The answer to why...

The question has been asked; if the Philippines has so many churches, how come it is one of the most corrupt countries in Asia? There is the other question: if we have all the laws we need in the Philippines, why is it so disorganized?

Most people give answers that revolve on the idea of discipline and obedience to the law. Because we make laws, we assume that they would draw fear, obedience and respect. We assume that the law automatically creates a system that educates or inform people. We think that because a law is in effect, it will be effective. We think that a law comes to life and enforces itself upon society.

Of course none of these things simply happen. The main reason why rules and laws fail in this country is because many laws come into form as a reaction or a remedial solution to a “specific problem”; someone finds herself naked on YouTube and next thing you know, a law is being crafted. Most of the laws are made based on legal research or congressional investigation or testimonials of parties with vested interests, not “Real Research”.

When I was studying Journalism at UP Diliman in the days they called our College UP-IMC or Institute of Mass Communications, they offered a “pioneering course” called Communications Research or Comm-Res. Very few cared to venture into the field because it seemed as exciting as plain oat meal and was often associated with accounting and statistics.

The only reason we entered into the realm of Comm-Res was because we were required to take several units of Comm-Res subjects. The spiel was that you would eventually need research techniques in the Communications field. Sadly we fail to appreciate the importance and value of “research” in our developing society.

Government and national development have been driven by legislation and not by long-term programs that are based on extensive research. As a result, laws change as administrations and agendas change. Lobbyists and interest groups regularly work on the revision of laws to protect or promote specific interests or business groups.

Sadly even good “national laws” are butchered or manipulated by local officials or civil servants to fit their agendas because laws can also be subject to interpretation or manipulation by the court or by a bureaucrat. Look at what happened at the controversial Pandacan oil depot, the Manila hotel, and The Manila Bay/ PEA Amari project.

Whether its taxes, housing, education or commerce you rarely hear of a two to 10-year study on the current situation of a given need. The “research” claimed or used by many policy makers or legislators are often anecdotal or remedial because they want to address a pressing or controversial issue or need, now.

Take for instance the CON-ASS. Many of us agree that the Constitution needs to be “pimped” or “modified”. But no real long term study or real research has ever gone to determine what we all agree on as needing to be revised, how the revision should be, when the revision should be and who should do the revision.

The same goes for A(H1N1) where a congressman wants solutions and he wants it now! Once again, the lawmakers are trying to make the decision for us instead of initiating real scientific research. 

To make matters worse, there is a prevailing mindset that conducting “research” takes too long and requires money or unnecessary expense. The reality is that we end up wasting a hundred times more in terms of time and money for every law or remedial measure put into place, because these kinds of solutions are really “undemocratic”.

We often hear of people, groups or parties complaining that they were never consulted on a law or a decision. Sometimes the exclusion or omission can be intentional. Congress may be guilty of this from time to time, but the worst offender or violator of consultation can be the Executive department because they can.

Research based programs are “democratic” in the sense that problems and solutions are determined from the response of all or various affected sectors.

Developing health programs should not be limited to hospitals, medicines, and doctors but may also include allied health workers or the impact of removing physical education and preventive medicine programs.

When bureaucrats removed PE as a major component of education, was it based on a research on “holistic” education and public health or budgetary practicality? Did they consult the experts on preventive medicine, the sports associations who look to schools as the gene pool for Philippine athletes? Did someone stop to think that a lethargic youth ultimately becomes a sick society that will burden our health service?

When the DTI, the BOI and the DOTC gave their approval to Philippine car development program, did they consider the disastrous cascading effect of lobbied policies on the economy in terms of killing SMEs among the assemblers, radiator shops, fiberglass shops, battery shops, upholstery shops and supply, body works and electrical shops?

When the DPWH embarks or allows street widening projects, do they really consult local governments and property developers on the possibility of making new and more roads instead of merely widening existing roads which requires displacing people and conducting an environmental massacre by cutting down thousands of trees all over Luzon and Metro Manila? 

As a developing democratic nation, we need to embark on research driven studies and programs, not mere legislative agendas. Only research can draw a clear picture of physical, social and statistical realities about an issue or a need while long term programs insure actual implementation, development and correction of solutions.

Research also takes into consideration the “subjective, creative and inter-relational” inputs that are often excluded in legal researches. The benefits of research-based programs is that these also account for what available assets are at hand, it compile experiences and identify “best practices”.

Only by using real research and crafting research based programs can we come up with solutions that benefit all, and are designed to exist in the long term. An FM station has the spiel “Kailangan pa bang i-memorize yan?”

Don’t memorize it, I-research mo!