(EID-028) “FOCUSING ON THE FARM SECTOR”

Newspaper reports say that our economic growth does not benefit the poor, and the government is urged to focus on the farm sector. While there is no good news in hearing that the benefits of growth hardly goes down, it is good to hear that the needs of the farm sector are now being brought forward as a national issue.

One does not have to be a genius to realize that our farmers are not making money now, because their costs of production are too high, while the farm gate prices that are being offered to them are too low. Their high cost of production is complicated by their high costs of financing, further made difficult by their low margins of profit.

Even if the government will focus on the farm sector as it is being urged, nothing much could happen not unless the economics of farm production are changed, in such a way that it is turned around, meaning that the costs of production are made lower, and the farm gate prices are made higher.

Thanks to the innovation of a Filipino engineer, we now have a local technology that could definitely lower the costs of our farm production, at the same time potentially increasing the gate prices of farm outputs, due to the higher qualities that the technology could make possible.

And here’s the real good news. The said innovator, Engineer Walther Alvarez, has now joined SamaKabuhayan (SAMAKA), a member organization of the United National Integrated Development Alliance (UNIDA), to spread the technology to all farmers, so that their economic destinies could change for the better.

So simple and yet so brilliant, the technology enables poultry and livestock to fully digest the proteins in their diet, so much so that the farmers would not only be able to reduce their costs of feeds, it will also fast track their time to revenue, as the chickens grow to market size in 32 days instead of 45, and the hogs grow to market size in 4 months instead of 6.

As an added advantage, the technology completely removes the odor from the animal wastes, because of the complete absence of undigested protein, the waste matter that breeds bacteria and causes decay. As a result, the animal wastes immediately become usable as organic fertilizers, adding another source of savings for the farmers. Since the meats, fruits and vegetables produced are 100% organic, these could fetch better prices.

(EID-027) “OUTSOURCING FOR LOCAL DEVELOPMENT”

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is an approach that all Local Government Units (LGUs) should consider using. Although the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) scheme predates BPO as an approach, the two approaches have certain parallels, so much so that local government business processes could actually be outsourced using the BOT scheme.

What is the relevance of the combined BOT-BPO approaches to the local development advocacies of the United National Integrated Development Alliance (UNIDA)? Without any doubt in my mind, all the advocacies of UNIDA, namely Shelter, Health, Agriculture, Protection and Education (SHAPE for short) could actually be outsourced to the private sector, because these are all business processes in truth and in fact.

Originally introduced in the Philippines, the BOT scheme enables local and national governments to implement projects without any cash outlay. The BOT scheme is very attractive to private sector project proponents, because it enables them to earn profits from secured contracts.

In the case of projects at the national level, project proponents would usually require sovereign guarantees. In the case of projects at the local level however, project proponents would certainly welcome the assignment of local receivables from the Internal Revenue Allocations (IRAs) of the local governments, which is already being practiced right now.

Comparatively speaking, the physical frameworks for outsourcing shelter, health and education projects are easier to define, because these are obviously just the human settlements, health centers and schools that could be built and operated.

Although much more difficult to define, agriculture and environmental protection projects could also be outsourced. There may be no examples to look at now, but it would not be far fetched for project proponents to build and operate farms, ranches, fishponds and orchards as well as sewage treatment plants (STPs) and materials recovery facilities (MRFs), eventually turning these over to the LGUs.

As a service to both the private sector and the local governments, UNIDA and its member organizations would be more than willing to facilitate the processes of introduction and negotiation, so that we could all move forward in this regard. This offer is open to all local governments in the provincial, municipal, city and barrio levels.

(EID-026) “PHYSICAL FRAMEWORKS FOR DEVELOPMENT”

On the practical side, it is always better to have a physical framework in planning and implementing a development program. This is the reason why each of the five areas of development chosen by the United National Integrated Development Alliance (UNIDA), namely Shelter, Health, Agriculture, Protection and Education (SHAPE for short) have their own physical frameworks.

The physical framework for shelter should be composed of all the homes that will be built as part of new communities, within the context of the Human Settlements approach. As an objective, these homes should not only be affordable, these should also be cost-efficient, so that the homeowners could sustain their occupancy in the long term.

The physical framework for health should be composed of all the hospitals and clinics all over the country. Steps are now being taken to form what would become the United National Association for Health (UNAHEALTH), which is slated to become the UNIDA member organization that would focus on health concerns.

