WALANG KATAPUSANG AKSIDENTE

Isa na namang bus ang nahulog sa bangin sa isang aksidente sa Pagbilao, Quezon. Talaga bang ganyan na lang ang buhay sa Pilipinas, kung saan lagi na lang na may aksidente dito at halos lingo-lingo na yata ay may malaking pangyayari? Parang round robin na lang ang nangyayari, dahil pag hindi bus ang na-aaksidente, tren naman di kaya bapor o eroplano. Sa lingong ito, sinabayan pa ang bus accident ng isang helicopter crash.

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Possible nga kaya na mabawasan ang insidente ng sakuna sa Pilipinas? Sa usapang pilosopo, talaga namang hindi maiwasan ang aksidente, ngunit maaari nga kaya itong mabawasan? Balikan natin ang nangyari sa Pagbilao baka may makuha tayong mga leksyon. Ayon sa balita, nawalan daw ng control ang driver kaya tuloy-tuloy na nahulog na lamang ang bus sa bangin. Ang una kong tanong, mayroon ba kayang national standards para sa maintenance ng mga passenger buses? Ang pangalawang tanong ko, may national standards ba tayo para sa accreditation ng mga professional bus drivers?

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Huwag sana kayong matawa, pero sa tingin ko, ang isang bus driver ay para na rin mga airplane pilot, dahil nasa mga kamay nila ang buhay ng maraming pasahero. Of course, mas malaki ang sueldo ng piloto compared sa driver, ngunit pareho lang ang halaga ng mga buhay na kanilang pananagutan. May idea ako, at gusto kong i-konsulta sa inyo. Ano kaya kung magkaroon tayo ng “bus pilot” license na iba pa sa professional driver’s license? Again, huwag kayong matawa dahil alam naman ninyo ang situation sa Land Transportation Office (LTO) ngayon na kung saan kahit sino na lang ay maaaring magkaroon ng pulang lisensiya, kahit ungoy na lasenggo na, duling pa.

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Sa alam ko, once a year lang ang drug check ng mga professional bus drivers, at pareho na rin ang testing requirements nila sa mga non-professional drivers. Tama ba ito? Para namang wala tayong ibinibigay na kahalagahan sa responsibilidad ng mga taong may hawak sa buhay ng ating mga kababayan na pasahero. Tsismis man o hindi, kailangang malaman natin ang katotohanan sa usaping ito. Based sa aking narinig, may mga bus operator na pinapayagang gumamit ng illegal na droga ang mga drivers nila upang huwag daw antokin, at ang iba pa nga ay ginagawang utos na uminom nga talaga ng droga bago lumarga ang mga driver.

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Ayon pa rin sa balita, kulang na kulang daw ang mga warning lights doon sa daan kung saan nangyari ang aksidente sa Pagbilao. Kanino nga bang sagutin ang paglagay ng mga ilaw doon? Ang national nga government ba? Ang provincial government kaya? O di kaya ang municipal government? Baka naman mag-turuan na lamang ang mga ahensiya ng gobyerno, pero wala pa ring ilaw na ilalagay doon, at wala pa ring liwanag sa usapan. By the way, may isa pa akong tanong: mayroon ba tayong national standards para sa safety signs at warning lights para sa mga highways?

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Napakarami pang dapat pag-usapan sa isyu ng road safety na hindi pa pinag-uusapan, kahit may mga namamatay na sa mga matinding bus accidents. For example, mayroon bang national standards para sa mga gulong at brake fluid ng mga passenger buses? Hindi ko na uulitin ang tanong ko dahil alam kong wala naman talagang standards. Sa aking pagkakaalam, iba ang standards na ginagamit ng mga developed countries para sa mga gulong at brake fluid, dahil mas heavy duty naman talaga ang gamit nito. Hindi ba panahon na para mapag-usapan at ma-decide ito ng sambayanan?

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Dapat ba tayong magalit sa mga reckless driver na parang kumakarera kung nag-mamaneho? Sa halip na magalit tayo sa kanila, ano kaya kung higpitan na lang natin ang licensing nila at bigyan natin sila ng regular training upang matuto silang maging responsible drivers? Kapag ang driver ay may pulang license, parang expected na natin na alam nila ang lahat ng mga traffic rules at safe practices. Based naman sa actual na situation, alam naman natin na that is not always the case, at may mintis din.

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Maiba nga pala ako. Sino nga ba ang dapat managot sa mga road accidents? DPWH or DOTC ba? Hindi tama lang na may pananagutan pareho ang dalawang ahensiya na ito? At papaano naman kaya ang hatian ng responsibility sa dalawang ito? Ano man ang sagot sa tanong ko, dapat mayroong patakaran ang gobyerno na kung may aksidente, ang investigating body ay hindi dapat ang supervising agency ng may sala. For example, ang PNR ay under sa DOTC, kaya hindi dapat DOTC ang mag-investigate sa train accidents, upang hindi mapag-takpan ng DOTC ang sarili nila.

POVERTY REDUCTION VS. POVERTY ALLEVIATON

Poverty reduction is the process of physically removing or liberating people from the poverty line, while poverty alleviation is the function of making life more bearable for those who are living below the poverty line. While these two concepts are clearly distinct from each other, the government has apparently not officially recognized the differences between them, and this is probably the reason why measurable targets for these two objectives are not properly set and met as well.

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For the record, the leftist movement in the Philippines has formally debunked the thinking or proposition of the government that the delivery of public services is part and parcel of poverty alleviation, arguing that this is a usual and normal function or duty of the government, and should not be considered as a specific or dedicated poverty alleviation measure. In a similar vein, the government also argues that the construction of farm to market roads is part of building safety nets as a “defense” for the damaging effects of globalization, but clearly, this too is a normal function of the government that is not really dedicated for this purpose.

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I am not sure if I am the only one advocating the idea of localizing the function of “poverty management”, but as far as I know, no one else seems to be espousing it publicly. As a matter of fact, the government is not even officially using “poverty management” as an applied terminology; much less recognize it as a specific and dedicated function. Up to now, the government is still measuring poverty in a centralized manner, and there seems to be no awareness or appreciation yet about the idea of localizing the measurement.

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For quite some time now, there has been a raging debate between the proponents of the “top to bottom” approach on one hand, and the “bottom to top” approach on the other hand, in relation to development management in general. As far as I am concerned however, I am taking the side of the latter, especially in the case of poverty measurement. Admittedly, the measurement of poverty particularly with the use of the “imaginary food basket” approach is really just for planning purposes, as an aid in policy making, as many bureaucrats would often like to say. Notwithstanding this reality however, I still think that the data gathered should be as close to the “truth” as much as possible, and I think the best way to make that happen is to localize it.

