Juan Miguel Luz describes his involvement with the conception and execution of the Textbook Count Project as a senior official in the Philippine Department of Education. Beginning with a description of the problems with the department prior to his appointment, Luz outlines how corrupt department officials awarded textbook contracts to favored, often unqualified publishers, and further critiques the poor controls on textbook quality and delivery at the time. He describes the steps taken under Textbook Count One, Two, and Three to overhaul the bidding, production, and nationwide delivery of textbooks, emphasizing the importance of relying on non-governmental organizations such as Government Watch, the National Citizens Movement for Free Elections, and even the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts in inspecting the quality and quantity of books delivered. Luz describes the success of the project, supported by the World Bank, in reducing the cost of textbooks, establishing stringent quality controls, and ensuring the timely delivery of needed textbooks to public schools all across the country. Providing numerous examples of corruption, Luz offers valuable insights into the challenges of monitoring services and holding both suppliers and civil servants accountable.
At the time of this interview, Juan Miguel Luz was serving as an associate dean of the Center for Development Management (CDM) at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM). Earlier on, from 1997-2005, he was a member of the business and development management faculty at AIM, and also served as the managing director of the AIM Center for Corporate Responsibility from 1999-2002. In 2002, he entered public service as undersecretary of the Philippine Department of Education, where he was in charge of finance and administration. He held this position until 2006, and during his tenure, was part of significant reform within the department, including the numerous Textbook Count projects that helped improve the quality and availability of textbooks to local schools. From 2006-2008, Luz served as president of the International Institute for Rural Reconstruction, an international NGO with programs in Southeast Asia and East Africa. He rejoined AIM in September 2009, and remains actively involved with a number of non-profit organizations, including the Knowledge Channel, the Philippine Center for Population Development, and Philippine Business for Education. He has also authored books on the strategic management of non-governmental organizations, corporate-community relations and education management.
From 2002 to 2005, Juan Miguel Luz, a senior official at the Department of Education of the Philippines, led a nationwide drive to ensure timely procurement and delivery of textbooks to the country’s 40,000 public schools. Before Luz took office, corrupt department officials awarded textbook contracts to favored, and often unqualified, publishers. Because of weak quality controls, books had poor binding, printing defects and missing pages. Without a fixed schedule, publishers sometimes delivered textbooks several months after the start of the school year or failed to deliver them. The entire cycle from procurement to delivery could take as long as two years, twice the specified time span. Soon after taking office, Luz initiated the Textbook Count project to overhaul the procurement and delivery process. He partnered with nongovernmental organizations to monitor the department’s bidding process, inspect the quality of textbooks, and track deliveries. Groups such as Government Watch, the National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections, and even the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts mobilized thousands of volunteers to help track textbook deliveries to public schools. And Coca-Cola Company used its delivery trucks to transport textbooks to schools in far-flung areas of the country. By 2005, textbook prices had fallen by 50%, binding and printing quality had improved, and volunteer observers reported 95% error-free deliveries. The case offers insights into the challenges of monitoring services and holding civil servants and suppliers accountable.
Rushda Majeed drafted this case study based on interviews conducted in Manila, Philippines, in March 2011. She added an epilogue based on interviews conducted in Manila in February and March 2013. Case republished July 2013