The physical framework for agriculture should be composed of all the farms and ranches all over the country. The emphasis on ranches is purposive, because of the new economic viability of cattle ranching as brought about by new technologies. Needless to say, it will also include the community of fishponds and orchards.

The physical framework for protection should be composed of all the police stations and outposts all over the country. The emphasis on outposts is also purposive, because there is a need to build these physical structures where they do not exist. In line with this end however, there is a need to reorient the thinking of the police towards public safety in general and environmental protection in particular, and not just the enforcement of anti-crime laws.

The physical framework for education should be composed of all the schools and learning centers all over the country. The emphasis on learning centers is also purposive, because of new technologies that enable the delivery of education outside the traditional school system.

It appears that the common denominator for all of these physical frameworks is the network of information and communications systems that should be built in all the project locations, to interconnect everything.

(EID-025) “UNIVERSITY BASED DEVELOPMENT”

Thomas Lee, an early engineer of Silicon Valley fame says that a university touches the lives of everyone at one time or another. Mr. Lee, a Chinese-Filipino-American who is now a resident “Balikbayan” was so inspired by this belief, leading him to establish the University Consortium for Resource Networking (UNICORN) here five years ago. He patterned UNICORN after the Apple Consortium in the United States. Largely unknown to most Filipinos, he was the one who designed the Apple Printer that made the famous computer even more popular.

Just like all the other member organizations of the United National Integrated Development Alliance (UNIDA), UNICORN is focused on a single development concern, and that is education. Just like the other UNIDA members, it is aiming for improvement, and that is the improvement of education.

Being a member of UNIDA, UNICORN has a role to play in BETSA, the five advocacies to Build Homes, Eat Right, Think Green, Stay Safe and Always Learn. In particular, UNICORN has taken on the advocacy of “Always Learn”, which means that it will try to make education accessible not only to the usual students, but also everyone who wants to learn new skills.

As a means of increasing access to education, UNICORN is improving the income streams of its member schools, mainly through the consolidation of resources and technical assistance. Using his vast connections in the computer industries worldwide, Mr. Lee is bringing in hardware and software for the member schools to use.

As the universities touch the lives of everyone as Mr. Lee says, they could also become the driving force for local economic and social development, in line with the five areas chosen by UNIDA, namely Shelter, Health, Agriculture, Protection and Education or SHAPE for short. Everywhere in the country, there is always a university that could provide the expertise and manpower for these development programs.

Among its other initiatives, UNICORN is now working on a project that would produce top rate computer programmers, by enabling them to use the most affordable state-of-the-art hardware that could be found in the market. Another project aims to provide a centralized online enrolment system for its member schools, using a revolutionary “fill-able” form.

(EID-024) “DO YOU WANNA BETSA?”

The report of Bertelsmann Foundation, a German study group that said the Philippines is stagnating economically and socially is both alarming and disgusting, to say the least. But with so many problems confronting our development however, we should just choose our battles, making the most of the resources that are available to us.

In the United National Integrated Development Alliance (UNIDA) that we have formed, we are focusing our energies on five areas of development, namely Shelter, Health, Agriculture, Protection and Education or SHAPE for short.

While the other four areas need no definition, we need to define Protection as a general area that includes national security, peace and order, public safety and environmental protection. To be more specific, it includes the prevention of crime and injustice, which are the focused concerns of the Citizen’s Foundation for the Prevention of Crime and Injustice (CFPCI), one of the UNIDA member organizations.

Do you want to BETSA? A mnemonic device, BETSA is short for Build Homes, Eat Right, Think Green, Stay Safe and Always Learn, the advocacies of UNIDA in its five chosen areas of development work. To get this country into SHAPE, we should all want to BETSA!

Building homes is now the focused concern of the Inter-Charity Network (ICN), also one of the UNIDA member organizations. Wanting to revive the Human Settlements approach in the Philippines, ICN is now working closely with a development partner to build a model community in Zambales, with affordable and cost-efficient homes for its residents.

We could all complain about the stagnation of our national development, or we could all do something about it. For those who would want to do something, UNIDA is willing to provide the support for any group that would want to implement programs in any of the five areas.

Should you be driven to act, you could organize a “kapihan” in your own local community, and invite kindred spirits to join you in planning a development program for your locality.

“Eat Right” is an advocacy to shift to organic and natural foods, for good health. “Think Green” is an advocacy to clean and save the environment. “Always Learn” is an advocacy to make education available to everyone, including adults who would like to learn new skills.