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In simple layman terms, the only purpose of the “poverty line” is to find out how many people are “technically poor”, and how many are not. In this connection, it is also important to consider how many people see their own status as “perceptually poor”, especially so that according to the recent survey, about 75% of the people “see themselves” as poor. In my opinion, the government owes it to the people to rationalize the discrepancy between these two measures, more so because the discrepancy is two wide between them, i.e. 75% “perceptual poverty” versus 30% “technical poverty” as the government would like to project.

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Using only our common sense, it would be fair to say that the local government officials would actually be in a better position to determine how many people are “technically poor” in their own jurisdictions and how many are not, using a standard national method. From a practical standpoint, it would be good for these officials to get to know these data sets first hand, so that they could right away use the data in their own local decision making.

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Using my radio program as a platform for development, I am now in a position to assist private donors in implementing both “poverty reduction” projects and “poverty alleviation” projects in the localities of their choice. For a start, a local marketer of unlimited international phone cards has agreed to donate 1 dollar for every 100 dollar worth of cards that they will sell. Special thanks to OnePhilippines for this offer. Their phone card allows users to call from anywhere in the Philippines to anywhere in the world, and vice-versa, from anywhere in the world to anywhere in the Philippines, using any landline or mobile phone as much as they want, without worrying about any extra charges.

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Just for clarification, our “poverty reduction” projects will actually “liberate” people from the poverty line, by giving jobs or small businesses to them On the other hand, our “poverty alleviation” projects will aim to make the condition of poverty more bearable, by giving poor people access to basic services such as clean potable water and affordable medicines.

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Hopefully, the local governments could contribute to the delivery of these projects, probably using their Internal Revenue Allocations (IRAs), since the law requires them to allocate 20% of these funds for local development purposes. Although their help would be welcome, we are still determined to push through with these projects using only private funds.

PUMP PRIMING LOCAL DEVELOPMENT

I had mixed feelings when I learned that most of the local government units (LGUs) in both the provincial and municipal levels are not complying with the law that requires them to establish Local Development Councils (LDCs) that are supposed to advice them on the distribution of the Internal Revenue Allotments (IRAs) that are allotted to them by the national government. On one hand, I felt sad that local development planning is not being done properly, but on the other hand I felt glad that there is such a law that provides for this much needed democratic participation.

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To my surprise as well, I also found out that the Local Government Code (LGC) provides for two seats in the municipal and city councils so that the marginalized sectors could be represented. These are appointive councilor positions that are similar to those given to the youth representatives. Among those qualified to be appointed to these positions are those coming from marginalized farmers, people with disabilities and senior citizens.

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It is very clear that the intention of the IRA and LGC laws is to make local development planning as democratic and as equitable as possible. Since this provision for sectoral representation is already in the laws, what is needed now is an advocacy to implement these laws, considering that enforcing the “rule of law” is supposed to be a critical element in a vibrant democracy.

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Also according to the IRA guidelines (actually part of the General Appropriations Act or GAA), 20% of the funds given to the LGUs should be allotted for economic development purposes, part of which should be for livelihood or job creation initiatives. It is worthwhile to note here that many LGUs have actually done this, even without an LDC organized in their areas. On the other hand, we could only say that the LGUs that do not have LGCs are probably just appropriating (or misappropriating) the funds on their own.

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In theory, all of the IRA funds as well as the Countryside Development Funds (CDF) as the name implies are actually intended for local development purposes, but their utilization is subject to the determination of local priorities, hence the need for consultation with all the concerned local sectors. In practice, the LDCs (where they exist) always have representatives from the youth sector, from the business sector and from the women sector, among others.

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While the GAA is very specific about sectoral representation in the allocation of the local development funds, there seems to be no clear cut rules when it comes to the allocation of the CDF. From what we could observe, it seems that the congressmen are left on their own to decide how to use the money and where, and they are not even required to consult with the concerned sectors in their jurisdictions. This is true for district congressmen, but what is ironic is that the sectoral congressmen are apparently not consulting their own sectors also in the use of their CDFs.

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It may sound like wishful thinking, but I think that it would be a good idea to integrate the planning and allocation of the IRA and CDF funds, so that the appreciation of priorities could be combined. Admittedly, the level of priorities would vary from one district to another, but generally speaking, the more urgent needs are in the areas of education, health, infrastructure and livelihood.

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It’s welcome news that the government has again promised to “pump prime” the economy by investing in local development, but before going ahead with these new plans, it would be prudent on the part of our officials to revisit the way the IRA and CDF funds are being utilized now, because in truth, these two funds were also intended to “pump prime” the local economies.

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Using my radio program as a platform for development, I am now calling on my listeners to support their LDCs where they exist, and to be active in organizing new LDCs where there are none. Through this blog, I am also calling on my readers to do the same. Instead of complaining that the government is not doing anything, we should all do something by getting involved in the LDCs.

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The LDC is actually the lowest component of a nationwide planning network that also includes Provincial Development Councils (PDCs) and Regional Development Councils (RDCs). From the level of RDCs, planning inputs are supposed to go up to the national level through the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) but right now the connection seems to be very weak. While it is true that the government is now going through a fiscal crisis, it does not mean that it has run out of money to fund local development. Money is available, but the planning has to be transparent.

DOUBLE DIGIT TOURISM

Tourism Secretary Ace Durano should be praised for setting a target of about 2.8 million tourist arrivals this year. Praise is in order for his having a clearly set target, but on the other hand, I wonder when our country is going to catch up with our Asian neighbors, many of which are already hitting over ten million arrivals. Besides, when is Durano going to exclude the number of returning residents who are not supposed to be counted as tourists? As a matter of fact, former Filipino nationals who are also visiting should not be counted also, because their decision to come here is not a direct result of Durano’s marketing efforts.

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It’s a known fact that by increasing our tourism arrivals, we will be hitting two birds with one stone, because we will not just be increasing our dollar earnings, we will also be generating more local employment. The multiplier effect of the tourism industry is actually immeasurable, because tourist expenditures have a multiplier effect that runs very deeply.

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What is the use of having Ombudsman and OWWA counters at our international airport terminals if these agencies are not able to man these counters regularly? Certainly this is no longer the fault of NAIA management, because they are just the landlords at these terminals. More often than not, the NAIA managers are blamed for some irregularities at these terminals, even if they are just the landlords. This is true in the case of alleged corrupt practices committed by some customs and immigration officials wherein the airport bosses are usually blamed, even if they have no control over their tenants. Yes, the BI and the BOC are just tenants there as a matter of fact.

