(RPG-005) “GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATIONS”

“RATED PG” Thursday, 27 September 2007
By Ike Señeres

(RPG-005) “GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATIONS”

How could government agencies communicate securely, economically and efficiently with each other? This appears to be the three main government considerations in communicating with each other, to make it secure, economical and efficient.
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As it is now, very few agencies seem to be concerned about their data security, as evidenced by the fact that only a few agencies have their own proprietary encryption. Truth to tell, encryption is the way to secure both data and communications, regardless of how and where messages are sent. Logically speaking therefore, government agencies should invest more in encryption rather than in the bandwidth where messages are transmitted.
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Long before Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) became popular in the public mind, the Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology was already available, with no government agency taking advantage of it. To this day, VPN is still available, and still no government agency is using it.
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Simply put, VPN enables users to have their own secure network within any other network, commercial or otherwise. To be more specific, users could have their own VPNs within the networks of Smart, Globe, Sun Cellular, BayanTel and PLDT, and it would work securely, as if they have their own.
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On the side of economy, users could run VoIP within a VPN, thus eliminating the need to spend for commercial calls within the Plain Old Telephone System (POTS). This is another issue, as the carriers may not like the idea of reducing their POTS revenues. Practically speaking however, the costs of National Direct Dialing (NDD) long distance costs within the POTS has already gone down to ten pesos for unlimited calls, thus making it very economical already.
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Considering all the telecom options that are already available, the government should instead come up with a policy that would guide employees which options should be used to save money the best way.
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For more information about public governance, email iseneres@yahoo.com

(RPG-004) “MARKETING OF LIVELIHOOD PRODUCTS”

“RATED PG” Tuesday, 25 September 2007
By Ike Señeres

(RPG-004) “MARKETING OF LIVELIHOOD PRODUCTS”

How could the government assist in the marketing of products coming from livelihood projects? The initiative of Sen. Dick Gordon to ship fruits from Mindanao using military aircraft is praiseworthy, but we need permanent solutions for this problem that could survive the test of time.
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Since Gordon has taken the first step of arranging buyers for these goods to be purchased by supermarkets in Metro Manila, the government should step in to make this a regular program, making sure however that the government should only help in the trading process, and not to do the trading directly.
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Way back in the mid-70s, I was Group Product Manager of Bliss Marketing Corporation, a private company that was funded by the government for the purpose of marketing products coming from livelihood projects. Although we succeeded in the early stages, we eventually failed as the government made the decision to directly engage in direct trading, rather than just assist producers in finding markets for their products.
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In a free market economy, products could be sold by producers and delivered to any destination for as long as the selling prices are right, and for as long as the transportation expenses could be absorbed by the selling prices. Shipping the fruits from Mindanao using military aircraft is a good idea for humanitarian reasons, but in reality the selling price is not sustainable, because there is no shipping cost.
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As the costs of airline tickets are going down due to the effects of healthy price competition, it may be a good time for shipping lines to bring down their own sea freight costs, as they are starting to be affected by the transfer of sea travel customers to the airlines.
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It should take more than one energetic Senator to solve the problem of marketing products from Mindanao and from all livelihood sites. The government is giant machinery that should get its act together in solving the problem, so that it could do more than what one man has done.
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For more information about public governance, email iseneres@yahoo.com

(RPG-003) “BRANDED GENERICS”

“RATED PG” Thursday, 20 September 2007
By Ike Señeres

(RPG-003) “BRANDED GENERICS”