(EID-023) “A THREE IN ONE DEVELOPMENT PACKAGE”

A three in one package of benefits awaits local communities that would have the wisdom to appreciate it. By planting cassava and sorghum as a tandem of crops, they could produce not just ethanol, but also flour and feed ingredients, all money making products with proven demand. By some stroke of scientific luck, both crops could produce the three products, actually making it a six in one package if planted together.

Although this might sound like a trivial matter to some people, the significance of this opportunity could be measured in terms of the potential value of substituting our importation of oil, wheat, corn and soybeans, all ingredients for producing gasoline, flour and animal feeds. Saving money from the importation of these goods is one thing to consider, but on top of that, the package could potentially strengthen not just our food security, but also our national security in terms of our energy supply.

I say that this is an opportunity for local communities, but I say that with a wish that our national government agencies would also discover the benefits of this package, for the good of the nation. Since this opportunity cuts across multiple concerns such as energy, trade and agriculture, this should perhaps be taken up in a cabinet cluster, or perhaps even in the National Security Council (NSC).

The opportunity to produce flour locally also opens up yet another opportunity of producing rice substitutes such as noodles and buns, considering the many health problems that a pure rice diet brings. This being the case, it may be a good idea for the Department of Health (DOH) to join the cabinet cluster that would talk about steps to be taken.

On top of all the benefits that could come out of this package, there is also the prospective benefit of producing organic flours that will in turn produce organic breads, aside from producing organic feeds that will in turn produce organic meats.

One might say that this package of benefits is too good to be true, but it does not take a scientist to prove that this is for real. It also does not take a genius to discover that this is do-able, if only the local communities and the government agencies would realize the simplicity of these technologies.

In whose hands could we entrust these opportunities? Following the norm in the other countries, we should fund our universities and task them to turn these ideas into realities for all of us to take advantage of.

(EID-022) “RECYCLING STANDARDS”

Where voluntary cooperation is not possible, there ought to be laws that would regulate the compulsory recycling of post consumer waste by commercial and industrial producers. In many countries for instance, producers of consumer products including publishers are required to use paper materials with a minimum content derived from recycled post consumer waste. Citing another example, local governments in many countries regulate the redemption values of returnable bottles and other containers. Is this a difficult thing to do in a country that is supposed to have a very high literacy rate?

As it is always said, all politics is local, and that means that governance should have a local focus too. This is perhaps the reason why in many other countries, regulations for the recycling of post consumer waste are usually issued by local governments and this is very practical, because only the local authorities would have the resources to follow through with the rules in the micro level.

Here in the Philippines, it seems that the lack of laws for regulating post consumer waste at the local level is brought about either by the lack of knowledge or the lack of interest. Either way, this is where local environment advocates could become active, by promoting the passage of municipal ordinances, at the same time promoting the awareness and appreciation for these ordinances.

It is ironic to note that here in the Philippines, there seems to be a free for all situation in the use of non-biodegradable packaging for consumer products, as well as for fast food items. For example, it is very common for fast food companies to use plastic cups and Styrofoam containers for dine in items, when it fact these should only be used for take out items.

It would be good to have local ordinances that would encourage fast food outlets to collect and segregate their own post consumer waste, but if that is not possible, they should probably just award the waste collection and segregation business to multi-purpose cooperatives.

It is relatively easy to establish and register a cooperative with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA). However, if there are local groups that would have any difficulty in doing that, I could gather volunteers who could help them. Now that we have a mechanism to enable us to succeed, we should not let this opportunity pass.

(EID-021) “A PASSION FOR SEGREGATION”

Many say that most Filipinos would not react to socio-political issues not unless it concerns them or threatens them directly. Considering the threats to our environment that could probably result in very serious crisis situations, is it now possible for the majority of our people to develop a passion for the segregation of waste?

Looking at our polluted rivers and bays, most Filipinos could probably bear the sight of dirt and other debris, thinking perhaps that the problem does not affect of threaten them directly. But what could happen if they would know that we could eventually run short of drinking water, and it could become too expensive for most people to buy it, assuming that it could still be available? Are they going to do something to stop water pollution?

The connection between waste segregation and water pollution is of course very obvious, but it seems that most people are not aware that the garbage that pollutes our waterways would not be there in the first place if only these were earlier segregated.

After trying to implement waste segregation programs work in this country for many years without much success, it is about time to develop and try new strategies; otherwise we will not be able to avoid the environmental crisis that is bound to happen.