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It is actually still a good idea to detail a resident Ombudsman at these terminals, because the original intention was to give passengers the convenience of reporting erring BI and BOC officials on the right there on the spot, without going to the main Ombudsman office in Quezon City. Much to my disappointment however, their counter was unmanned all the while that I was there, and I am sure that the passengers must have observed the same thing. Could it be that it is intentional not to man these counters because these Ombudsman reps are already in cahoots with the BI and BOC people there? Could it be that there is already a conspiracy there that has not yet been exposed?

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There may be no corruption involved in the absence of the OWWA reps in their posts, but still it is disconcerting to note that they are not there when they are supposed to be there. What if someone needed their assistance and nobody is at these counters? What is an arriving or departing OFW going to do? Fortunately, some good news has come out of the OWWA, because I heard that the agency is now strengthening their OFW re-entry program component. In the past, the OWWA was criticized for their inability to provide assistance to OFWs who have already returned to the country, because it seems that their mentality then was to help only the OFWs who are still abroad, as if their duty to serve these new “economic heroes” ends as soon as they are home. This time however, the OWWA is already providing livelihood assistance to the OFWs who have come back, even those who have been back for several years already.

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Some good news has also come out of the BI, as it was reported that they are about to deport several overstaying Chinese nationals who were found to be in violation not just of immigration laws, but also of the retail trade laws. Prior to this deportation move, it was widely perceived that there was a protection racket that enabled these illegal aliens not only to overstay, but also to get away with rampant smuggling, which is rumored to be the reason why the goods they are selling at certain malls in Divisoria are way below the usual market prices, so much so that the law abiding retailers around them are already losing money. I am not really sure whether this protection racket has really been stopped or whether the BI is just putting up a show, but for now, they deserved to be praised for what they have recently done.

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From what I hear, there are still a number of “untouchable” smugglers who are operating under the protection of certain personalities who are close to the Palace, and this may be the reason why the BOC no matter how hard they are going to try. I know that Commissioner Arevalo really tried to increase the collections when he was the OIC, but his hands were probably tied when it comes to these “untouchables”. Not unless this special protection is removed, I do not see how Commissioner Morales could do any better, and I hope that he will not be tempted to put up a show to make it appear that he has delivered, even if his hands may still be tied just like Arevalo’s. Fortunately for the BOC, they are still going to make use of Arevalo’s expertise to computerize their operations, and that is probably where he could be more productive.

FIGHTING POVERTY

I recall that the turning point in America’s “war” against environmental decay came when the entire American nation saw the Ohio River burn in broad daylight on national television. The sight was horrifying enough to “wake up” everybody from their long slumber of apathy and negligence as far as their environment was concerned. The rest was history after that, because from then on, everything was set right in their environmental efforts, and there was no more need for them to “wake up” again, as they never “slept” on the problem again.

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Here in the Philippines, poverty is nothing new in the sense that we have known about it for a long time, except that we were still “shocked” when we saw the face of poverty stare at us when it took the form of angry mobs that roamed the streets in the aftermath of EDSA III. At that time, I thought that the whole country would turn around, and finally pay attention to the problem of poverty that has hounded us for many decades. Much to my disappointment however, all the outrage at that time just turned out to be “ningas cogon”, as practically everyone forgot about it in a short while.

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As I see it, there are many more poor people now compared to the actual numbers during the time of EDSA III, and the surveys actually say so. The report that 74 people died in one accident all at once has shocked us, but has it occurred to you that our present mortality rate may actually be drastically affected already by the high incidence of hunger and poverty right now? Thank goodness that famine has not yet struck in this country, but I have reason to believe that people may already be dying from starvation as an indirect or direct cause.

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What does the government mean when it says that it is going to “wage a war” against poverty? Does it mean poverty reduction or poverty alleviation? Given the fact that it does not have clear poverty reduction targets, we could only speculate that it probably means poverty alleviation only. If that is so, we should really not expect much from the government, because “alleviation” is no better than a pain reliever that is given to a sick man who actually needs surgery.

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Using only our common sense, it would not be difficult to figure out that a reduction in the unemployment rate would have a direct impact on the poverty rate. Common sense not being too common nowadays, we could only hope that the government would see the connection between these two economic measures, apart from realizing that poverty alleviation and poverty reduction are two distinct concepts. With these two realizations, we could only hope that it will focus on actually reducing the unemployment rate, instead of giving us meaningless “anti-poverty” fantasies.

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If the government is really serious about addressing the poverty problem in this country, it should start with the revamp of our entire process of counting the number of poor people in this country. Known as the “poverty rate”, this is an economic measure that has become obsolete and is no longer a reliable indicator for reading our real poverty picture. As far as I know, it has been many years since the prices of the basic commodities in the so-called “imaginary food basket” were reviewed and updated. To cut a long story short, the prices of these commodities must have gone up so high now, such that many people could no longer afford the “basket”, thus putting them below the poverty line.

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Aside from the obsolete methodology, the method of data collection in measuring the poverty rate is also faulty, because the information is not collected from below, from the community level. Right now, the data is collected by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) from various sources, but apparently without the participation of the provincial governments. If it has to be done properly, the data has to be collected by the Provinces, and uploaded to the national level, instead of the other way around.

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Setting aside the question of whether federalism is good or not, I am now advocating “provincialism”, a term that I coined to refer to the approach of strengthening good governance at the provincial level. Setting aside also the issue of money, there are many opportunities to improve the quality of life in the Provinces, without spending so much money. If you know of any provincial official who is interested in “provincialism”, please contact me. To start with, I have a number of software programs that could be donated to them already. I have been giving away software for many years now.

LOCAL FOOD SECURITY

Don’t get me wrong, I really mean “national food security”, but I just used the term “local” to bring attention to the high incidence of hunger that now occurs in many local communities nationwide. As far as I know, our government does not have systematic means of measuring hunger right now, and I doubt if they are even monitoring it. On the more serious side, our government does not also have a systematic method of measuring or recognizing the existence of famine, a phenomenon that happens when hunger escalates beyond manageable limits.

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It may just be a matter of semantics, but there is really a huge difference between hunger and famine. One is really greater than the other, in much the same way that there ought to be an official difference between an outbreak and an epidemic. When does hunger turn to famine, and when does an outbreak become an epidemic? Fortunately in the case of storms, we have a way of telling when it becomes a typhoon. Numerically speaking, how many people have to die from hunger before we officially recognize that a famine already exists?

