Ecology Center is responsible in
implementing the rules and regulations as well as monitoring and maintaining the
environmental quality of the area. The SBMA is independent from DENR. However, their
commitment for the protection and management of the forested area is in accordance with
the practices acceptable to DENR. In addition, the SBMA can be divided into 2 groups,
namely: (1) the SBMA with its management units and (2) SBMA locators. The latter are
business investors 20 operating inside the Freeport.
The indigenous peoples, known as Aytas, who participated in the management plan making,
are from the communities of Kanawan and Pastolan. Their means of survival depend both on
the forested areas and the Freeport zone of Subic Bay.
Another important actor is the group of consultants represented by URS Philippines. They
were contracted by SBMA to prepare the management plan of the proposed protected area.
The consultants are mainly composed of experts from different fields of expertise. They
played the role of policy brokers in the management plan making subsystem.
In order to explore the beliefs systems of these actors, table 8 presents the result of the
content analysis 21 of the 5 comprehensive documents during the formulation of the
management plan (see Appendix A for the detailed list of documents). This time no
groupings of documents according to its sources were done. Instead, concepts were tallied
according to the group of actors (see page 54) as shown in table 8. Table 9 summarizes all
the concepts into three main categories. From this table, advocacy coalitions and belief
systems will be derived.
From table 8, the most frequent concepts in the management plan making are “multipleuse/linkage
connectivity” (38.9%), “IP’s rights” (36.84%) and “livelihood of local
communities” (31.6%) (See Appendix F for further percentage computation). While in table
18 Based on the lists of participants during the public consultations.
19 URS Philippines (known before as Woodward Clyde) is a private consulting firm in the Philippines.
20 Business investors are represented by FEDEX, Coastal Petroleum, Subic Techno park Corp., Financial
Builders Corp., etc.
21 The same methodological steps (see page 16).
61

9, the environment and economic development categories have the highest total frequencies
of concepts. Therefore, it can be argued that most of the actors are expressive in
environmental and economic development concerns. By looking at the actors, the most
vocal groups are from the consultants (URS Philippines), SBMA, and DENR.
Table 8. The frequency of concepts and categories from each institution.
Categories DENR SBMA Eco- LGU’s Cons 22 . Fund. NGOs/ Total
Centre
Agency IPs
Environmental
Biodiversity 3 2 1 6
Buffer zones 23 3 2 5
Conservation 2 2
Preservation 2 2 4
Prohibited
2 1 2 2 7
activities 24
Protection 1 2 1 4
Regeneration/
1 2 3
propagation
Reservations 25 2 1 5 8
Restoration 4 1 1 1 3 9
Water Quality 1 1 3 2 7
Subtotal 12 6 5 7 22 1 3 56
Economic Development
Economic value 3 1 1 5
Production Area 1 1
Economic/Develop 1 3 1 2 9
ment Opportunities
Economic
1 1 1 3
benefits/incentives
Economic use/
6 2 3 11
activities
Income generating 2 3 5
Multiple-use/
4 8 1 5 3 21
linkage
connectivity 26
Subtotal 7 22 3 4 15 0 3 54
Social Concerns
IP’s Rights 1 2 6 5 14
Ancestral Domain 2 2 1 5
Claim
Tenure/access 2 2
Stewardship 1 1
Livelihood 6 1 4 1 12
Local communities 4 4
Subtotal 10 2 9 0 12 0 5 38
Source: Result from the conceptual analysis of 5 main documents of the SBPAMP making.
22 Short for Consultants.
23 Natural divide is included.
24 Against prohibited activities such as road constructions, tree logging, introduction of exotic species and other
resource extraction.
25 Protected areas and watersheds are included.
26 According to the consultant of Woodward Clyde, linkage connectivity is important in the multiple-use zone
because multiple-use is connected to external human interests both coming in and out of the area.
62