For whatever it is worth, I think that we should try using the cooperative approach in the implementation of waste segregation programs at the village level, purposely making it a money making livelihood project of the local community.

On the practical side, I think that previous attempts in waste segregation failed simply because the stakeholders, meaning the household members who were supposed to do the segregation were not able to benefit from their participation in the form of direct earnings.

The village cooperative should operate a trading business that will buy and sell the recyclables produced, buying it from the stakeholders, and selling it to consolidators and direct buyers. It is but natural that the profit motive would encourage the stakeholders to develop a passion for segregation.

As you might have figured out by now, the cooperative approach in waste segregation would in effect have a dual benefit, providing livelihood and helping the environment.

(EID-020) “HUMAN SETTLEMENTS APPROACH”

Contrary to popular belief, the human settlements concept is not an invention of former First Lady Imelda Marcos. It is actually a development approach that is practiced up to now in many countries, being another term that describes integrated area development. Unfortunately, the concept became a victim to political decisions in the Philippines, simply because it was identified with the Marcos regime.

In a remote village somewhere in the mountains of Zambales, the human settlements approach is about to be reborn in this country, thanks to an initiative led by a patriot named Manueldatu (MD) Rebueno. Simply put, the project will apply appropriate technologies so that the basic needs of the villagers could be provided, thus enabling them to have a sustainable way of life.

I remember from the old days of the Ministry of Human Settlements that former Director General Chitang Nakpil of the Technology Resource Center (TRC) said that technology is simply a “better way of doing things”. How right she is, because technologies need not be “high-tech” always, as long as it is used as a means of doing things in a better way.

In the project initiated by MD, the organizers are going to put in place a village cooperative that will go into the business of providing gas, electric, water, internet, cable TV and telephone services, among others. It will also go into the business of producing and selling organic feeds and fertilizers, organic poultry and livestock and organic fruits and vegetables.

The role of the village cooperative in this project is very crucial, because it is going to be the instrument for creating wealth among the villagers, which is a way for them to build and sustain their economies in the family and village level.

The anchor component of the project is a centralized biogas production facility that will produce gas and electricity, and will in turn power the water filter plant and telecoms infrastructure. All told, the mix of utilities will make the village partially self-reliant from the outside world.

There are more basic community needs aside from what the project is initially addressing, but suffice it to say that this is already a good start. In a world of show and tell, what is important is to build a proof of concept, so that other communities will later on be convinced that it is a good thing to do. Good luck to MD and to all the other organizers.

(EID-019) “REVIVING THE MEAT AND DAIRY INDUSTRY”

It is very ironic that in what is supposedly an agricultural country, we are importing most of our milk and dairy requirements. This problem is not unique by itself, because we are also not producing our own flour and therefore not our own bread too. To complete the breakfast fare, we are producing our own chicken eggs, but almost exclusively from feeds made from imported materials too.

Generally speaking, we could say that the lack of growth in our agriculture industry is probably due to the lack of support by the government to our farmers, but that is already a worn out reason by now. It would be fair to say that the government would probably try to support our farmers in the best way that it could, but if that is not enough, it is time for us to move on by relying on our own resources.

Fortunately for all of us, we now have a homegrown technology that would enable us to economically and profitably produce our own milk to produce dairy products, our own flour to produce bread, and our own materials to produce animal feeds. As an added bonus, it would also enable us to deal with the problem of methane in cow dung and other animal wastes, a problem that contributes to the destruction of the ozone layer.

I say economically, because the technology will enable our farmers to make their own feeds and fertilizers, thus enabling them to save on these very expensive farm inputs. I say profitably, because as they save on the costs of farm inputs, they also have the chance of making more money.

The technology works by way of enabling the animals to fully digest the protein in their diets, thus completely removing the methane contents of their wastes. The full digestion of the protein also enables the animals to grow to market size faster. In the case of chickens, full growth is at 32 days instead of 45, in the case of hogs it is 4 months instead of 6 months.

Since the protein is fully digested, the resulting animal wastes are practically composed of fiber only, and all that is needed to convert it to organic fertilizer is to dry it. As soon as it is dried, it is also suitable for use as aquatic feeds.

Be it for cattle to produce meat or dairy, or for chickens to produce meat or eggs, the technology now gives us the opportunity to grow these basic food items that we have been importing all along. Using the organic fertilizer, we can grow the wheat for the flour that we need.

(EID-018) “BECAUSE IT’S THERE”

Mountaineers would often say that they climb a mountain “because it’s there”, which to me is a good enough explanation, having been a mountaineer myself. How I wish however that community development practitioners and advocates would also adopt this attitude when it comes to using appropriate technologies, “because it’s there”.