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At the risk of sounding like an alarmist, there is a valid reason to talk about this subject, as reports of “extreme hunger” are now coming out, as opposed to just “plain hunger”. I know that this is not supposed to happen in a country with abundant agricultural resources, but it is indeed happening now, as many of our people are now unable to eat three square meals for days in a row. Is this a problem that we should just ignore now, or should be not do something about it already? Should we just wait until people actually drop dead in the streets?

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As I see it, there is an urgent need to attend to this problem now, and the right thing to do I think is to declare this as a responsibility of the local government units (LGUs). This is not to say that the national government agencies (NGAs) should not do anything about it, because they should still be tasked with policy making and resource management as far as this challenge is concerned. This approach is consistent with the principle of decentralization, but what is more important here is the fact that in the case of hunger, the local officials would be in a better position to deal with it.

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Without any doubt, I say that most of our local officials are clueless now about the real picture of poverty in their own jurisdictions. While the face of poverty is nothing new to them anymore to the extent that they have probably taken it for granted, hunger is a totally different issue, because not all poor people are suffering from it, at least relatively speaking. The relativity here pertains to the fact that many of the poor people are still able to eat one way or the other, setting aside the issue of whether they are able to meet their recommended dietary intakes (RDIs) or not.

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I am sorry to say that even the RDI concept seems to be alien to both our LGU and NGA officials. Either that or they are simply ignoring it, thinking perhaps that they could not do anything about it anyway. Notwithstanding this apparent conceptual vacuum, there is still a need to formalize right away our national standards for defining what constitutes famine and what should constitute our sustainable RDI levels, these two concepts being very closely inter-related.

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What must our local officials do in order to deal with the problem of hunger in their own jurisdictions? The first order of business I think is to check the data that is already available at the national level, and based on that, they should track down the real people who are actually going hungry, in other words they should already give a “human face” to the impersonal data that is already available. What should they do after that? While I am not in favor of giving away dole outs as a long term strategy, I think that as a temporary measure, just to contain the problem right away, they should immediately start feeding programs or issue out food coupons as the case may be.

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In order to avoid the perpetuation of a dole out mentality, the beneficiaries of the feeding or coupon programs should right away be moved over to a livelihood program where they could already start earning regular incomes. This is easier said than done, but rather than do this entirely by themselves, the LGUs should tap the support of local non-government organizations (NGOs) that are geared towards this type of advocacy. In response to this need, I am organizing an NGO that could assist in the marketing of products coming from all livelihood projects. I am not new in this undertaking, since I am just reviving something that I have already done before.

CHARITY SUPERMARKET

If have not heard of a charity supermarket yet, you will soon see one here in the Philippines, as it is now taking shape. Conceptually, a charity supermarket is a place or a facility where anyone could donate anything to any charity at any time, from anywhere. Aside from accepting donations, the supermarket could also sell products made by charitable projects; it could support the membership drives of charitable organizations and sponsor their activities on a regular basis.

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Starting with a few clients and using my radio program as a launching pad, I have already formed the nucleus of the charity supermarket, with the support of two donor groups. Just my luck, I bumped into a good friend, Atty. Mitch Lopez who was in Manila for a few days, visiting from California. Mitch leads a group of young Filipino professionals in the United States who have decided to set aside a portion of their income for charitable projects in the Philippines, in the form of tax-deductible donations. As agreed with Mitch, he will course all of their donations to the charity supermarket.

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Together with other investors, I formed OnePhilippines, Corp., a service provider of communications services. Thanks to Mr. Dixy Tudla, the General Manager of OnePhil, any charitable organization in the Philippines that is a client of the charity supermarket will be qualified to receive 1dollar for every OnePhil card sold. The main product of OnePhil is an unlimited international phone card that sells for 100 dollars. The card could be used by anybody to call anyone from anywhere to anywhere in the world, with no extra charges other than the fixed selling price. OnePhil customers will be asked to choose from a list of beneficiaries where they would want the 1 dollar donation to go.

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Thanks to my partner Ramon Ignacio, the charity supermarket will soon have a presence in the Internet, supplementing what I am already doing on the air via radio. Functionally however, the mechanics will be the same, since anyone using the Internet will eventually be able to donate anything to any beneficiary in the Philippines, plus do all the other extra functions and activities that I have earlier mentioned.

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As of now, the list of charity supermarket clients include the OFW Family Club, Advancement of Worker’s Awareness Regarding Employment (AWARE), Multinational Drivers Cooperative Foundation, the Conflict Resolution Group Foundation (CORE), the Advocacy for Science & Technology in Governance (ASTIG), the Philippine Blind Union (PBU), Alyansa ng May Kapansanang Pinoy (AKAPPINOY), the Philippine Foundation for Science & Technology (PFST), the Migrant NGO Forum and the Alliance for National Development and Renewal (ANDAR). All charitable organizations in the Philippines are qualified to join.

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For the lack of a better term, I am actually just using “charity” in a loose sense, because other than charitable causes, the foundations could engage in any activity such as developmental, social and cultural. As I see it, the bulk of clients will come from the foundations that are engaged in delivering human development basic needs (HDBN) such as livelihood, food security, health services and public education. HDBN is a conceptual approach that I am now trying to define; combining ideas from the minimum basic needs (MBN) approach, the eleven basic needs (11-BN) approach of the former Ministry of Human Settlements (MHS) and the human security approach of the United Nations.

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During the term of Sec. Marietta Goco as Chairman of the Presidential Commission to Fight Poverty (PCFP), I had the chance to assist in the development of the MBN Database, a project that is partly supported by the World Bank. Since then however, nothing seems to be happening in the management of the basic needs challenge in the Philippines. Appearing to be a sign of hope, the Makati City Government has developed a Barangay Management Operations System (BMOS) that is equipped with basic needs features.

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It seems that right now, there is a problem of donor fatigue in the country, as many donors are “burned” with poor results and misused funds. I think that the solution to that is to have a third party audit and a regular reporting system. Aside from that, what is needed is a professional service that would make it easy for anyone to donate cash or kind to the Philippines. This is what I hope to do with the charity supermarket. If you know more people like Mitch and Dixy, please let me know.

ME AND MY MANGOES

I love mangoes and I think it would be difficult to find another Filipino who does not like this fruit. While we may have taken this product for granted as just one of our national treasures, there is a huge problem that now faces the industry that grows and exports it. In a consultation meeting that I had with some of this industry’s leaders, I have come to realize how much has yet to be done in order to support the people who depend on this crop for their livelihood and survival.

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According to industry estimates, there are about a million people who are growing this fruit, not to mention their dependents that could bring up the total to about five million more or less. Of course, that figure does not include the number of people who are also able to gain livelihood from the trading and transporting of this commodity.

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As relayed to me by the industry leaders, the People’s Republic of China has warned that they are going to ban the importation of mangoes into that country, not unless the Philippines would comply with their insect control standards. A representative of the Chinese government is reportedly coming soon in order to press for our compliance with these standards. As a result of this threat, the industry has sought the assistance of the government, and judging from what I have heard so far, it seems to lacking in its actions.

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I remember that a few years back, “development diplomacy” was a popular buzzword in the Foreign Service, but it seems to me now that this approach has either been forgotten, or it is simply being ignored. Not that I would enjoy having the last word as far as this issue is concerned, but I recall that I had serious reservations about the adoption of the “country team” approach in development diplomacy, and now there are indications that I might have been right all along.

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Simply put, the “country team approach” recognizes the Ambassador as the head of the “country team” in a diplomatic post abroad, including all the consular posts under it. In a way, this approach merely restates what is already obvious, but it seems that this reality has to be restated, in order to emphasize the advocacy that all the Attaches assigned to the Embassy and the consulates under it should also report to him or her, as far as the economic diplomacy program is concerned.

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According to the traditional diplomatic practice, Attaches are supposed to function as “advisers” to the Ambassador, meaning to say that in theory, they are not supposed to perform any line function within an Embassy. As it has evolved in the Philippine diplomatic practice however, Attaches have become more like “tenants” in a diplomatic or consular post, holding office there, but are actually still reporting to, and taking orders from their own “home offices” back in the Philippines, meaning their own cabinet Secretaries. Also according to traditional diplomatic practice, there are supposed to be no Attaches assigned to the consulates, simply because it is a diplomatic rank, and not a consular rank.

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In order for the “country team” approach to work properly, I think that the personality of Attaches should be completely changed, from that of “tenants” into that of “seconded” officers to the Foreign Service, and in that new capacity, they should report only to their Chiefs of Mission, and no longer to their cabinet Secretaries back home. By implication, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) should take the full and undivided responsibility for all “economic diplomacy” functions abroad, meaning that it should no longer share the blame or credit with any other agency in the event of success or failure in these functions, as the case may be.

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The challenge of getting mangoes into China despite the barriers set by that host country is a diplomatic problem that should be solved by the DFA in general and by the Philippine Embassy in Beijing in particular. Against all odds, it should be our diplomats there who should take the lead because they are the people on the ground. In other words, they should be the ones telling the bureaucracy back home what to do, each step of the way.

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For its part, the DFA should take the role of being the “home team” leader back here, telling all the other agencies involved here what to do, and leading them each step of the way. In this particular problem, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Trade & Industry could certainly help out, but the DFA should take the overall lead. The Congress should also step in, as this is a matter of national urgency.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC POLICY INTEGRATION

Back in my days as a Foreign Service Officer (FSO) at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), I used to attend the now defunct Science & Technology Coordinating Council (STCC). At that time, the STCC practically became the oversight entity of the Department of Science & Technology (DOST), thus making it very active and very aggressively involved in using S&T as a potent force in socio-economic development.

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While the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) may not be faultless in some of its ways, it still is a good example of how government agencies should cooperate with, and coordinate with each other in working towards a common goal. Sad to say however, the approach of the NDCC seems to be on the reactive side and is not pro-active or developmental, considering that disaster preparedness should really be a moving target or a continuing concern.

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In theory, the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) is supposed to be on top of a national system of “development councils” that goes all the way down to the Municipal Development Councils (MDCs) with counterparts in the regional and provincial levels. Ideally, this system should really go down to the barangay level, but unfortunately, only the NDCC has done that, and rightly so. As it is now, there is a problem with this system at the regional level, because there is no equivalent regional government that could function as the counterpart of the Regional Development Councils (RDCs).

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In theory as well, the NEDA is supposed to gather and integrate the outputs of all the RDCs, which in turn should have gathered and integrated the outputs of all their Provincial Development Councils (PDCs) and also the outputs of the MDCs. Under this set-up, it would be very easy to implement a “bottom-to-top” approach in socio-economic development and management, but for some reason, the NEDA is not taking advantage of it, and seems to have adopted a “top-to-bottom” approach.

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Also in theory, the RDC-PDC-MDC system is supposed to assist in the planning and administration of the Internal Revenue Allocations (IRAs), but again unfortunately, this provision of the General Appropriations Act (GAA) is not being followed. In my own opinion, it would really be logical to include the planning and administration of the Countryside Development Funds (CDF) or the Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAFs) in the work of the said system, but we are still too far from that reality.

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Back in my days as Director General of the National Computer Center (NCC), we implemented the National Crime Information System (NCIS) as provided for by the law. The hardware and software components of that project were difficult enough to bring together, but as far as I am concerned, what was more difficult was to coordinate and integrate the inputs of about two dozen government agencies that were involved in the project. As I see it now, there is presently very little coordination and integration of the data coming from these agencies in pursuit of the justice system, and that is a separate problem by itself.

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As part of my public service activities, I am inviting all Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and People’s Organizations (POs) to join the Socio-Economic Development Alliance (SEDA), a new forum that I am now organizing. SEDA will essentially follow the format of the STCC and I will also apply the management lessons that I learned from the NCIS, but it will be privately led. At the national level, SEDA will invite the participation of all government agencies that are involved in socio-economic development.
At the regional, provincial and municipal level (including the cities), SEDA will coordinate and integrate the participation of NGOs and POs in the RDCs, PDCs and MDCs.

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The planning and management of socio-economic development in all levels is, and should be non-political. I realize that in this country, it is very difficult to separate what is political from what is developmental, but considering the public service challenge that is facing us, we should keep on trying and should not give up. I also realize that there are too many problems to tackle, but we could start with a few concerns that we could immediately act on to produce immediate results. For instance, we could start with pressing concerns in health, education, environment, employment and livelihood. I have started tackling these two problems in my radio program, and I have much to share with the prospective SEDA members.

SELF-HELP OFFERS HOPE FOR MANY

I have been getting many inquiries about the Socio-Economic Development Alliance (SEDA since I announced it in my Daily Tribune column. The main purpose of SEDA is to coordinate and integrate the socio-economic development advocacies of Non-Government Organizations (NGOs). However, common sense would tell us that it is very important to address first the socio-economic needs of the individual members of these NGOs, and that is where the self-help movement in the Philippines could be of help, under the leadership of the Self-Help Association for Revenue Enhancement (SHARE).