Table 9. Summary of categories from each group of actors.
Categories DENR SBMA Eco- LGU’s Cons.* Funding NGOs/ Total
Centre
Agency IPs
Environmental 12 6 5 7 22 1 3 56
Economic
7 22 3 4 15 0 3 54
Development
Social Concern 10 2 9 0 12 0 5 38
Total 29 30 17 11 49 1 11 148
Source: Result from the conceptual analysis of 5 main documents of the SBPAMP making.
* Cons. - Consultants
5.3.2 Advocacy Coalitions and its Belief Systems
Based on the result of the content analysis of the 5 comprehensive documents as shown in
Table 8, the actors can be grouped into three major advocacy coalitions: (1) the
Environmental Coalition where the majority of the actors were from the DENR, LGUs,
Consultants and some of the offices under the SBMA particularly the Ecology Center; (2)
the Social Concern Coalition on the other hand, was dominated by IPs, with some from the
DENR, Ecology Center and from the Consultants; and (3) the Economic Development
Coalition conversely dominated by the SBMA and some from DENR, LGUs and
Consultants. The URS Philippines and some of its consultants played the role as the policy
brokers.
By utilizing the output of the content analysis (tables 8 & 9) together with the revised belief
structure of ACF (table 1), the research questions, and selected code forms (see Appendix
B.), the belief systems of the three coalitions were identified. Table 10 shows the belief
systems of the advocacy coalitions that were organized according to the hierarchical
tripartite structure.
The Economic Development Coalition had the beliefs stressed on the economic value of
protected areas. On the other hand, the Environment Coalition focused on the preservation
of the area through establishing protected areas. While the Social Concern Coalition, had
the beliefs emphasized on ancestral domain and livelihood. To determine which coalition is
dominating the management plan making, Table. 9 summarized the categories with the
highest total frequencies of concepts. By referring to this table it can be argued that the
Environmental and Economic Development Coalitions are the ones dominating the
management plan making while the Social Concern Coalition is the least dominating
coalition.
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Table 10.Coalition belief structure in Subic Bay Protected Area Management Plan.
Belief Category Economic
Development
Environmental
Coalition
Social Concern
Coalition
Coalition
A. Deep Core Beliefs
Priority of Values
B. Policy Core
Beliefs
Definition of the
problem
Priority is given to
economic benefits.
- Boundary overlapping
between different
zones; illegal squatting
and land tenure.
Protection from natural
calamities; scientific
(biodiversity) and
aesthetic values.
- Land conversion and
privatization; resource
extraction; limited
resources; environmental
degradation.
Ancestral Property
Rights and daily
subsistence.
- Ancestral domain
claims and lack of
livelihood programs.
Orientation of
possible policy
conflicts
- Production area;
extract resources; road
construction;
infrastructure
development;
marketing of protected
area; propagation of
high economic value
species; land titling as
alienable and
disposable.
- Purely on conservation
areas; limit resource
extraction; maintain
military reservation;
reduce coverage of
Freeport; assisted
regeneration of endemic
and high ecological
species; forest cannot be
acquired.
- Tenure and access
instruments;
alternative livelihood
projects; ancestral
land rights.
Magnitude of
perceived threats to
those values
- Economic viability of
the area: declaration of
the total Freeport as
ancestral land; peace
and order situation;
unsustainable tourism
due to lack of adequate
planning.
- Environmental/
aesthetic quality:
endangered by industrial
establishments;
population increase;
dumping of toxic wastes
- Property rights: nonrecognition
of
ancestral land;
extensive
industrialization of
the area.
Policy Strategy
Incorporating nondestructive
economic
activities in special use
zone.
Rehabilitation and
restoration of degraded
areas.
Participatory planning
and management.
C. Secondary Aspects
Importance of
protected area
- To attract more
tourists in the area and
income generation.
- Preservation/
Conservation of natural
resources; biodiversity;
services (such as water
supply).
- Alternative
livelihood.
64

