ikeseneres

  YES, GRAFT IS A SIN   In a previous essay, I asked the question of whether graft and corruption are  sin s or not . I think I might have left my answer hanging, so I am going to give my answer here now. But before I do that, let me say again that graft and corruption are not one and the same . They do have a cause-and-effect relationship, and that is perhaps the reason why they are often confused with each other.   Corruption is the cause of graft. Corruption is the temptation that causes someone to commit acts of graft. Legally, graft is a crime because there is a Philippine law that punishes it. However, there is also God’s law in the Ten Commandments that prohibits stealing, and so therefore, graft is also a sin . But is corruption also a crime? I am not sure about that, but I could say that w hoever causes someone to steal could also be an accessory to that crime.   I t could be said that some people can commit graft on their own, without an...

  RICE SUPPLY SURPLUS, ANYONE?   In my own definition of food security, the Philippines should become a net exporter of surplus rice. In other words, our goal should not simply be rice sufficiency, but we must have more than enough, so much so tha t we could already afford to export what we could not consume locally. That status is what is being enjoyed by rice exporting countries such as Thailand. If they can do it, why can’t we?   As it is now, we are measuring our food security in terms of the number of days that we have rice reserves in storage. That is a very sad reality, because we should really be measuring our rice reserves in terms of month s, and not in terms of days. You might say that that is easier said than done, but if other countries have done it, why can’t we?   The best way to start is to start counting the numbers. For example, if our goal is to have rice reserve for twe lve months, how many hectares of irrigated farms do we need to maintain , ba...

  LET’S STOP BEACH FRONT EROSION   I find it ironic that while the whole country is focused on the loss of some of our territory to Communist China, very few people seem to care about losing much of our beach front territory to soil erosion on one hand, and to rising sea levels on the other hand. Yes, it is happening, and it is happening very fast , right under our noses.   The good news is, there are dedicated scientists like Dr. Fernando Siringan and Dr. Jurgenne Honculada -Primavera who are keeping watch over this problem, and they have been warning everybody about how serious the problem is, and that we must do something abo ut it. But the bad news is, very few people seem to listen, even those people from the government agencies that are tasked t o do it.   In theory, the DENR is supposed to have jurisdiction over the terrestrial portion of the beach front, while the BFAR has jurisdiction over the marine portion . Unfortunately , the lines between these...

  IN SUPPORT OF CAREER EXECUTIVE SERVICE OFFICERS   In many of the countries around us, the government is run by career undersecretaries who work unde r the Ministers who are members of the Cabinet. These Ministers are also members of Parliament who were appointed by the Prime Minister. In some countries, there are Permanent Secretaries in each of the ministries, but they are also subordinate to the Ministers.   As far as I can recall, all undersecretaries of the Philippine g overnment are supposed to be Career Executive Service Officers (CESOs) or Career Service Executive Eligi bles (CSEEs), even if they all serve under the Secretary who are all political appointees. The only exception to this rule are the undersecretaries of the DFA, but they are also career Foreign Service Officer (FSOs).   Everyone all the way down to Bureau Directors are also supposed to be either CESOs or CSEEs, but over the years, many non-career under secretaries, assistant secretaries and ...

 HYPERLOCAL E-COMMERCE FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS The good news is, there are already many e-commerce platforms that are helping small business owners (SBOs) sell their products online, such as Amazon, Lazada, Shopee and Carousel. The bad news is it is still difficult for the smaller and poorer SBOs to join those platforms, because of prohibitive entry fees and punitive commission rates. Of course, it’s a free market out there, and the smaller and poorer SBOs are free to decide whether they will join the bigger online platforms or not, but they do not have much of a choice, because of affordability issues. Aside from that, the steep commission rates of the bigger platforms are not sustainable for them, because their margins are already very low. My solution to this problem is to create local e-commerce platforms that would be funded and subsidized by the Local Government Units (LGUs), so that the local SBOs, big or small, could easily sell their products online, meaning that they don’t ...

  CYBERSECURITY AT THE BARANGAY LEVEL   A key focus of my advocacy  is to deliver accessible and cost-effective Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solutions to support Local Government Units (LGUs), particularly those facing budget constraints in their digital transformation efforts. Through strategic partnerships with leading firms like Secure t ec , I can provide tailored data security solutions that extend to the grassroots level, thus helping users  like barangay halls, rural health units, and public markets within LGUs.     By leveraging innovative pricing strategies, user s can now procure these critical cybersecurity solutions through simplified shopping modes, streamlining the procurement process and eliminating the need for intricate bidding procedures. This accessibility empowers LGUs to fortify their digital infrastructure against a range of data security threats, including malware, ransomware, and sophisticated cyberattacks...

  COOPERATIVE OWNED TOLL ROADS   Can you imagine how much of a nightmare the flow of traffic would have been, if not for the toll roads built by the private sector un der the Build-Operate-Transfer (B-O-T) scheme? To be honest, I would have preferred not to have privately owned toll roads. I say that because if not for gra ft and corruption , the government would have more than enough funds to build roads without any need for private investors. To put it another way, it is as if we are being taxed again when we pay the toll fees , despite having paid our taxes already.   When it comes to farm to market roads however, we have been waiting for too long already, and it is now time to try something new. Therefore, if the B-O-T scheme is the only way to build these local roads, then le t it be. However, I would add the condition that the proponents should be local, so that the local economy would benefit, instead of the big conglomerates from Imperial Manila. On that note...