Cleaning up government

Nobody said the task of cleaning up government was going to be easy. We are now witnesses to a strong negative reaction from the entrenched bureaucracy to clean up. At the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the fat cats heading the juicy revenue districts have launched a pretty well-funded campaign to drive BIR Commissioner Rene Banez out of office. They even have the money to buy fairly large sized newspaper ads.

At the Social Security System, an employees group even had the temerity to give the Macapagal administration a deadline to replace Lanny Nañagas as Chairman and President. But then, those SSS employees have lost the moral high ground when they silently allowed the minions of deposed President Erap to raid the trust fund of private sector workers, resulting, by one count, to as much as P8 billion in losses.

Yet, both Bañez and Nañagas are known for their professionalism and probity. They both need the jobs they now hold like a hole in their heads. Bañez, for one, initially resisted the appointment because he was just starting to earn real money from the private sector, money he needs for the growing needs of his family. Being BIR commissioner is a personal sacrifice.

It is bad enough that Bañez and Nañagas cannot easily fire the corrupt from among the bureaucrats. The Civil Service Law protects the good and the bad alike. Organizing themselves to frustrate any serious effort to reform the system is simply too much for poor taxpayers like you and me. The only way to really clean up the BIR is to remove all current regional directors and replace them with more idealistic younger officers or fresh recruits from the private sector. The older ones should be retired and have their assets examined.

The Civil Service Law was instituted to protect a professional civil service. But experience shows that may be impossible to achieve. Maybe, Congress should give each new administration and each new agency head a little more leeway to fire the incompetent and the corrupt. It is unfair to hold them responsible for cleaning up the bureaucracy while at the same time tying their hands with a Civil Service Law that protects the incompetent and the corrupt.

For now, all we can do is give Bañez and Nañagas our moral support and hope that President Macapagal Arroyo stands by them. They were given a tough assignment. We ought to give them time and resources to get their jobs done.

Tourism

I got a strong reaction of Plantation Bay’s Manny Gonzalez to a statement in my last column that we should perish the thought that foreign airlines in an open skies milieu will bring in tourists to this country now. Manny points out that bad as the national picture might be, Cebu’s tourism industry is going great guns.

"Some parts of the country have NOT been adversely affected by recent events. Most hotels in Cebu are enjoying steady business from nearby countries like Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. PAL’s international flights to Cebu (Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong) are all doing well. In fact, I would venture to guess that PAL’s international routes to Cebu are wholly responsible for its operating profit last year, and are subsidizing its losses on Manila routes (domestic and international).

"Year-to-date, Plantation Bay has had over 70-percent average occupancy (vs. about 65 percent in 2000), with better room rates than last year (about $105/per room vs. $90). For June, which is traditionally Mactan’s weakest month (due to seasonal factors), it looks like we will achieve 65-70 percent (compared with last year’s 55 percent). The economic downturn in the Philippines has reduced our Philippine-source business considerably, but this was more than made up by increases in our foreign markets.

"The increase in foreign tourism at Plantation Bay (and Cebu in general) is directly attributable to increased direct flights from Hong Kong, resumption of indirect flights from Taiwan, and PAL’s initiation last year of a direct Seoul-Cebu flight.

"It is therefore clear that there are still lots of tourists in Asia who are willing to come to this country, provided they have convenient flights at a reasonable cost."

Okay, I stand corrected. Maybe there is sense in allowing some amount of open skies in other domestic points of entry like Cebu. My only thought earlier was that the increased budget Dick Gordon is seeking to come up with an aggressive tourism promotion program may have to wait for better times. While I was at Whistler in Canada, I was browsing in a bookstore and came upon a book entitled ‘The Most Dangerous Places in the World.’ I was not surprised that we are one of those places documented in the book.

Maybe, it makes more sense for our tourism promotions to be directed to specific destinations with real prospects like Cebu and, possibly, Ilocos. I don’t think Palawan, for instance, will be worth promoting. Not even the locals will be brave enough to go there now.

National ID

A reader whose name in his e-mail address is "revoltar", reacted to last Monday’s comment about a national ID card.

"Why can’t the Philippines just learn from America, where the Social Security number serves as the one and only national ID, tax ID, etc., and is used to transact business with private and public entities? The Social Security card is issued upon request to every resident, young or old, citizen or non-citizen, private or public employees. There is also no need for cedula."

I guess the reason why we have not adopted this system is because it makes sense. Our bureaucracy is hardly capable of thinking straight on things that make sense for us citizens. They are experts in devising requirements and procedures that not only are nonsensical, but also put undue hardship on citizens. You know... like expecting my 16-year-old daughter to have a tax account number and a cedula if she wants to get a student driver’s permit. Stupidity, plain and simple.

The trapo dance

Politicians are the same everywhere. That’s the impression one gets from Dr. Ernie E’s contribution today.

There was a dance teacher who talked of a very old dance called The Politician. "All you have to do" she told her class, "is take three steps forward, two steps backward, then side-step, side-step and turn around."

(Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected])