The Role and Impact of Network Governance in the Philippine Political Economy

The rise of network governance in the Philippines has reshaped the way power is brokered and resources are allocated to different sectors of society. Networks are open structures, capable of expanding without limits and integrating new nodes as long as they share the same communication codes, such as values or performance goals (Castells, 1996, p. 2). Governance is broadly defined as the sound exercise of political, economic, and administrative authority to manage a country’s resources for development. It involves the institutionalization of a system through which citizens, institutions, organizations, and groups in a society articulate their interests, exercise their rights, and mediate their differences in the pursuit of the collective good (Asian Development Bank [ADB], 2005). The broader channels for communication through advanced information technologies, as well as the legal mechanisms for citizen participation, paved the way for the expansion of networks in the country. The dramatic surge of networks has empowered previously marginalized sectors to enter the political mainstream and play an active role in the overarching issues of poverty and homelessness.