Wanted: Director or general

One of the key election promises of President Rodrigo Duterte was to fight Red Tape and to make sure that doing business with government would be a lot easier than in previous administrations. In fact President Duterte has repeatedly stated that people in government should follow his 3 – 7 – 20 rule which states that simple transactions with government should only take three days to complete, complex transactions no longer than seven days, and complicated or technical transactions should be no longer than 20 days.

To push all of that along, the President solicited the help of his Congressional allies to pass the Anti Red Tape Act or ARTA and the law on Ease of Doing Business along with the required IRR or Implementing Rules and Regulations. So why was it that when the World Bank surveyed local respondents, the Philippines ended up with even lower scores or lower ranking than before? There are many reasons as is usually the case, to begin with a number of the respondents belatedly explained that they did not give too much weight or importance to the survey or did not really understand some of the issues. Then there were regulatory issues that got complicated because of the government’s focus and priority on screening and preventing the entry of drugs into the Philippines. As a result processing and releasing of goods at the Bureau of Customs drastically slowed down.

Post survey inquiry also showed that some key reforms introduced by the Duterte administration did not make it on time to impact the survey results. Aside from the law against Red Tape and EODB, the President also signed into law the “Personal Property Security Act.” The law is aimed to help small businesses and traditional players in Agriculture and the likes to have an easier time and way of getting credit by using non-traditional property as collateral. Instead of Land or house, you can register your farm equipment, projected income etc. with the LRA and by so doing use a certificate as proof of collateral. The registry is intended to insure that collateral is not used multiple times. According to experts dealing with the World Bank, the Philippines lost so many points in the survey scores because while the bill was signed into law, the required IRR never reached the President’s table.    

Ironically, one major reason why the governments’ push for EODB or Ease of Doing Business did not score points was because the entire team of government did not have someone in charge. We did not have a team captain or a coach or as the official position requires; we did not have a Director General a position that would be the equivalent of a Cabinet Secretary in Charge to oversee the government’s program and the law. In fact because we did not have a DG or Director General, no one could officially rollout or announce the law and inform business people and investors on the IRR of the law.

So far I know that at least 4 Cabinet secretaries have at one point or another mentioned the “vacancy” to the President and one source tells me that a retired general is being considered for the job. I just hope the “General” is a fast learner and has sufficient skills and clout to direct various government agencies and officials to “Volt-In” like Voltes 5. In the mean time we should all pray and I mean pray that President Duterte can fill in the vacancy before he ends up becoming the cause of Red Tape. That would be ironic and tragic.

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Some members of Congress are clearly acting like brats by blaming and bullying Budget Secretary Ben Diokno saying “He started it” “he drew first blood” etc. because the DBM head called attention to the fact that certain members of Congress got “Extras” or made insertions in the budget to benefit them. As a result they are now calling for him to resign or to be fired by the President. This kind of “catfish in the mud” behavior is all meant to distract and cover up what members of Congress often do during budget deliberations. In fact it’s a “Punch and Judy” sort of show because every time government presents its budget, Congress makes cuts on government’s needs but makes insertions for Congressional greed. Completing the scenario is the ever faithful and consistent Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson who never fails to sound the alarm singing “PORK - PORK - PORK”!!!

The interesting thing is that the accusations being hurled at Ben Diokno is seriously defective because members of Congress have yet to investigate, prove, and prosecute people they are associating with the DBM Secretary. Then they have to prove that Diokno had a hand or used his position, as they are so quick to accuse. Go after the principal characters first before you hang someone by mere association or relationship. As the Bible suggests: do not punish the sons for the sins of the father nor punish the fathers for the sins of the sons. I would equally grizzle at the members of Congress simply for misinterpreting and abusing the “Question Hour” and turning it into the “Inquisition Hour.”

What Congress has done is use its power of the purse and budget deliberations into a “Squeeze Play” for more pork. When I think about it, the question begs to be asked; is this connected to the rumormongering that was done to spread the news that Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez would soon be replaced by Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Was that also part of the squeeze play? I know Ben Diokno will stand his ground and there are many of us in media who will stand with him!

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