It’s hard to believe, but yes, there it is again: We’re short of supplies for license plates and driver’s licenses! Why do these things happen regularly? Don’t we have a way of forecasting volumes that will be needed? Surely the automotive industry has predictions? The Land Transportation Office (LTO) just has to make effective planning assumptions when it prepares its annual budget, and order more than expected. Drivers’ licenses and license plates don’t expire yearly anyway.
This lack of foresight seems to be endemic in our government. Recently, the Civil Aeronautics Administration got caught flatfooted when its monitoring system failed, and the NAIA had to close. Flights had to be canceled all over the country, and thousands of passengers were inconvenienced. The price in personal and business concerns must have been heavy for many. Airlines must have lost a lot of money! It turns out that the system had not been properly maintained. Some crucial equipment was way past its productive period!
The stoppage of operations of overhead trains is also a recurrent phenomenon. And spare parts are often difficult to procure!
The Commission on Election’s decision to purchase rather than lease the Smartmatic equipment is still another case of shortsightedness. Information technology keeps evolving and systems and equipment become obsolete in a couple of years! Buying the equipment also requires renting warehousing for years! Because the equipment is sensitive to heat, the warehouses had to be air-conditioned! And even then, it did not ensure that the counting machines did not deteriorate. Or become obsolete! This shortsightedness was truly irresponsible.
A classic case of idiocy is the so-called Dolomite Beach. When the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) decided to build it, did they consider our regular exposure to typhoons and heavy rain? Didn’t they know that the “fake” sand would be swept over by nature and the waves? Did they not anticipate the messy crowd scenes and the need to hire security personnel to ensure a sense of order? Besides, what business did the DENR have providing a fake beach that actually destroyed corals? So now, the government has to provide funds for the regular rehabilitation and security system for this lame-brained idea! They might as well cut our losses and abandon the ill-conceived and unnecessary project.
An incredible irresponsibility now confronting our Finance and Budget departments is former President Rodrigo Duterte’s impulsive decision to double the pay of our cops and soldiers. This has become a serious concern for the near future as the government has to fund the retirement pay of uniformed personnel who do not have to make any contributions to their pension funds. This is exacerbated by the policy of giving soldiers a pension a rank above their last posting. Why then-Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno did not openly object to Duterte’s decision makes him a party to the problem which he is now complaining about. Meanwhile, our nurses, who risk their lives daily taking care of more patients than the military claims is the total size of the insurgency, are paid about half of the average soldiers’ pay. No wonder we are running short of nurses who prefer to accept better paying overseas jobs.
We must raise consciousness about our government’s endemic shortsightedness and install reporting systems that require predictions of what can go wrong. Our bureaucrats must learn to plan ahead and to budget for regular maintenance of systems; to predict unintended consequences over the long term and provide preventive measures as part of the plans.
Now both houses of Congress have passed the Maharlika Investment Fund deal. It is a major commitment of funds from key government financial institutions: No less than half a trillion pesos (P500 billion). All investments, public or private, carry risks. Have our policy makers considered them? There are opportunity costs. For example, LANDBANK will not be able to earn its average of 8% per annum on loans it grants. Meanwhile, it may even have to pay interest on deposits of the MIC (Maharlika Investment Corp.) which may not yet get placed in money-making projects. The MIC’s advocates seem to estimate average earnings of 8% per annum on its investments. Isn’t this ridiculous? The LANDBANK does not have to place investments through another entity. It can earn directly on its own without additional administrative and operational overhead.
Here we are, a country carrying huge deficits, placing some of its precious assets at risk in projects not yet clear. It will take time for the MIC to get its act together. Meanwhile, it will place its sleeping funds in government banks that have invested in it!
How will the MIC, a government corporation, generate income from its infrastructure projects? Will it charge toll fees to its users? Isn’t this a form of double taxation? How will taxpayers respond? Unless it plans to go into PPPs (public-private partnerships)? With all the controls and “safeguards” provided in the Bill, will private sector investors care to go into these partnerships?
The members of the Board are majority government officials. The executives, including the CEO, will be appointed by the President. Where is he going to find these talented geniuses? And will they be willing to work for a government corporation with so much equity that it will be too much of a challenge to deliver a decent ROI? In choosing the executives, will the President be able to resist political pressures or motives? Keep in mind that the President does not seem to have experience in running for-profit enterprises other than those protecting his family’s assets.
Will the automatic transfer of the Central Bank’s dividends (100% for years 1 and 2, 50% thereafter) not weaken this critical institution that has been central to our economic survival?
There are too many unexplained factors in this huge undertaking using the peoples’ money.
Let’s hope this does not become, as it seems possible, another sad case of not looking beyond our noses.
Teresa S. Abesamis is a former professor at the Asian Institute of Management and fellow of the Development Academy of the Philippines.