In a mountain community around the Antipolo area, villagers are now organizing themselves into a cooperative, so that they could get the resources needed to adopt integrated area development (IAD) strategies and approaches for their own good, which would include shelter, livelihood and biodiversity projects, among others.

In what is now emerging as a “core technology” for them, the villagers are going to build a centralized biogas chamber using human waste, so that they could produce methane gas for their own use. The idea to use human waste came after the villagers realized that they should no longer use piggery and poultry waste for this purpose, due to the potential of using another appropriate technology which I would explain later.

The biogas chamber will produce the cooking gas for them, which at the same time would also power a multi-purpose drier, a water filtration system and a cold storage facility. Hopefully, the gas would also power their refrigerators, as soon as we could revive this very practical and appropriate technology.

Given this very simple configuration, the villagers will already be able to save on their expenses for electricity, liquid petroleum gas (LPG), and bottled water, three basic needs that are bleeding their pockets dry. On the upside, they will instead fill their pockets with money coming from their poultry, piggery and forestry projects, including a number of agriculture related activities.

Using an organic farming method introduced by the Agro Amigo Movement, the villagers will be able to grow hogs and chickens in record time, while at the same time they are able to produce organic fertilizers on site from the animal wastes. This is the reason why they will no longer channel these wastes to the methane chamber.

Among other uses, they will apply the organic fertilizer to their cacao plantation, which is part of their bio-diverse reforestation project. Of course, the multi-purpose drier would also be used for their cacao crops.

(EID-017) “THE POWER OF CONVERGENCE”

The term convergence is now popularly used in the field of information and communications technology (ICT) but it is also applicable to the coming together of forces and resources that are directed towards a common goal, such as the development of products and the development of national economies.

We are happy to note that there are several government agencies, private companies and nonprofit organizations that are providing production, financing, marketing and management assistance to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) but we are nonetheless saddened by the fact that the provision of these four services seldom converge.

The creation of the Roster of Scientists, Inventors and Engineers (ROSIE) could bring good news to the SMEs, because there is now a clearing house for the delivery of these services in a convergent manner, as the government agencies, private companies and nonprofit organizations would also be encouraged to make use of ROSIE.

Hopefully, ROSIE could also be a tool for the government agencies, private companies and nonprofit organizations to converge their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Civic Duty Exercise (CDE) programs and projects that are oriented towards various development concerns, including poverty reduction and hunger mitigation.

Just like ROSIE, the Inter-Charity Network (ICN) is also intended to be a clearing house for the convergence of charity providers on one hand, and charity beneficiaries on the other hand. The providers in this case are no other than the government agencies, private companies and nonprofit organizations, while the beneficiaries are all types of organizations that are hosting or sponsoring charitable programs and projects.

As a general rule, ICN will be a clearing house for all forms of charitable activities, but as an operational strategy, it is the lead organization of the United National Integrated Development Alliance (UNIDA) for the delivery of shelter and livelihood programs beneficiary communities.

As resources would allow, ICN would get involved in activities that would fall under the ambit of poverty alleviation. As a long term goal however, it is more oriented towards the more lasting poverty reduction interventions. It would be good if more people could have their own homes, but as an alternative, rented dwellings would be good enough for them.

(EID-016) “ROSTER OF SCIENTISTS”

At the 1^st Roundtable Discussion about climate change, the energy crisis and food security held at Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in Makati City, the participants agreed to establish a “Roster of Scientists, Inventors and Engineers” (ROSIE) for the purpose of having a centralized clearing house for the exchange of information and resources between and among scientists, inventors and engineers on one hand, and government agencies, private corporations and nonprofit organizations on the other hand.

The event was co-sponsored by the Department of Science & Technology (DOST) and the AIM Policy Center. Prof. Federico M. Macaranas, Executive Director of the center and facilitator of the event endorsed the formation of ROSIE as the “roster of rosters”, while at the same time acknowledging what the DOST and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have earlier done along this objective.

As a Foreign Service Officer (FSO) I was a Special Assistant to Prof. Macaranas when he was Under Secretary for International Economic Cooperation at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). Under his direction, I managed the day to day operations of the Transfer of Knowledge through Expatriate Nationals (TOKTEN) Program, the Science & Technology Advisory Council (STAC), the Technological Information Promotion System (TIPS) and the Return of Knowledge (ROK) Program, among other programs and projects.

