DATA DRIVEN VERSUS HEADLINE DRIVEN GOVERNANCE

DATA DRIVEN VERSUS HEADLINE DRIVEN GOVERNANCE

My fellow Filipinos: There is no question that the two houses of our Congress have the power to conduct public hearings “in aid of legislation”. However, I wish that these public hearings will be data driven, instead of being headline driven. Of course, I am not blaming our lawmakers to conduct public hearings based on what the hot issues are in the news, but perhaps they should learn to balance their topics with needs that are based on empirical data.

In my opinion, what could be considered as “data driven” is practically the same as what could be considered as “demand driven”. To be able to illustrate my point, allow me to use some examples about what is in demand in the healthcare industry. As everyone knows, many of our loved ones died during the Covid 19 pandemic, because of the lack of beds, ventilators and medicines, among many others. Given that example, our lawmakers should have conducted public hearings about the inventory of beds, ventilators and medicines, so that they could pass laws that will address the shortages.

To cite another example, I know for a fact that there are still many LGUs that do not have ambulance units and even if they do, not have the qualified and certified EMT personnel who are supposed to man these units. Aside from that, these LGUs also do not have 911 systems that could dispatch police, fire, ambulance and rescue units in the event of emergencies. Ideally, the LGUs in the island communities should have sea ambulances, but they do not have that either. The problem is, these issues do not come out in the headlines, and that is why no public hearings are conducted about them.

Every year, the two houses of Congress conducts public hearings to question and review the budget proposals of the National Government Agencies (NGAs), the end result of which is to eventually pass and approve the General Appropriations Act (GAA). During these deliberations, would it not be possible instead for the two houses to present their own data about what is really the “demand”, based on their own empirical research? I think that this is not an impossible task, because these two houses have their own research and development units.

In theory, the government is supposed to have a Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) that is supposed to coincide with the term of the incumbent President of the Philippines. In theory again, the GAAs of every year could be tailored to support the MTPDP. Aside from that, the GAAs could also be tailored to support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under the United Nations that will end in 2030. There is no shame in admitting that we failed to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) when it ended in 2015, but there is still time to make sure that we will meet most of the goals before the deadline in 2030, or at least the more important goals in relation to poverty, hunger and climate change. That should be the priority subjects to discuss “in aid of legislation”. Your friend, IKE SENERES/11-12-2024

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