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The story about the self-help movement worldwide is really very simple. There are poor and disadvantaged people everywhere, and more often than not, their only hope of being able to improve their lives is to help each other. More often than not however, there is always an expectation everywhere that one way or the other; big business and the national (or federal) government would come in to help. While this help would come in one form or the other, it needs to be organized, and that is where the NGOs would come in.

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Although the self-help movement is generally understood to be “micro-economic” in the sense that it usually happens at the village level, I would think on the other hand that all these small and isolated “activities” should follow a “road map” in order for it to have a “macro-economic” direction within a broader area, such as a municipality or a province for instance. Without meaning to downplay the efforts of the private sector, I have observed that many civic organizations undertake a “piecemeal” approach in their socio-economic development programs, a behavior that is not really their fault, because no one is really giving them an overall “direction” from where they are operating.

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In my previous articles, I have discussed the roles that the Municipal Development Councils (MDCs), Provincial Development Councils (PDCs) and Regional Development Councils (RDCs) are supposed to fill in. I have also discussed the roles that the sectoral NGOs are supposed to play, as provided for in the laws. Recently, I learned that the law also requires NGOs to register with the Local Government Units (LGUs), and I think this is good as far as identifying who the participants in the local development process should be.

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As I envision it, SEDA could play an important role in organizing and coordinating the efforts of all NGOs participating in the municipal (MDC), provincial (PDC) and the regional (RDC) levels. At the top of this structure, SEDA could organize and coordinate the NGOs at the national level also, when and where interaction with the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) is already needed. Notwithstanding this focus on policy work however, I would repeat myself, that NGO members should also be given project supports at the levels of their own organizations, because what good would a self-help movement do if our own members could not be helped?

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As you have probably surmised by now, SEDA is only going to be an umbrella organization of NGOs, intended to fill a vacuum of leadership that seems to be prevalent everywhere. By design, SEDA is not going to recruit or pirate the members of the other NGOs where they already exist. In order to strengthen the ranks of the NGOs in the various localities however, SHARE is going to recruit fresh members from among those who are not yet involved in any of the NGOs, or have become inactive.

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Even if it is widely perceived that socio-economic development is a very abstract notion, I would still say that there are internationally accepted ways of defining its objectives and measuring its results. For instance, the United Nations have come up with the Human Development Index (HDI), and recently I came across some standards set by the Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA). Aside from that, I have also come across some interesting standards set by a website (http://www.sustainablemeasures.com). Although usually lacking in form and substance, we do have our own set of national standards in some cases that are already workable.

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Right now, I am hoping that some SHARE Clubs could already be organized at the municipal levels, so that they could start becoming active in the MDCs. If you are interested or if you know anyone who is interested in your own areas, please let me know. A group of five core members would be enough to start; we will provide all the guidance that you would need.

A NEW OUTLOOK ABOUT GLOBALIZATION

Let’s face it; we are already stuck with globalization for now, since we have already signed the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement. I say “for now”, because there may still be a chance for us to withdraw or to ask for a moratorium, but it might be an uphill climb. Is globalization good or bad for us as a country? While it seems that the general sentiment is that it is bad for us, there is a new thinking emerging that we could still turn it into a good thing, provided that we would work hard as one nation to make it good for all of us.

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Looking back, our national leaders made the very hopeful assumption that our products and services are going to be competitive in the world market, and if not, that there would be “safety nets” that could absorb the impacts of the failures to compete. Unfortunately however, as we know it now, both assumptions failed, and now we are suffering from closed factories and lost jobs. Up ahead, we are hoping that we could solve the unemployment problem by creating new jobs, but that is really too far from happening, because without new factories and other worksites, there could be no new jobs created.

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Going straight to the point, there is really no way around globalization except to become more competitive. Certainly we could try to get out of the WTO Agreement even if temporarily, and we could also try to bargain for a moratorium, but after this period of relaxation, we still have to contend with the challenge of globalization again. Note that I used the term “challenge” and not the term “problem”, because that should be our attitude. Truth to tell, our attitude towards anything in life depends on whether we prefer to look at the bright side or at the dark side.

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There are many ways of defining globalization, but to put it in simple terms, it is the global movement that allows a trading country to sell any product or service in any other country, without any tariff barriers, and restricted only by its ability to compete in terms of price, quality, delivery and all other commercial factors that would give it a competitive advantage. In other words, a trading country in this kind of environment has to play in the same game that every other trading country does. With this in mind, we really have no choice but to make our own products and services competitive.

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In response to this very pressing need, I am setting up a new business that will provide marketing and advertising services to Filipino companies that would like to expand their business into the global markets. As a start, I am now getting in touch with my former colleagues in our embassies and consulates abroad, being a former Foreign Information Attaché (FIA) and Foreign Service Officer (FSO) myself. This is actually a welcome idea for them, because development diplomacy is really part of their work.

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If you are looking for the biggest concentration of experts in one building who could all assist in expanding to foreign markets, go the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in Makati City. Mentioning only some of the people that I personally know, the short list is already a high powered line-up. On top of my list is Bobby De Ocampo my former neighbor in Annandale, Virginia who is now AIM President. Not necessarily in my degree of “closeness” to them, my list also includes Poch Macaranas and Rod Severino, both whom were my former bosses at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) when they worked there as Undersecretaries. Poch was the top honcho for the 1996 APEC Meeting here. Rod later on became the top honcho of the ASEAN when he was elected Secretary General.

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I did not go to the AIM, but at least once a week, I always have the chance to work with a number of its professors. In the process, I learn a lot from them, and it is as if I am already taking up a continuing course in business management. Among these genius friends are Prof. Tommy Lopez, Prof. Felix Bustos and Prof. Vic Limlingan.

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Poch, Rod, Tommy, Felix and Vic are not salesmen. They will not sell your products and services directly, but just like the wise sages of yore, they can tell you what to do, and where to go. For my part, I am willing to get down to the selling level, promoting products abroad for my clients. On a smaller scale, I am doing that locally too, by promoting the products of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) among the multinational corporations (MNCs). We don’t know what lies ahead of us in the area of globalization, but the only way for us to win is to start playing the game.

LACK OF COMPASSION AND LOTS OF CORRUPTION

Is there a law that governs the procedure for discharging hospital patients with unpaid accounts? Mr. Noel de la Rosa UP music student was operated at the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Center (UERM) and has been given discharge orders by his doctor. However, he was detained by the hospital even with a promissory note to pay his remaining bills. Does a hospital really have the right to do this? As it looks now, we may be lacking a law that would clear up this issue, but that is no reason for UERM to show a lack of compassion for this humanitarian cause.