TOKTEN and TIPS are joint programs of the DFA and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), whereas ROK is a joint program of the DFA and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). STAC on the other hand is a home grown program of the DFA, as conceptualized by Macaranas. At one point, STAC had more than forty chapters worldwide, composed of mostly of Filipino scientists and engineers. It is the mother organization of the Brain Gain Network (BGN).

With the support of DOST, ADB and AIM, the United National Integrated Development Alliance (UNIDA) will foster the creation of ROSIE, drawing from the experience and the remaining resources of TOKTEN, STAC, TIPS, ROK and BGN.

Some of the well known members of STAC include Dado Banatao of SonicBlue, Dennis Mendiola of Chikka, Paco Sandejas of BGN Ventures and Amador Muriel of the Center for Fluid Dynamics.

(EID-015) “TOWARDS A GREENER LIFESTYLE”

Creating livelihood and protecting the environment are two important national development objectives that could actually be achieve in tandem, in a way shooting two birds with one stone. Since we have tried to implement environment programs over the years with little or no result, perhaps it is about time that we turn it into a business, so that the profit motive could drive the implementation.

On the subject of waste segregation, we obviously have a very serious problem because we are now totally dependent on dumpsites, simply because we are unable to build real landfills that are fully compliant with international standards. As we speak about this, I wonder when the government will ever realize that the only solution is total segregation, and is neither dumpsites nor landfills.

The garbage problem is very serious indeed, because we are headed towards a direction wherein we will be surrounded by garbage without any way of getting rid of it, and hopefully not without a way of preventing the spread of diseases that are borne by it.

At the same time that we are polluting our land with solid wastes, we are also polluting our waterways and soils with liquid wastes, due to the fact that most of our cities and towns don’t have compliant sewerage and drainage systems. Is it beyond our collective capacity as a people to build these facilities?

I may sound like a broken record as I keep on saying it, but there is actually now a proven method of effectively segregating solid wastes, while at the same time reducing the volume of liquid wastes that go into our canals and whatever is there that poorly takes the place of drainage systems.

Again I will say that the key to a successful garbage segregation program is to reward all participating segregators with something of value. Sad to say, we could no longer rely on the sense of civic duty of our people, after all, to be practical about it, everyone needs an extra source of income in these difficult times.

I could not go into details right now, but I am willing to meet with any local government unit (LGU) to present not only the method of waste segregation, but also the program that would make the reward system work. There is no other choice but for all of us to adopt a greener lifestyle, because the threat to our survival is here now, and not in the future.

(EID-014) “BUILDING MORE COMPANIES”

It is very unfortunate that the National Cottage Industry Development Authority (NACIDA) and the National Marketing Corporation (NAMARCO) no longer around, but what is even more unfortunate is that there seems to be no existing government that would have taken the place of these two defunct agencies.

Back in the mid-70’s I was Group Product Manager of Bliss Marketing Corporation (BLISSMARK), a company that was funded by the government but was operated as a private corporation. To some extent, it performed the product development and marketing functions of NACIDA and NAMARCO, but it also became a victim to the changes of priorities in the government.

As it is now in these present times, bits and pieces of the product development and marketing functions are performed by a number of government agencies and non-government organizations (NGOs), but with apparently little or no coordination among them, to the disadvantage of small business owners who badly need these services.

Whether a business is big or small, they all need to put in place the basic finance, production, marketing and management functions. In this regard, there are also a number of NGOs that are helping in one function or the other, but there appears to be no “one-stop-shop” where small businesses could get all of these services all in one place.

In pursuit of the objective to build more companies in this country, it should be our collective national goal to help all small and medium enterprises (SMEs) so that they could all graduate into mature corporations, regardless of whether they are privately held or publicly listed. The way to do that is to assist them in strengthening their four business functions.

As a practical step, it would be good for all local government units (LGUs) to allocate some of their Internal Revenue Allocations (IRAs) for SME development. It would even be better if all of our congressmen could contribute some of their Countryside Development Funds (CDFs).

In line with this national goal, the United National Integrated Development Alliance (UNIDA) welcomes all NGOs and LGUs in its efforts to organize and bring together all SME development supports into one coordinated and integrated supply chain. Let us make it an unbroken supply chain, lest we again end up with broken dreams.

(EID-013) “TRIPLE WHAMMY CRISIS”

I am not the type who would sound alarmist about coming problems, but I would not hesitate either to issue fair warnings if I think there is a reason to do so. Normally we would expect the government to issue these types of warnings, but it seems that the government is either unaware of what is coming or it would rather not talk about these issues.