Expansion of
Freeport
Strongly agree
Disagree
No clear position
Position to establish
infrastructure and
other constructions
Expand
Reduce
Mixed position
Budget allocation
- 31.5% of the
proposed total
budget
- 8.6% of the proposed
total budget ( 24% if
marine management is
included)
- 18.5% of the
proposed total budget.
Source: Result from the content analysis of 5 main documents of the SBPAMP making (see 3.5 for further procedures).
5.4 External Perturbation: Dynamic System Events – Policy Decisions and impacts
from other subsystems
There is no doubt that the local coalitions in the protected area management plan subsystem
had been affected by the nationwide perturbations that were discussed in chapter 4.
However, in this level, the most evident perturbation that affected the coalitions in the
management plan formulation is the policy decisions and impacts from other subsystems.
Right after the proclamation of watershed reserve in 1992, it took more than seven years to
fully implement the NIPAS Act and because of this, several laws were passed that
influenced the beliefs or in some way have created new beliefs in the coalitions. One of
these policies pertains to the Republic Act. 8371 of 1997 (Indigenous Peoples Rights Act) as
“An act to recognize, protect and promote the rights of indigenous cultural
communities/indigenous peoples, creating a national commission on indigenous peoples,
establishing implementing mechanisms, appropriating funds therefore and for other
purposes”. Because of this, the SBMA had to recognize indigenous people, particularly the
Aytas in the area. Historically, they have long occupied most of the areas in the Subic Bay
Freeport Zone as their ancestral land since time immemorial.
In relation to the management plan subsystem, it can be argued that despite the IPs as policy
actors, were not so vocal in expressing their beliefs, but their rights and further recognition
are clearly backed-up by R.A 8371. Because of this, SBMA is obliged to respond to them.
In fact, more than 4,000 hectares of forest, grassland areas and agricultural lands were
returned and legally titled to the Aytas (SBMA, 2001). And with this NIPAS Act, a
representative from each indigenous community will be part of the Protected Area
Management Board (PAMB) (Sec. 11, R.A. 7586).
65

5.5 Diagnostics and Discussions
The figure below illustrates the SBPA management plan subsystem and the perturbation
affecting the subsystem actors.
Subsystem
Dynamic System
Events:
Policy Decision &
Impact
Constraints
and
Resources of
Subsystem
Actors
Environment
Coalition
Economic
development
Coalition
- Policy Beliefs - Policy Beliefs - Policy Beliefs
- Resources - Resources - Resources
Policy Brokers
Social
Concern
Coalition
Policy Output
Policy Impact
Fig.16. The internal structure and the external structures of the Subic Bay Protected Area
Management Plan Subsystem. Adopted from Sabatier, 1993
The first aspect refers to external perturbation at the local level. Fig.16 shows that only the
policy decision and impacts from other subsystems (pertaining to Indigenous Peoples’
Rights Act) as dynamic system events, acted as constraint to the actors of the management
plan subsystem. It can be argued that before NIPAS Act was fully implemented, R.A. 7227
have two main policy objectives: (1) referring to the development of Freeport zone as selfsustaining
industrial, commercial, financial and investment center, and (2) maintaining and
preserving the forested area. From these two main policy objectives, it can be argued that
there were two major coalitions operating, namely: the Economic Development Coalition
and the Environment Coalition. When the SBMA decided to fully implement the NIPAS
Act, the actors of the coalitions, particularly the Economic Development Coalition, were
constrained by Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act. This argument can be shown from the
proceedings during one of their public consultations, as one actor mentions:
66

“The SBMA is sensitive and recognizes Pastolan`s 27 objective to retain the
historical significance of the area (Freeport Zone). The only concern SBMA
anticipates is that if the entire Freeport zone is declared as ancestral domain,
the land cannot be sold and disposed from other developmental purposes” (2 nd
Public Consultation 28 ).
The statement of the actor is valid evidence on how coalitions were affected by policy
decision on IP’s Right. Also, the statement clearly expressed that the Economic
Development Coalition was mostly affected by the said policy.
Another point to consider with regard to policy decision and impact of other subsystem as
perturbation is its effect to resources of subsystem actors. In table 10 of the coalition’s
belief system structure, under the secondary aspects, a budgetary allocation was made for
the Social Concern Coalition which is twice higher than the Environment Coalition. In this
way, the effect of the external perturbation to the actors of Social Concern Coalition was
positive because they have resources to realize their beliefs.
The second aspect refers to the policy brokers. According to Sabatier, policy brokers are
those keeping the level of conflict within the acceptable limits and reaching some reasonable
solution to the problem. Fig 16 pictures the position of policy brokers inside the subsystem.
They are important actors in ACF perspective, although no studies yet were conducted
describing how policy brokers really operate. However, the role of policy brokers was
diagnosed in the case study as played by consultants. While performing as policy brokers,
they also advocated some beliefs from time to time. From table 8, it is evident that
consultants were the most vocal group in expressing concepts during the public
consultations. In most cases, policy brokers were just repeating and clarifying the issues or
concepts raised by coalitions or actors and this can be observed in the formulation of
management plan of SBPA. For this reason, only concepts that were advocated by the
consultants were coded and counted whereas, concepts that were repeated by the consultants
from other actors were omitted. To differentiate between “policy advocate” and “policy
broker”, Sabatier argues “…that it rests in a continuum. Many brokers will have some
policy bent, while advocates may show some serious concern with system
maintenance…policy brokering is an empirical matter that may or may not correlate with
institutional affiliation: While high civil servants may be brokers, they are also often policy
advocates – particularly when their agency has a clearly defined mission.” (Sabatier, 1993)
27 One community of Aytas in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.
67