How can a local government unit (LGU) save on its expenses for medical supplies? As I understand it, Thailand has a world class showcase of good governance in the procurement of their medical supplies. They consolidate all the present and future requirements of their government and military, and they buy all their needs in one lot, taking advantage of volume discounts and advanced payment discounts.
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Perhaps they could do it in Thailand where corruption is relatively not as rampant, but could we do the same thing in the Philippines? I think it is possible, but the first challenge to overcome is to know which supplies to buy, given the multitude of choices among the branded and generic options.
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Sans the problem of corruption here, it would be reasonable to assume that all things being equal, the government should buy generic products if only the procurement officials could tell which generic products are of good quality and which ones are not, based on a set of acceptable standards.
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As it is now, the certificate of product registration (CPR) issued by the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) appears to be the only standard that is being followed. BFAD also issues a license to operate (LTO), a system that controls who could wholesale and retail.
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Generally speaking, the only difference between branded and generic medicines is the brand itself, an asset that big companies spend on to generate awareness for their products. Apparently, the common denominator between them is the truth about their product qualities, truth that is often unknown to the general public.
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Although it sounds like an oxymoron, there is such a thing as “branded generics”, which are actually generic products that have gained good reputations over the years. This is the solution, for the government to build a database of these good products, and to buy these products as a matter of policy. Imagine how many millions could be saved if they have this system.
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For more information about public governance, email iseneres@yahoo.com

(RPG-002) “SUSTAINABLE WASTE SEGREGATION”

“RATED PG” Thursday, 18 September 2007
By Ike Señeres

(RPG-002) “SUSTAINABLE WASTE SEGREGATION”

How could a local government unit (LGU) implement and sustain a waste segregation program? The present method now is to segregate bio-degradable and non-degradable materials. While this method could still work, I suggest an alternative method, and that is to segregate those that are organic and non-organic. This has the advantage of creating awareness among the people of the advantages of adopting an organic lifestyle.
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On the practical side, it might still be difficult to expect people to segregate, not unless it would offer them a direct advantage. This could be in the form of earning directly from a livelihood project that would be easy to implement at the village level. Specifically, I am referring to the production of feed ingredients and fertilizer ingredients.
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Due to high market demand, it would be safe to assume that all feed ingredients and fertilizer ingredients produced locally could be easily sold to feed mills and fertilizer plants. These production projects are simply just cottage industries, and any local community could produce these easily.
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For example, local communities could produce corn, soybeans, fish meal, and meat and bone meal. They could also produce vermin cast, compost, manure and liquid fertilizer. The key to this strategy is vermin culture, or the growing of African night crawlers, an imported variety of earthworms.
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Instead of organic waste (including waste food from the kitchen), community members should feed these to the vermin, which eat practically anything. Assuming that they could also culture ordinary snails (kuhol), they could easily produce a local substitute for imported meat and bone meal.
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Using their own production of vermin cast, community members would have free fertilizers that they could use for growing corn and soybeans. Mixing with other ingredients, they could produce their own feeds for poultry that would also give them a supply of manure. The manure could be fed to fish, so that they could produce supplies of fish meal, another feed ingredient.
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For more information about public governance, email iseneres@yahoo.com

(RPG-001) “PUBLIC GOVERNANCE”

“RATED PG” Thursday, 13 September 2007
By Ike Señeres

(RPG-001) “PUBLIC GOVERNANCE”

In this column, I am starting a new series about public governance, a subject that is very close to my heart. The subject of this column will of course change from one issue to another, but the format will always be the same, and that is the presentation of a problem, the offering of a solution and the analysis of the synthesis.
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Depending on the material that is available to me, I will write about public governance as it happens in the national, provincial and municipal levels. For purposes of uniformity, I will refer to both towns and cities as municipalities. Of course, I will also write about public governance in the village level, but always in the context of municipal governance.
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If you are wondering about the meaning of “Rated PG”, it is just short for public governance, together with a suggestion that I am going to rate the performance of governments based on empirical data. As much as possible, I am going to base my ratings on data that is also submitted by all government levels, from bottom to top.
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How should a local government unit (LGU) deal with the problem of solid wastes? Hands down, there is no argument about the fact that dumpsites are not sustainable, and that landfills are hardly doable, at least in this country. As of now, there appears to be no landfill hereabouts that would meet acceptable standards.
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I found a solution at that is to privatize the waste segregation, turning it into a viable business. As a bonus, it will also create livelihood, improve the environment and prevent the spread of common diseases.
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In the same way that landfills are hardly doable, we have seen many times that waste segregation at the household level is not doable either, apparently due to the lack of discipline among our citizens. This situation could change in the long run, but in the meantime, we need another solution that would bring us to a zero waste situation.
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For more information about public governance, email iseneres@yahoo.com