A Policy Study Group within the Office of the Vice President of the Philippines (OVP) was organized in September 1992 by then Vice President Estrada. Membership in what became the OVP-PSG was then limited to a few senior officials from the academe and business and government sectors, led by Dr. Raul P. de Guzman. Essentially, PSG members provided a “second opinion” for the then Vice President Estrada’s consideration in resolving various issues and concerns. The “second opinions” were presented during the PSG’s weekly meetings which were held up to the time that President Estrada was sworn into office as President.

Since it was thought that it would not be prudent to call the then OVP_PSG as OP-PSG, it was decided that, while serving the same purpose as before, it would then be called the RPG-PSG. The Group evolved with wider and broader membership and had now started to be supported by the RPG Foundation.

RPG Foundation Reforms, Performance and Governance. The RPG-PSG agenda cover such programs as electoral reforms to strengthen our democracy, the revitalization of the civil service, the assessment of local governance through the strategy of decentralization, the enhancement of finance and tax administration systems, the improvement of agricultural productivity and food security, respect for the environment and ecology, the setting up of capital infrastructures, the upgrading of our communications and information technologies, and the enhancement of the speedy administration and dispensation of justice.

At the center of this agenda is the advocacy of mobilizing civil society and the business sector as partners in development. The heart of this logic beats in the principles of shared governance, which has been defined as governing on larger scale. Like it or not, society and the global environment has become too complex that it has now become necessary for government to harness the contributions and participation of the private sector.