The third aspect is related to the belief systems of the coalitions` actors. It can be said that
Subic Bay Protected Area is a unique protected area in the Philippines not only because of
its natural resources or bio-geographical setting but because of the provisions of R.A. 7227.
Subic Bay Freeport Zone was created by the virtue of this law.
Owing to this law, the
SBMA has the full powers in managing the Freeport. Therefore, the difference is that the
Subic Bay Protected Area is independent from the other protected areas under the DENR.
The SBMA fully implemented the NIPAS Act with the exception of Section 15. that states
as:
“Areas Under the Management of Other Departments and Government
Instrumentalities – Should there be protected areas or portions thereof, under
the jurisdiction of government instrumentalities other than the DENR, such
jurisdiction shall, prior to the passage of this Act, remain in the said
department or government instrumentality; Provided, That the department or
government instrumentality exercising administrative jurisdiction over said
protected area or a portion thereof shall coordinate with the DENR in the
preparation of its management plans, upon the effectivity of this Act.
(Section 15, R.A. 7586)”
Now, a question is raised: “why the SBMA decided to declare parts of the Freeport to be a
Protected Area?” The answer can be traced in the belief systems of the two main coalitions
(see Table 10):
(1) Because the Freeport has the last remaining forest with very rich biological
resources therein that serve as protection against natural calamities as well as its
aesthetic value it holds that must be preserved and protected as part of the belief
system of the Environment Coalition; and/or
(2) That declaring some parts of the Freeport as protected area is a value added
(economically) for the SBMA because it will attract more tourists as well as
investors. This can be argued from the statement of one actor, “that US$ 19
million revenue is possible supposing that SBMA upgrades the protected area to
the level of National Parks such as in Thailand, Kenya, etc. wherein this would
be the potential revenues derivable for it.”
28 See Appendix B for the complete list of document.
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6 Policy Change: Overall Diagnostics and Outlook
6.1 Overview
This chapter is divided into two main parts: (1) the overall diagnostics between the two
subsystems and (2) outlook based on the theory. The first part describes the subsystems at
the national and local levels, including an overall policy change through the lens of ACF
perspective. The second part presents the theoretical outlook combining the two subsystems
and the limitation of the theory.
6.2 Overall Diagnostics and Discussions
There are five aspects of comparison that were diagnosed between the national and the local
level in terms of policy making towards protected area conservation as shown in the table
below.
Table 11. Comparison between two policy analyzes.
Unit of Comparison National level Local level
1. Actors* Most influential actors are
from the NGOs which
primarily dominate the
Social Concern Coalition.
2. Concept 29 IP`s recognition in the
protected area.
The SMBA and the
consultants (as policy
brokers) were the influential
actors.
Multiple-use /linkage
connectivity.
3. Dominating Coalition Social Concern Coalition Environment Coalition and
Economic Development
Coalition
4. Belief Systems of the
Coalitions
Beliefs at the national level
harmonized with the belief
systems at the local level;
the beliefs are mostly policy
core beliefs.
The belief systems of each
coalition are in line with the
beliefs at the national level
and covering the three levels
of the belief structure.
5. External perturbations One relative stable
parameter; and two dynamic
system events.
One dynamic system event.
29 This refers to the most frequently used or mentioned concept based on the conceptual analysis of the
documents (see Tables 4 & 8).
* Based on the result of content analyzes and fig. 7.
69