It has already been reported in the newspapers that the prices of beef and flour are going up in the United States, because the corn harvests that are supposed to feed the cattle are now being processed as bio-fuels, and the farm lands that used to be planted to wheat are now being converted to corn plantations.

Considering that about 70% of our feed ingredients are composed of corn imported from the US, we are probably going to face a food crisis not unless we could find cheaper imported substitutes for corn, or if we could not grow the corn ourselves, along with other local substitutes.

It has also been reported in the news that our water supplies are going down, partly due to the pollution of our water sources, and partly due to the effects of global warming. Either way, these two reasons for the depletion are environment related.

No one seems to be keeping count, but most of our dumpsites are reaching full capacity, while there is no hope in sight for the construction of real compliant landfills. As the solid wastes from Metro Manila and its environs are piling up, it appears that we will also be facing a garbage crisis.

All told, it would not be far fetched to say that these three crises would either happen one at a time, or worst, these could happen in the form of double or triple whammies. I will no longer ask what the government is doing or supposed to be doing to prevent these from happening, because it seems that the only hope now is for the people, the ordinary citizens to take action in their own communities, to do what they can on their own.

It makes good sense to revive our agriculture industry to plant more corn or sorghum, which is a good substitute. It also makes good sense to stop polluting our soils and bodies of water in order to conserve what still remains. Lastly, it would make good sense to give waste segregation another try, as we see the possibility of completely doing away with dumpsites and landfills forever. Is this really possible? If you really would like to know, I will show you the places where it has been done already.

(EID-012) “MONO-CULTURE VERSUS BIO-DIVERSE FORESTS”

A debate is now raging in the media on the pros and cons of planting renewable feedstock for bio-fuel production. Proponents of bio-fuels claim that there is really no issue about losing agricultural lands to bio-plants, because they say that they are going to utilize vacant lands, instead of using the existing farm lands.

As I see it however, the real issue is not whether or not vacant lands will be used. The real issue I think is whether or not to grow bio-plants using the mono-culture approach, or the bio-diversity approach. This is not the first time that the issue has cropped up in our midst, because we have already seen how soils die after continuous planting to rice, a problem that has awakened us to the need for multi-cropping, also known as mixed cropping.

In the provinces of Agusan Del Norte and Agusan del Sur, there is a popular myth that the Gemelina tree variety is no good, because it depletes the soil. As it now turns out, it is mono-culture that is to blame, and not the tree variety itself.

An American named Joseph J. Reynolds has successfully developed a vacant property in Occidental Mindoro into a bio-diverse forest, and his project now stands as a solid proof that large volumes of desired tree varieties could be produced in a mix of many other varieties, in effect avoiding mono-culture.

The logic behind the Reynolds project is actually very simple, because it simply restores a previously denuded area back into its original condition, back to what God had made it to be, so to speak. Just as the commercial loggers of yesteryears were able to harvest large volumes of trees in the natural forests before, Reynolds is able to do the same thing now, albeit in a man made forest now, made the natural way.

Adding to the appeal of the Reynolds approach is the fact that the existing residents of the denuded areas are the same people that he hired to become the tree farmers and caretakers of the project. These people now actually receive salaries for their work, even while the trees are still growing, but on top of that, they also get a share of the harvest, as if they are part owners of the tree farm. For the first time in my life, Reynolds was able to convince me that it is possible to restore a lost forest to its original, natural form. Hopefully, his model could be replicated nationwide.

(EID-011) “FIVE FORCES WORKING AS ONE”

I am very much impressed by the development work that the Canadian Executive Service Organization-Business Advisory Program (CESO-BAP) has done in the Philippines for the past three years. Working closely with the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), the Canadians recently turned over the program management to the latter; hence it will continue from now on as the PBSP-BAP.

I saw in the BAP experience a working model of effective cooperation between an embassy, a foundation, several local governments and a good number of beneficiaries. Inspired by the model, I see that it could still be improved by bringing in the universities as development partners, and this is where I think the University Consortium for Resource Networking (UNICORN) could have a role to play. By doing this, I think that it would form a complete supply chain of cooperation between and among embassies, foundations, universities, local governments and beneficiaries.

Over the years, I have seen a trend wherein embassies are now working through foundations to deliver and implement development programs, bringing in the local governments as well as cooperators. While it is true that foundations could very well hire their own people to work as local operators, the universities have the advantage of having qualified people who are already working locally.

