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HOW CAN WE GIVE FULL AUTONOMY TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS?

HOW CAN WE GIVE FULL AUTONOMY TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS? When we speak of “full autonomy” for Local Government Units (LGUs), we must ask: autonomy from whom—and for what purpose? The Local Government Code of 1991 was supposed to be our great decentralization experiment. It devolved health, agriculture, and social welfare functions to cities and municipalities. Yet, more than three decades later, many LGUs still act like field offices of the national government rather than self-governing communities. Take one concrete example: the Municipal Treasurer. Under Section 470 of RA 7160, the Treasurer is appointed not by the Mayor but by the Secretary of Finance. The Mayor merely recommends; the Department of Finance decides. The Treasurer is under the Mayor’s administrative supervision but remains technically supervised by the Bureau of Local Government Finance. Why? Because money is power. And power, it seems, is something the center is not ready to release. The same pattern applies elsewher...
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HOW CAN WE IMPROVE THE RE-INTEGRATION OF RETURNING OVERSEAS FILIPINO WORKERS?

HOW CAN WE IMPROVE THE RE-INTEGRATION OF RETURNING OVERSEAS FILIPINO WORKERS? For decades, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) have been our modern-day economic heroes. Their remittances—now consistently exceeding US$35 billion annually according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas—keep our economy afloat. But when they come home for good, are we truly ready for them? As of 2026, the government, through the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), has launched the National Reintegration Network (NRN), linking 16 agencies into one coordinated system. On paper, that sounds impressive. Yet many OFWs still complain: “ Pag-uwi namin, parang wala ring malinaw na direksyon. ” So what is the real problem? Is the government not doing enough? Or is everything good on paper but weak in implementation? Or is it simply poor information dissemination? Let me offer some thoughts. First, skill recognition. A project manager in Dubai or a specialized technician in Germany returns home only to be offered entry-...
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IS THERE A GLOBAL TREND TOWARDS AUTONOMOUS REGIONS?

IS THERE A GLOBAL TREND TOWARDS AUTONOMOUS REGIONS? There is a fundamental difference between how the United States of America was formed and how the Republic of the Philippines came into being. The American federal state was born from thirteen pre-existing colonies that decided to unite. In simple terms, the federal government became the “child” of the thirteen states. Residual powers—those not expressly granted to Washington—remained with the states. In our case, it was the other way around. The Philippine nation-state emerged from a colonial transition—first from Spain to the United States, then through a Commonwealth, and finally into an independent republic. Provinces were created afterward. They are, so to speak, the “children” of the Republic. Residual powers were retained by the national government. Now here is the provocative question: What if we reversed the logic? What if, in a constitutional “reset,” the provinces or regions became the source of sovereign authority? What if...
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WHAT IS THE REAL MEANING OF UNDEREMPLOYMENT?

WHAT IS THE REAL MEANING OF UNDEREMPLOYMENT? When we talk about jobs, we often reduce the conversation to a simple question: Are you employed or not? But in real life, it is not that simple. There is a gray area between employment and unemployment, and there is an even grayer area called underemployment. My late brother, Ambassador Roy V. Seneres, used to define underemployment as being forced to work in a job that is below one’s qualifications. That is what economists now call “skills underemployment.” But that is only one face of the problem, and new “faces” have come to light since then. In reality, underemployment has at least three faces. First is economic-underemployment —when a worker wants full-time work but is given only a few hours. A person who works two or three days a week is technically “employed,” but financially struggling. Second is skills-underemployment —the “overqualified” trap. Imagine an engineer driving a tricycle or a licensed teacher selling online products bec...
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WHAT IS THE LOGIC OF A STATE-RUN NATIONAL BUS COMPANY?

WHAT IS THE LOGIC OF A STATE-RUN NATIONAL BUS COMPANY? When I was Director General of the National Computer Center and concurrently head of the National Computer Institute (NCI), I faced a dilemma: was it right for the government to operate a computer school that competed with private institutions? After much thought, I concluded that it was justifiable—if two conditions were met. First, the state-run school must offer better quality at lower cost. Second, even if it lost money, it could be defended if the country urgently needed trained people. In short, public purpose could justify financial loss. That same logic applies to transportation. We once saw this in Philippine Airlines when it was still state-run. The rationale was simple: it could operate “missionary flights” to unprofitable destinations because national connectivity mattered more than margins. Now comes the question: what is the logic of a state-run national bus company? Transportation is not just a business. It is a publ...
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MAKING IT MANDATORY FOR CORPORATIONS TO ALLOCATE AT LEAST TEN PERCENT OF THEIR PROCUREMENT TO COOPERATIVES

  MAKING IT MANDATORY FOR CORPORATIONS TO ALLOCATE AT LEAST TEN PERCENT OF THEIR PROCUREMENT TO COOPERATIVES Mandating that corporations allocate at least 10% of their procurement to cooperatives is an idea that sounds radical at first hearing. But if we step back, it is really about one simple principle: how do we bridge the gap between large-scale capital and grassroots economic units? There is an important clarification. No country today has a blanket law requiring all private corporations to give 10% of their procurement to cooperatives. That would be a dramatic shift from traditional free-market practice. However, several countries already implement “set-aside” or social procurement frameworks that move in that direction. Let us start with our own backyard. The General Appropriations Act (GAA) has frequently required government agencies to source at least 10% of certain goods and services from cooperatives and SMEs. The Sagip Saka Act goes further by mandating direct governmen...
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LET’S GRANT THE FREEDOM TO USE ONLINE TELEMEDICINE CONSULTATIONS

  LET’S GRANT THE FREEDOM TO USE ONLINE TELEMEDICINE CONSULTATIONS Telemedicine is no longer a pandemic experiment. It is the future knocking at our clinic doors. In 2026, the government is pushing to institutionalize online consultations as a permanent part of healthcare delivery. While private hospitals and clinics have long allowed doctors to decide whether to offer online consultations, the real issue lies elsewhere: reimbursement. If insurance companies—including PhilHealth—do not fully recognize and pay for teleconsults, then this “freedom” becomes theoretical rather than practical. To its credit, PhilHealth has rebranded and expanded its primary care package into PhilHealth YAKAP (Yaman ng Kalusugan Program), replacing the old Konsulta package. The reforms are significant. The medicine list under GAMOT has expanded from 21 to over 75 essential drugs. Cancer screening such as mammograms and ultrasounds is now integrated. The old eKonsulta system is being phased out in favor o...
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