The first aspect pertains to the policy actors. It is noticeable that policy change at the
national level was driven by NGOs during public consultations that shaped the provisions of
R.A 7586 which is more inclined on indigenous participation and rights. These NGOs were
product of one of the external perturbations 30 . On the other hand, at the local level two
main actors were identified to be influential in the policy process, which include the SBMA
and policy brokers represented by the consultants. At this point, it can be argued that the
reason why SBMA is an influential actor is because of R.A. 7227 that placed them into
power. In the case of consultants (policy brokers), this is related to the argument of Sabatier
and Jenkins-Smith (1993) who state that “even when the accumulation of technical
information does not change the views of the opposing coalition, it can have important
impacts on policy – at least in the short term – by altering the views of policy brokers.” The
role of policy brokers was described in the preceding chapter, but since the policy brokers at
the local level were composed of experts who had the access to technical information of the
protected area it may somehow have changed the views of the consultants and made them as
one of the influential actors.
Concept and dominant coalition, as the second and third aspects of comparison, respectively,
can be tackled together since they are correlated. At the national level, it is obvious that the
dominant coalition is the Social Concern Coalition whose concept is “IPs recognition in the
protected area”. On the other hand, at the local level, two coalitions were dominating the
subsystem, namely: Environment and Economic Development Coalitions. It is interesting to
know that the most frequent concept was “multiple use/linkage connectivity”, which can be
asserted that both of the beliefs of the coalitions were entwined in a single concept – putting
the two coalitions in an agreeable term.
It is expected that similar advocacy coalitions at the national and the local level will share
similar beliefs, as fourth aspect of comparison. However, the beliefs at the local level are
more detailed in expressing the hierarchical tripartite structure of the belief system (deep
core, policy core and secondary aspect). Here, it can be argued that the actors at the national
level were concerned on the problems and issues in a nation wide coverage, placing the
issues in general terms. On the contrary, actors at the local level were concerned on specific
issues and problems of the particular area – in this case the SBPA. Thus, policy actors are
more versed to give details on the magnitude of threats on their valued beliefs, orientation of
30 Referring to the change in socioeconomic condition (see page 34).
70

possible policy conflicts between different coalitions (see table 10) as well as components of
secondary aspects of belief systems.
The last aspect applies to the external perturbation. At the national level, three external
perturbations were identified while one external perturbation was known to affect the local
level. Conversely, it can be argued that subsystem actors at the local level were affected by
the external shocks or perturbations identified at national level. As described in Chapter 5,
the `policy decisions and impacts of other subsystem’ as the external perturbation at the
local level had evolved from `the change of basic legal structure’ of the national level. In
other words, the R.A. 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act had evolved from the 1987
Philippine Constitution. It can be remembered that it took several years before R.A. 7586 or
the NIPAS Act has been fully implemented. Because of this, the local level subsystem was
somehow affected by other external perturbations. Another argument of Sabatier and
Jenkins-Smith (1999) related to external perturbation states that “external perturbations
provide an opportunity for major policy change, but that change will not occur unless that
opportunity is skillfully exploited by proponents of change”. Here, the proponent of change
refers to the minority coalitions. In the case study, the Social Concern Coalition was found
to be the minority coalition. However, due to external perturbation the other two dominant
coalitions were obligated to recognize the beliefs of the minority coalition.
The analyzes of policy subsystems both at the national and local level can be interpreted that
the external perturbations’ influence is significant to the change of forest policy in the
Philippines – in other words the causal drivers. Its influences were not seen only at the
national level policy but also in the local level. Taking the timeline in figure 1 (see page 3)
with the emphasis on the NIPAS Act and the Revised Forestry Code (for comparison) and
combining with the external perturbations, a partition in the timeline is evident. This is
because the effects of external perturbations became apparent and/or reached its climax
between 1986 and 1987 (see 4.4 and 5.4) as depicted in Fig. 17. The red big arrow pictures
the influence or effects of external perturbations that changes the policy making of forestrelated
policies. The protected area policy making subsystem is one of the examples where
the effects of external perturbations were evident.
71