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I had the chance to visit the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) twice last week, and I was very much impressed at how clean their premises are. That’s the good news, but the bad news is that their supply of medicines is still scarce. Patients have to buy their own medicines and other supplies, which is a difficult thing for them to do, because most of them are indigents. Some lawmakers have transferred their pork barrel funds to this hospital. That’s the good news, but the bad news is that access to these funds is limited only to those whom they favor. Can’t we just have even one charity hospital in this country where all expenses would be free? This is one way of showing compassion to the poor.

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I am neither a doctor nor an economist, but I have reason to believe that the costs of medical services in this country are abnormally very high because of bad economics and rampant corruption. The good news at the UP-PGH is that doctor’s fees and room expenses are free, but the bad news is that patients have to pay for everything else. As we already know, the prices of medicines in the Philippines are abnormally high too, because if the high marketing costs that are partly made higher by the way that the drug companies are spoiling (read as corrupting) many doctors.

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Looking like a horror story that was too bad to be true, the Sorsogon Provincial Government is being accused of graft and corruption by no other than their own Provincial Board Member. This report attracted my attention, because among others, it included three cases of corruption in the public health sector. According to the report, about 50 million worth of public funds were misappropriated for a “floating clinic”, for a village drugstore and for a health & sanitation project. The complainant (and whistle blower), Board Member Rebecca Aquino requested the Commission on Audit (COA) to assign a special audit team to investigate these cases. It’s a good thing that the COA granted Aquino’s request, but will there not be a conflict of interest on the part of this team, as they investigate their own peers? After all, a total of P858 million supposedly lost for the past six years could not have disappeared without the head office boys knowing about it.

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Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay wants City residents to have universal coverage from PHILHEALTH. This is a very practical move, since it turns out that the existing PHILHEALTH coverage is very limited, and members still have to pay so much more, often beyond their means. Luckily for Makati City residents, they have a “Yellow Card” program that is able to pay for a portion of what PHILHEALTH does not pay for. For sure, the premiums for the universal coverage will be higher, but chances are, it will lower the “social costs” of Makati City in the overall.

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Is Mayor Binay able to deliver quality health services to his City residents simply because his City Hall has lots of money, or is it because he has lots of practical programs that are working very well? If it is just a question of money, then we could reasonably expect the other Mayors who have lesser money to also deliver their own health services, albeit with a lesser level than Makati City. Since this is apparently not the case, we could probably say that Binay’s edge is his compassion for his City residents, which he translates into real delivery programs.

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Who is really in the best position to monitor the graft and corruption that happens in many government-owned hospitals? Is it really the COA? Time and again, we have seen that COA auditors who stay too long in a place of assignment tend to “take root” sooner or later, thus making it easier for them to be corrupted. Is there no better way of monitoring and reporting the performance of public hospitals? In New York City, all hospitals owned by the local government are placed under the management of a public corporation. All these hospitals are vetted and rated against all other hospitals at par, so it does not matter whether they are publicly or privately owned. How far are we from achieving this very efficient system? With more compassion and lesser corruption, I am sure we could do it.

THE CHILDREN IN OUR MIDST

There is a running debate in many development countries whether access to health services should be considered as a “right” or as a “benefit” that should be only optionally provided by the government. I think that the basis for answering this question would vary from country to country, but here in the Philippines, I think that this question should be answered locally and not nationally, because just like in the global scene, the answer would depend on each locality, to “give or not to give”. As you might have guessed by now, there is no universal rule that governs the answer to the given question, and that is why the policies would vary even in countries that are located close to each other, such as the United States and Canada.

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Notwithstanding the diversity in the making of health policies everywhere however, I think that a specific exception should be made in the case of child vaccination, since the impact or side effects to them would extend to their entire lifetimes if and when they are not vaccinated in their youth. In other words, this is not an option, because in the long run, it could be a matter of life and death for these children as they grow older. As usual, the discussion about this, as in any other development issue will turn to the question of money, and this is where I am going to offer some suggestions.

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According to the General Appropriations Act (GAA), 20% of the Internal Revenue Allocations (IRAs) and health is listed as one of the priorities. Understandably, there are other priorities, such as education. In the case of education however, some Local Government Units (LGUs) are able to generate additional funding through the Educational Support Fund (ESF), since the law allows them to allocate a portion of their earnings from real property taxes for educational purposes. With or without the ESF however, health competes with education when it comes to the allocation of scarce resources, along with other expense areas such as infrastructure and public safety (police, jail and fire services).

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First things first, I think that the first thing that our government should do is to benchmark the overall challenge of vaccination, defining early on what types of vaccines should be included in the first place. As part of benchmarking, the government (both local and national) should build databases for this specific purpose, i.e. for the purpose of vaccinating children from birth up to a certain age limit. Not that I am trying to pre-judge the government for what it can do and what it could not do, but as a sign of good faith, it should already start building the databases.

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In theory, the health and social work functions have already been devolved to the LGUs. What this means is that the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Social Work & Development (DSWD) are now supposed to be just policy makers and capability builders only as far as these two functions are concerned. Between the DOH and the DSWD however, which of them are ultimately responsible and accountable for achieving vaccination targets? If neither of them is directly accountable, should it be the LGUs then that should pledge to these targets?

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Once these benchmarks and targets are set, the next step that these LGUs should take is to set their sustainable targets, considering their available resources and known limitations. Nowadays, the issue of sustainability always seems to be taken for granted. Actually, the first logical step towards sustainability is attainability. If it could not be attained, it could not be sustained. It goes without saying that before it could be attained, it should be “afforded”. If the LGUs could not afford it, then they could not even attain it. It’s just as simple as that. In real terms, affordability and sustainability should really go in hand, because the LGUs should only set the volume targets that they could achieve in the short run, and eventually sustain in the long run.

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In the English language, a jail is a jail, but strictly speaking, an “inmate” in a city jail is not a prisoner. Only the “inmates” in the national jails are the real prisoners, because they are the ones who have already been convicted. With this in mind, I wonder why our LGUs could not put up dormitories that would house child offenders, instead of mixing them in with the adults. Why does it have to take a CNN story to wake up our LGU officials about this problem? Is this problem not in our national consciousness, so much so that we would need a foreign news network to push us to move? In Makati City, the city government immediately takes custody of “accused” children, so that they will no longer be detained. This is a very practical approach that should be copied by all the other LGUs, to protect the children in our midst

MEASURING SUCCESS IN LOCAL GOVERNANCE

How should success or failure in local governance be measured? How do we know whether an official who is seeking a re-election deserves another term or not? It appears that up to now, there are no nationally accepted standards yet for measuring performance in local governance. What this means is that there is really no central direction where governance is going, and that could be neither here nor there.

