Crisis as opportunity for reform – part 1

When the Chinese say that the flip side of crisis is opportunity, they meant that every crisis harbors the potential for breakthroughs if people would just face it with creativity and determination.

I believe such an opportunity exists in the current food and fuel crisis that now grips the nation. If we look for long-term answers to the problems bedeviling us instead of fixing on palliatives and stop-gap solutions, we will not only surmount the crisis, we will become a stronger and better society, economy and nation.

This may seem paradoxical, but a high-price environment such as we have now – high fuel and food prices, inflation on the march – is one that is good for solutions. The saying that necessity is the mother of invention applies. We are forced to invent, innovate and change by the adversities we face.

I have no quarrel with those of our leaders who are concerned about providing subsidies and safety nets for the most vulnerable sectors of society today. These emergency measures are needed.

But I say that national attention and concern must equally be devoted to finding long-term, creative solutions to our problems even if some of these might be unpopular at the beginning. Fixing on populist answers is not enough. The nation must emerge from this crisis stronger, in keeping with another saying that says “what does not kill us will make us stronger.”

The key to this is government leadership and good policymaking – this should drive change. And part of this is to get the national leadership to get the various bureaucracies to move speedily forward in the same direction and to find the right solutions.

This is the message that I hope will emerge when President Arroyo and Congress gather again on the last Monday of July for the opening of Congress and the annual State of the Nation Address.

Energy efficiency and alternative energy sources

Crude oil prices are at stratospheric levels and are unlikely to return to last year’s level. Because we have no leverage to influence the international market, the fundamental challenge is how to find creative solutions to supply problems, rising demand, and inefficient usage of energy where we have control over.

We can already see how citizens are responding to the runaway gas and diesel prices. They are using their private cars less and turning to public transport more. They are resorting to car pools in going to school and work. They are saving on electricity costs at home.

Government can immensely expand this national desire to cope by establishing policies and programs for energy conservation, efficient energy utilization, and accelerated development of alternative energy sources.

Some of the key issues that must be tackled squarely now are:

1. The construction of a truly efficient public transport system – Efficient and modern public transport systems means moving people and goods with the least amount of per capita energy consumption. This is why countries and cities who have them are not suffering as much from the harsh lashes of the current oil crisis. The solution in our case includes, among others, completion of the mass-rail transit system around Metro Manila. One compelling argument is to have the DOTC have full ownership and control over the MRT system which it currently leases. The lease agreement hinders the DOTC from addressing the urgent needs of the riding public. And while a buyout with the MRTC Corporation was approved by the President, the cabinet officials concerned have yet to comply with her directive. The successful implementation of this buyout will not only entail significant financial savings (estimated at $400 million) to the government, it will have full control over critical transport service.

2. Development and use of alternative fuels and energy sources – We must accelerate the development of more geothermal and hydro plants to cover our electricity needs. Incentives must be provided to producers and consumers to encourage development of alternative energy sources such as solar, wind, and biofuels. The policy against nuclear energy must be reexamined in light of a vastly changed situation.

3. Improvement of maritime and rail transport – The crisis points us to the need to modernize maritime and rail transport in the country. Opening up these sectors to foreign participation would address the need for capital and new technology to achieve modernization. The sorry record of Sulpicio Lines in passenger shipping is not an argument against sea transport, but an imperative for maritime modernization.

Food production and agriculture

The spike in food prices is an alarming development, but it also provides the motivation for farmers and enterprises to engage in food production and agriculture in a big way. This is of great significance to the nation because some 73   percent of our people still live in the rural agricultural areas. A return to the land movement could trigger an agricultural revolution that can thrust the nation and the economy to new heights.

It is in this light that I hope government will focus its energies on the following priority concerns:

1. Setting food security and agricultural productivity as a matter of the highest national priority in the allocation of public resources towards agricultural support infrastructure including post-harvest facilities, farm to market roads, research and development, and extension services.

2. Revitalizing farmers cooperatives so that credit and support programs may be more effectively provided and utilized.

3. Opening up idle government lands for agricultural cultivation on a sustainable basis that protects the environment.

4. Reining in the unmitigated conversion of agricultural land for property development and industrial use.

5. Instituting market reforms so that production receives a more proportionate return than in the distribution. 

(To be continued)