The thrust of forestry regulations in
this period was primarily directed
toward the utilization of the forest.
Forest-related policies in this period have
characteristics of change towards conservation
and/or towards people’s participation
Wildlife Act of 2001
External
Perturbations
IPRA (R.A. 8371)
CBFM (E.O. 263)
Bio-Prospecting (E.O. 247)
R.A. 7586 NIPAS Act
P.D. 705
Revised Forestry Code
Local Government Code
1975 1980 1985 1986-1987 1990 1995 2000
Fig.17. The timeline with emphasis on the Revised Forestry Code and the NIPAS Act
showing the external perturbations.
Overall forest policy change can be seen through the following points: (1) Advocacy
coalitions dominating the forest policy arena. This is because more and more actors became
interested on how to manage the remaining forest resources in the Philippines making the
policy making process more complicated. Thus, actors were aggregated into advocacy
coalitions and found out that a new advocacy coalition with new belief systems was formed.
Also, the once dominant coalition from the forest policy subsystem (Revised Forestry Code)
was replaced by another coalition during the policy making process of R.A. 7586; (2)
Beliefs of the coalitions were translated into policy as dictated or influenced by external
perturbations. The minority coalition increased in importance and took the advantage of the
opportunity provided by external perturbations and as result their valued beliefs were
translated into policies; and (3) There is policy-oriented learning from forest policy failures
and documented policy impacts (as technical information) that changed and/or improved the
belief systems of some policy actors within coalitions as well as policy brokers. Although
from ACF perspective, policy learning could not be the cause of major policy change, rather
it is an important aspect of policy change.
6.3 Theoretical Outlook and Limitations
Carney (1997) purports that the AFC was designed to replace policy cycle conceptions of
policy change, in which the policy process is disaggregated into distinct stages, whilst
72

maintaining a subsystem or policy network focus. However, the outputs from the analyzes
of the two subsystems give a new theoretical outlook related to the policy cycle.
In chapter 5, the case study of SBPA on the implementation of R.A. 7586 was elaborated. A
diagnostic from this chapter (the fifth aspect) briefly described that the subsystem at the
local level was somehow affected by the perturbations identified at the national level.
Therefore, it can be claimed that the protected area management plan subsystem at the local
level (SBPA) can be looked at and/or placed as the policy impact in the national level
subsystem following the ACF framework (see Fig. 2). This can be illustrated in Fig 18. The
figure is divided into two periods 31 . The first period illustrates the two subsystems (national
and local levels) that were analyzed and discussed from the previous chapters, while the
second period shows the possible policy process that will take place in the future. An arrow
is shown from the policy impact of the national level pointing to the policy subsystem of the
local level. While a dashed arrow pointing from the policy impact of the local level to the
coalitions and policy brokers of the national level tells that policy impact from the local
level could directly affect the policy decisions of the actors and brokers at the national level
in a given time.
31 One period is equivalent to a decade or more. Attention was given to the first premise of ACF (See 2.1).
73

Future Policy Process
External
Perturbations
New External
Perturbations
Protected Area Policy
Subsystem)
3 Coalitions
External
Perturbation
Protected Area Policy
Subsystem (Nat. level)
Coalitions
National level
Policy Broker
SBPA Mgt Plan Making
Subsystem
Policy Broker
Policy Outputs
3 Same Coalitions
Policy Outputs
Policy Impact
Policy Brokers
Policy Impact
Policy Outputs
Local level
Policy Impact
1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Fig.18. Synthesis of the Protected Area Policy Subsystem
74

The policy outputs and policy impact at the local level will help to better understand and
refine the policy beliefs of the actors at the national level. This process is related to ‘policyoriented
learning’ of Jenkins-Smith and Sabatier (1993). The theoretical implication of this
is that advocacy coalition could conflate with the policy cycle using the policy process
model of Anderson (1979). The third subsystem is just the replica of the first subsystem –
showing a cyclic process. However, there is a possibility that the coalitions including its
composition and belief systems in the subsystem will not be the same because of new
external perturbations as well as the effect of policy learning.
N
A
T
I
O
N
A
L
L
E
V
E
L
L
O
C
A
L
L
E
V
E
L
External
Perturbations
External
Perturbation
Protected Area Policy
Subsystem (National
level)
3 Coalitions
Policy Broker
Policy Outputs
Policy Impact
SBPA Mgt Plan Making
Subsystem (Local level)
3 Same Coalitions
Policy Brokers
Policy Outputs
Policy Impact
Policy Formulation
Policy Agenda
Policy Formulation
Policy Adoption
Policy Implementation
Policy Formulation
Policy Agenda
Policy Formulation
Policy Adoption
Policy Implementation
Policy Evaluation
Policy Evaluation
Fig.19. Combining the policy cycle (Anderson, 1984) and ACF Approach 32 .
Adopting the policy process model of Anderson (1979) with the two subsystems, the
framework can be pictured in Fig.19. It shows three policy cycles. The bigger cycle on the
right side shows the series of stages of policy cycle where both levels are involved. Stages
of policy formulation and policy agenda happen inside the subsystem at the national level
involving the three coalitions and policy brokers. Policy adoption stage takes place before
policy output is realized. Policy output then is implemented at the local level. The possible
75

impacts from the local level are evaluated after policy implementation. The result of the
evaluation is necessary to further improve as well as to make necessary changes on the
policy. On the other hand, the second and third cycles are happening inside the local and
national level as well as policy learning from its own evaluation.
Part of the objective of this study is to determine the impact of changes of belief systems
which were reflected in R.A. 7586 or NIPAS Act on the forest policy in the Philippines.
However, the ACF as the theoretical setting of this study is limited in explaining the
possible impact on the forest policy. The reason is because it needs period of time (at least a
decade for the whole cycle to take place) to realize the policy impact. For example, the
Subic Bay Management Plan was just recently finalized in 2001.
The ACF approach is more focused on the vehicles of policy change i.e. the actors, its
beliefs and external perturbations. Moreover, most of the studies conducted using the same
theoretical framework did not elaborate on policy impacts.
32 Based on the two analyzes of policy subsystem of the national and local levels.
76

7 Conclusions and General Outlook
The application of ACF as theoretical framework in analyzing forest policy change in the
Philippines during the period of 1975 to 1992 brought out two main conclusions based on
the results of the two subsystem analyzes:
(1) The main causal drivers of policy change from forest exploitation to protected area
conservation were identified. These are external perturbations that can be seen as
prerequisite of policy change and policy-oriented learning. These causal drivers
were very evident on the national level policy analysis. No doubt that it has affected
the policy making particularly in the policy formulation at the lower level; and
(2) The analysis at the local level provided information on how policy actors behave
toward policy change from the national level and in turn provide the necessary
improvement and revision in the policy objective at the higher level. The case study
shows how important actors responded differently although they share similar beliefs
of same coalitions from actors at the national level.
The first conclusion suggests that policy actors realize and translate their valued belief
system to effect a change. They can strategically manipulate or even create situations that
will effect as external perturbations (example: seeking changes in the dominant coalition) or
policy learning such as revising its beliefs (primarily secondary beliefs). However, actors of
the coalition must be clever enough to manipulate or influence situations that are beyond
their control.
Learning is always a two-way process. Policy actors need sub-actors or “local helpers” who
are immersed in specific or multiple situations. This leads to the second important
conclusion. The response from the lower level serves as feedback or informative basis of
evaluation for the actors working at the national level as described in chapter 6 (see 6.3).
The research questions raised in chapter 1 are answered in the following:
(1) Was the change in forest policy towards conservation and people’s participation due
to the degradation of forest resources in the country? This question can be traced
from the role of policy-oriented learning in changing the belief systems of the policy
77

subsystem actors. Degradation of forest resources in the country was resulting from
the policy failures and the belief systems of the previous governing coalition that
were translated into policies as discussed in the diagnostics of chapter 4 (see page
42). Because of this, there was learning from the side of the other actors that altered
and/or improved their valued beliefs and then were translated in the policy making of
NIPAS Act;
(2) Are the participants and the barriers involved in the policy change identifiable?
Policy actors who participated in the process of policy change were identified in the
form of advocacy coalitions. However, some of the actors were hindered by external
perturbations (as barriers) in the realization of their beliefs (see 4.4 and 5.4); and
(3) Did the data generated using ACF approach provide vital information in analyzing
the policy process and policy change in the Philippines? The data generated for the
ACF approach has provided vital information particularly in identifying the domestic
causal drivers of policy change and beliefs of the directly concerned policy actors.
Although, the international influence was partly cited (see page 39) during the
change of governing coalitions as well as in the process of policy-oriented learning
(see page 42), however, the data generated to further analyze their influence in the
policy change was not enough due to the substandard archival practices of most
international agencies that restricted the data collection as well as time limitation.
This study somehow initiated the use of advocacy coalition framework by Sabatier and
Jenkins-Smith (1993) in the analysis of forest policy change in the Philippines. Although
some scholars have conducted studies on coalitions, they were specific only on the
Environment Coalition (Legaspi, 1994). It is always interesting to pursue learning and
understanding from these advocacy coalitions particularly their behaviour and strategies in
policy change.
In addition, this study provides a new perspective to the on-going deliberations of different
institutions in the Philippines on the issue of changing the Revised Forestry Code.
At present, there are many external forces coming from the international regimes with
programs such as Forest Certification and measures against Global Climate Change
including their own funding mechanisms that may influence the forest policy development
78