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First things first, I would like to make my point first that globalization per se is not bad. What is bad is our inability to compete in the global arena with our own products and services. What does local governance have to do with globalization? Standardization is one thing; compliance with global standards is another. Without standards to measure performance in local governance, I find it difficult to imagine that we could produce products and services that could compete globally.

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Without any doubt, crime and poverty are the two biggest problems that are confronting our local government units (LGUs) today. Over at the United Nations, the Human Development Index (HDI) has emerged as the globally accepted standard for measuring success or failure in promoting the “quality of life”. Just as an aside, Vice-President Noli De Castro somehow missed the point when he recently used the term “uplifting life”, instead of “uplifting the quality of life”. How does one uplift life?

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As a supplement to HDI, I think that it would be a good idea for the UN to also adopt a Human Security Index (HSI). As I see it, HDI pertains more to “prosperity”, which is the opposite of poverty. As I am proposing it, HSI should pertain more to “peace and order”, which is the opposite of crime. When combined, HSI and HDI could separately measure success or failure in reducing crime and poverty, or conversely, in achieving “prosperity” and “peace and order”.

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In theory, the Local Government Code (LGC) already provides for local autonomy. However, the Philippines is probably the only country in the world where the policemen, firemen and jailers are national employees even as they are assigned to work for the LGUs. In the structure of the bureaucracy, the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) and the Bureau of Jail Management & Penology (BJMP) are all under the Department of Interior & Local Government (DILG). In the old days, the term “Fire Department” was easily understood. Nowadays however, could anyone explain the meaning of “Fire Protection”?

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As I see it, “Jail Management & Penology” appears to be another misnomer, because in the first place, the “inmates” (I also don’t feel right about this term) in the custody of the LGUs are just “suspects”, people who have been accused of committing crimes, but have not yet been convicted. I other words, their “accommodations” should not even be called “jails”, and there is no “penology” that should happen yet. Add to that the fact that “rehabilitation” is the right approach in handling convicts, and not “penology”. Come to think of it, the local “jails” are supposed to be just “detention centers” or “dormitories”, to put it in another way.

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The police, fire and jail (dorm?) functions fall under the general category of “public safety”, which is more or less synonymous with “human security”. Right now, the “crime rate” is the popular standard for measuring “peace and order” in a locality. As I see it however, there is a need for a more encompassing standard that should also measure fire safety and jail security among others, the latter referring to the prevention of jailbreaks.

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I understand that the poverty rate is a very important measure to monitor, but as I see it, there is a need to broaden the measurement of the “quality of life”, and ideally it should look more on the positive side. In a manner of speaking, HDI is somehow synonymous with “prosperity rate”. In the terminology of the UN however, “human development” is usually measured in terms of “access” to goods and services.

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In order to apply the HDI approach to the local conditions, the LGUs should measure the percentage of their population that has access to specific goods and services. For instance, how many have access to ordinary potable tap water? How many have access to quality education? In both of these two examples, the bottom line is really money. People need money to pay the water company. Enrolling into a public school is no problem, but parents still need to spend more money to keep their kids in school.

WARNING FOR GLOBAL WARMING

It’s been more than a year since the tsunami disaster hit several Asian countries. By now, many countries in the region have put up their early warning systems for tsunami threats, while nothing has been put up so far here in the Philippines. Is it because of lack of money or because of a lack of focus on the part of the government?

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By comparison, a tsunami hits a target only once (one at a time) while the multiple effects of global warming hits several targets several times many times over. There is really no point in comparing which is worst and which would kill more people, but the bottom line is the same, both are dangers to human lives and our government should focus on the solutions.

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Correct me if I am wrong, but I think that the estimated costs for putting up a tsunami warning system here in the Philippines has been over-estimated or over-rated, as the case may be. I hope that the rough estimates did not come from the prospective suppliers, as these would be self-serving in that case. I also hope that no one is planning to turn this project proposal into another graft and corruption scam.

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For several years, it was widely known that solar panels cost too much, so much so that the energy derived from these solar cells was also too much overpriced. Recently however, the prices of these cells have gone down drastically, so much so that resulting output prices are already very competitive with other commercial options in the market.

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Although not exactly the same in design and construction, solar cells and digital sensors are more or less in the same price bracket, such that simple but practical monitoring systems could be designed and installed now for various purposes. Examples of these are sensor-based systems for tracking and monitoring fluctuations in temperatures and water levels. This is not to say that ready-made and off-the-shelf solutions are not available but the bottom line is always cost-efficiency.

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Going straight to the point, I think that the responsibility and accountability for the tracking and monitoring of geo-physical threats to public safety should be localized or “devolved”, as the local jargon would put it. As it is now, local government units (LGUs) are not under any obligation to track and monitor the fluctuations involving these threats. Perhaps as a result of the lack of legal sanctions, most LGUs do not have counterpart units or offices that could work hand in hand with national agencies such as the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) and the Environment Management Bureau (EMB).

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Based on the present pattern of governance, agencies like PAGASA, PHIVOLCS and EMB function as policy makers and service providers. In contrast, the service provider functions of the Department of Health (DOH) have been devolved to the LGUs, with DOH retaining the policy making function. By the way, as it is now, there is probably no LGU now where there is an equivalent local office that could be the counterpart for the Department of Science & Technology (DOST), the supervising agency of PAGASA and PHIVOLCS.

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In many advanced countries, LGUs could be sued by anybody if they fail to deliver what is expected of them. Believe it or not, the LGUs in these countries are even sued by national government agencies (NGAs) as if they have no connection with each other. The bottom line here is that the LGUs are accountable for specific responsibilities, while there are NGAs that track and monitor their performance, and would sue them if necessary.

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It may sound a bit far-fetched and esoteric, but it is really possible to track and monitor the signs of global warming at the LGU level? Would it also be possible to track and monitor compliance with national standards, assuming that these could be nationally defined and locally delegated?

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It is not the first time that warnings about the threats of global warming have been sounded. This time around, it is TIME Magazine that has sounded the alarm, but how I wish that the alarm would not fall on deaf ears, particularly at the local level. While the LGUs now have the “free choice” of doing something or not, it is about time that national standards are imposed, with penalties for those that do not meet the standards.