Housing divided and more

In the accounts of the apostle Matthew chapter 12:25 the author quotes our Lord Jesus Christ stating: “Every Kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.” The same account was made by the apostle Mark in his book chapter 3:25.

Based on what I have discovered in the past month, it seems that several “houses” under the administration of PBBM qualify as houses divided because of turf or personal grudge. When the birthday family photo of the Marcoses was taken with Imelda Marcos, several people were asking why Senator Imee Marcos was not included in the family photo that made it to the front pages. Was she previously engaged or out of town?

This only served to strengthen or validate rumors and claims that Sen. Imee Marcos has been excluded or shut out of events because of her difference of opinion with PBBM and her cousin Speaker Martin Romualdez. Either that or Senator Imee is actively choosing a path of her own and disassociating herself from PBBM and company.

All that is just part of “family matters” so it’s quite normal. What’s abnormal or not right is when government officials actively behave in the same manner.

Believe it or not, I have learned that two of the country’s highest-ranking officials in charge of housing programs dislike each other so much that they refuse to be seen on the same stage. It is allegedly so bad that on one occasion when both were invited to a forum on housing and they learned at the last minute that both were invited, one called in sick while the other sent an assistant secretary to the event.

This childish behavior resulted in disrupting the program of events and placed so much stress on the event organizers who had to do rewrites and shuffle speakers around.

According to sources, one official was a direct choice of President Bongbong Marcos while the other was strongly endorsed by the First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos because of his known executive skills and for getting things done. Unfortunately, there is nothing in the rule book or protocol where the younger “junior” official has to submit, salute or be subservient to the senior official since they head two different government housing offices that are both “national” in scope.

As a result, the one appointed by PBBM resents being snubbed or disrespected by the younger official. This petty dislike for each other has made it impossible for housing and construction stakeholders I spoke with to invite both officials to very important events and doubles the work and coordination of the private sector in getting things done.

Perhaps it would do wonders for the President’s housing program if his officials in charge of two major institutions for housing spent some time reading the Bible and the President telling them to put their egos in check.

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Last Friday, we were supposed to have as guest resource person on the show AGENDA, the spokesman of the Department of Justice, who has appeared on the program in the past. But for some unexplained reason, the spokesman canceled five minutes before the actual interview, leaving me with no one to talk to for the next 45 minutes. It was to say at the very least quite unprofessional and disrespectful since he has not even bothered to call and explain what happened.

Nonetheless, our ever-resourceful team AGENDA “called a friend” in the person of former agriculture secretary Manny Piñol, since the topic was primarily centered on the onion cartel and importations.

It was from that interview that I learned of another “house divided,” namely the Department of Agriculture. While discussing the many reasons why government could not control onion smuggling and help local farmers, Manny Piñol could not help but say that part of the problem had to do with a turf war between two undersecretaries who, like the housing czars, also had an ongoing feud.

Apparently, the alleged turf war between the two usecs was so bad that people at the department had difficulty implementing or monitoring projects because of the turf war. To address the feud, no less than the Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin had to lay down what their respective responsibilities and authorities were.

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While the two undersecretaries are busy adjusting to their redefined powers, allow me to share how Manny Piñol addressed the issue of onion smuggling during our interview.

First, Piñol emphasized that in order to stop smuggling and hoarding of onions, what the government must do is impose a price cap or price ceiling on onion, which during Piñol’s time was at P60. When the product is priced comparative to local produce, there is no incentive for the cartel to hoard or smuggle. Just get DTI and DA personnel to strictly enforce this and go after the violators.

Another thing is for the DA not to rent out the government cold storage facilities to private companies or non-farmers groups. The many cold storage facilities all over the country “was a good idea gone bad” because farmers and farmers groups could not afford to rent space therein, so the DA rented them to importers who used the facilities to store imported onions or similar products. Instead, the DA should formulate a way where farmers can “deposit” their onion harvest, get a passbook and when they withdraw onions to sell, part of it can go to paying for the cold storage charge.

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