in the country. The question still remains: Where is Philippine forest policy heading to?
This is a continuous challenge to subsystem policy actors, who must learn how to anticipate
and respond to external perturbations in a manner consistent with their basic beliefs and
interests.
The following are questions that need further study:
How will the belief systems of international and local funding institutions influence
the shaping of forest policies? It applies to the resource of the policy actors within
their coalitions which is related to the stability of the coalition. This is especially
important for developing countries where policies are within international dimension
to attract funding institution for financial reasons.
What and how will the overlap in terms of tenure of governing political parties affect
the belief systems of the policy actors? In the Philippines, where election is held
every six years (less than the minimum years of analysis through ACF perspective)
and the foreseeable constant change in political leaders and its parties with shortterm
goals and platforms, it would be interesting to know its effect on coalition’s
composition and stability.
Will the use of computer programmed content analysis improved the reliability in
dealing numerous documents? Sabatier suggests that the use of computer-aided
programmes could identify more coalitions operating in the subsystem.
ACF has many facets in analyzing policy change. In fact, it has many verifiable hypotheses
and applications that researchers can analyze and examine. Time and available data would
enable researchers to generate more information on the agents of policy change.
79

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Acknowledgement
This research work would not have been possible without the persons and institutions who directly or
indirectly contributed to the preparation and completion of this work.
First and foremost, I thank the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for awarding me the
scholarship to study in Germany.
My deepest gratitude belongs to my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Jürgen Pretzsch, for his thought-provoking
ideas that led me to pursue a different field in forestry, and for his constructive criticisms and keen
supervision to my research work; to my co-supervisor, Dr. Norbert Weber, for his brilliant
suggestions and comments as well as the interactive discussions especially during the difficult stage
of this research work.
I am deeply indebted to my local supervisors and my Directors in ARCBC and “Bosses”, Atty. Dr.
Eleno Peralta, Dir. “Greg” Texon and Dr. John MacKinnon for guiding me during my data collection
in the Philippines and for their continuous support.
To the whole staff and members of the Institute of International Forestry and Forest Products,
especially to Prof. Holm Uibrig and Dr. Hubertus Pohris for their informative lectures and field
exposures in different forestry aspects in Germany; and to Frau Frisch, Frau Lützner and Frau
Wende for their assistance and cooperation during the Master Course, I thank you and more power to
you!
My warmth appreciation is extended to Dr. Tesfaye Tashome for his valuable suggestions and
assistance; and to Mr. Matthias Frattini for sharing his valuable ideas and the time for vibrant
discussions about my research work. Also, to the ARCBC staff for assisting me in data collection
especially to Ate Celia, Tita Kyle and Ate Myra.
My sincerest gratitude to my Aunt Alma & Uncle Jorge Phocas for editing my thesis as well as the
“expensive calls” they made to further improve my historical background of this study…I owe you a
lot!
To the MSc. in Tropical Forestry Batch (2001-2003) and my colleagues in Dresden: Benti, Bernard,
Erwinsya “Oil Palm”, Hayder “Gum Arabic”, Zhimei Gou “Bamboo Shoot”, Pankaj and Family, my
Nepalese Connection, Mahgoub “Gum Arabic 2”, Claudia “Tamarugo”, Deborah, YoYo, Vincent,
and to the rest of them, for making my two-year master course a memorable one, I appreciate the
effort and time you shared with me.
My heartfelt appreciation is extended to The Müller & Messerschmidt Families for treating me as a
real member of the family in Germany…I will always remember you all. To my best friends Noma
Prak (for being my Big Bruder in Germany), to Dr. Timour “La Ruski” Kim (for his pair of feet for
dancing, and fishes too!), to Mr. Liu Yan (the Best Chinese Chef!), “Kali” Daikos and “Loco” Jairo
for the friendship and ice-breaking parties; and to “Mr. Schorschy Schatz-Kunde” (for his moral
support and entertainment!), I am so grateful to all of you for making my stay in Germany complete.
Thanks are due to the following persons: Mr. Yun, for his continuous support and encouragement, to
Claire Reyes, for her unconditional assistance during my data collection; and to my English Group –
Dresden Congregation, for the Christian love they have shown me.
And most of all to JEHOVAH God, the Almighty One, who always gives me strength and practical
wisdom particularly in the most difficult times of my life.
To all of you,
Maraming Salamat!
87
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