Reginald Tiu: Doing the quiet work of good governance

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MANILA, Philippines — Good governance rarely makes headlines when it works, but its absence always does. As scandals, corruption and institutional failures dominate political news, governance once again has become a buzzword. When systems fail, trust erodes, or accountability is questioned, the public is reminded that governance matters, particularly good governance.

For Reginald Tiu, governance has never been a reactive concept. It has been the quiet, deliberate work of building systems across sectors and over time that hold up under pressure.

With a career that spans public service, corporate leadership and civic advocacy, Tiu has spent nearly two decades strengthening the frameworks that allow institutions to function with integrity. From his early years at the Office of the President to senior governance roles in some of the country’s largest corporations, and now as regional governance advisor for World Vision International in Asia, his work reflects a deep belief that good governance is not just about compliance, but about enabling people and organizations to do the right thing, and do it consistently.

In this Q&A, Tiu discusses what drew him to governance early on, the persistent weaknesses he sees across sectors, and why real reform begins not with personalities or promises, but with institutions designed to last.

You built a career in promoting good governance long before it was fashionable. What drew you to this advocacy?

My interest in good governance started less as an ideology and more as a response to lived experience. Early on, I saw how a small business failed not because of poor performance but because of weak systems, blurred accountability and inconsistent leadership practices. That experience stayed with me and shaped how I view governance. It’s the quiet architecture behind everything that works well, and when it fails, even the most promising efforts eventually falter. Over time, advocacy became less about promoting governance and more about helping organizations build structures that allow people to do the right thing consistently.

After graduation, your first job was with the Presidential Management Staff under the Office of the President. Was this intentional?

Yes, it was intentional, though there was also an element of chance. I initially joined the Presidential Management Staff as an intern, working under the legal department, and was later absorbed as an employee. Over time, I moved to the Directives Monitoring Office, which is tasked with ensuring that presidential directives are properly implemented. I handled directives related to public governance, which gave me a close view of how policy intent translated, sometimes imperfectly, into execution.

Working in that environment gave me a front row seat to the complexity of public service, including competing interests, political realities, institutional constraints, and the constant tension between urgency and due process. It was a formative experience that grounded my understanding of governance not as theory, but as something shaped by real world decision-making.

With your stints in the public sector, the private sector and civic sector, can you share their unique challenges when it comes to good governance?

From my experience, each sector tends to face governance challenges shaped by its own incentives and constraints. It’s rarely straightforward.

In the public sector, the challenge I most often observed was continuity, particularly how to sustain sound governance practices beyond political cycles and individual personalities. In practice, this often means ensuring that reforms and systems are institutionalized, rather than recalibrated or set aside as administrations change.

In the private sector, governance frequently competes with short-term performance pressures. In some cases, governance initiatives begin as compliance driven or recognition focused efforts, particularly as organizations respond to external expectations. Over time, the challenge is ensuring that these initiatives evolve into more intentional practices that genuinely strengthen oversight, manage risk, and support long-term value creation.

In the civic sector, the issue is usually capacity. There is often strong mission alignment, but limited resources, which in my experience can result in governance being deprioritized despite its importance.

What I have found across all three is that governance tends to fail not because of bad intentions, but because systems are unclear, roles are blurred, or accountability is assumed rather than deliberately designed. What often matters more is how organizations operate day-to-day. People are usually acting in good faith, but under pressure, with competing priorities and limited information. When governance is seen as secondary to operational or political concerns, weaknesses tend to surface gradually, until small gaps become larger issues. The breakdown is usually structural and incremental, rather than ethical.

On top of your day job with an international non-profit, you also volunteer and serve at the Institute of Corporate Directors and the Good Governance Advocates and Practitioners of the Philippines. Can you tell us more about these two institutions and their missions?

I currently serve as president of GGAPP and as chair of the Corporate Governance Standards Committee of the ICD. Both roles allow me to contribute to governance reform from different but complementary perspectives.

At the ICD, my work as committee chair focuses on strengthening corporate governance standards and guidance for boards, with an emphasis on keeping these relevant, practical, and responsive to evolving risks and stakeholder expectations. The ICD plays an important role in professionalizing directorship and improving boardroom practice across both the private and public sectors.

At GGAPP, as president, my focus is more practitioners driven. We bring together governance professionals from different sectors to translate principles into tools and capacity building initiatives that organizations can realistically adopt and experience. We take the view that good governance works best when it’s applied in that top-to-bottom, bottom-to-top approach, cutting across an organization.

Taken together, these roles reflect my belief that meaningful governance reform requires both sound standards and committed leadership to ensure those standards are actually put to work.

We are living at a time when graft and corruption practices in many sectors of society no longer surprise people and have become part of everyday news. What are the 3 urgent things you personally believe we need for a positive reset?

First, normalize accountability, not just transparency. Over the years, in part due to the growth of the internet and social media, we’ve become better at disclosing information.

Second, strengthen leadership at all levels of society. Tone at the top matters, whether it’s in government or business or civil society. When leaders demonstrate integrity and respect for rules, and do so consistently, it sets expectations for everyone else and reinforces the idea that ethical behavior is not optional, even when it is difficult or politically costly.

Third, we need to invest in institutions and systems that outlast individuals. This means putting greater emphasis on clear rules, independent oversight, and processes that are applied consistently over time.

For those aspiring to pursue a career in good governance, can you share your top three advice?

First, understand operations, not just rules. Effective governance professionals take the time to understand how organizations actually function on the ground, including how decisions are made, where bottlenecks occur, and what pressures people face day-to-day.

Second, develop credibility through consistency. Governance work requires trust, and trust is built through principled and steady action over time. People pay close attention not just to what you say, but to whether your advice and conduct remain consistent, especially when it is inconvenient or unpopular.

Third, stay grounded in purpose. Governance can be slow, technical, and at times frustrating, particularly when progress feels incremental. When I first started my career, a very wise man told me that governance should be approached in baby steps. That advice stayed with me. Small, sustained improvements often matter more than sweeping reforms, and remembering that governance ultimately exists to protect institutions, people, and public trust makes the work meaningful and sustainable over the long term.