As I see it, the prospective involvement of universities in the delivery of development programs would have a win-win effect, because they could use the extra income from more professional engagements, aside from the added advantage of having a sustainable source of dependable program staffers.

Starting with a member school in Quezon City, UNICORN is going to implement a community-based waste recycling project in cooperation with the local government, which at the same time would create livelihood opportunities for beneficiaries coming from the local community.

Following a model developed by Municipality of Los Baños, the project will exchange recyclables with coupons that are redeemable in cash or kind. Sad to say, this appears to be the only approach that could encourage popular cooperation, after seeing that voluntary or optional compliance has not worked over the years. As an innovation, the school will accept the coupons as credits in payment of tuitions.

(EID-010) “INTEGRATED AREA DEVELOPMENT

Integrated Area Development (IAD) is a very basic concept in development management, and yet it seems that we hardly have any successful models of it in this country. The term has a dual meaning, because it refers not only to the integration of development in a specific geographic area, it also refers to the integration of development programs within the same area.

Our attempt to integrate shelter, health, agriculture, peace and education (SHAPE) programs in the United National Integrated Development Alliance (UNIDA) is merely intended to set the pace for others to follow, because there is really more to development than these five priority programs.

In the history of mankind, civilizations were formed around bodies of water, and up until today, the pattern continues with economies forming around lakes, rivers and shorelines. To some extent, the formation of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum is along this model, viewing the Pacific Ocean as a singular body of water.

The definition of a specific geographic area provides the practical framework for development planning and management. It is like the framing of a house that supports the sidings, the later being likened to the development programs built around the framework.

In the case of Mega Manila, the framework so to speak should have been the Manila Bay and the Laguna Lake; being two bodies of water that actually form one ecosystem. Ideally, the planning and management of the cities and towns within this ecosystem should have been integrated.

Although there are some advantages in the decentralization of local government functions, the thrust towards decentralization should have been equally balanced with the twin goal of integration. Using a specific example, the devolution of health functions has resulted in imbalanced development, because many LGUs are able to improve much less sustain the delivery of their health services.

In the absence of integration in development planning and management, some benefits could be gained if the national government would define and impose common standards in the delivery of public services, so that we would know if the LGUs are doing their jobs, even if they are unable to integrate their program delivery.

(EID-009) “RISING ABOVE POLITICS”

Some people might object to my advocacy of paying taxes, due perhaps to their political views. As far as I am concerned however, I believe that the government belongs to the people of this country, and to no one else. Whoever sits in the administration are just people who come and go, but what is important is that the State itself, and not just the government, is strengthened and sustained by the taxes paid by the people. This is not to say that I am not opposed to the imposition of certain taxes, which is beside the point and is actually another issue.

Politics and development would often clash in ideas and approaches, but what is important for people who are working for development is to rise above politics, in order to stay focused on long term goals, instead of being derailed or misdirected by short term political dynamics. This is also not to say that I am for or against the administration, which is also beside the point.

The initiative of the United National Integrated Development Alliance (UNIDA) to collect official receipts and copies of their tax returns from its members is actually a fund raising project also, because it is also intended to collect market data and consumer information from the entries submitted. It may sound amusing, but it will also collect a lot of recyclable paper that could also be sold to raise more funds.

Two sets of data could actually be gathered from the project. The market data will be useful for private companies, whereas the consumer information will be useful for the economic agencies of the government that are monitoring consumer prices. For whatever it may be worth, we might just develop a system that could parallel or support the computation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

On the issue of ownership, it could also be argued that no one ones the environment, except the people who live in this country. The waste segregation project of the UNIDA might redound to a good image on the part of the government, but that too is beside the point, because the people will be the first to benefit from better solid waste management.

Needless to say, the waste segregation project of UNIDA is also a means to raise funds. As an added benefit, it will also collect raw materials for another UNIDA project that will produce low cost building materials for shelter and education purposes. A corporate partner of UNIDA is already putting up a plant for this purpose, yet another example of integration.

(EID-008) “EXERCISE TO GET IN SHAPE”

The issue is definitely debatable, but it could certainly be argued that most Filipinos are not used to obeying laws, simply because they have not been honed into exercising their civic duties. Perhaps it could also be argued that the behavior of people when it comes to obeying the laws is similar to reading the newspapers, meaning that it like developing a habit over a long period of time. Guided by this reasoning, the United National Integrated Development Alliance (UNIDA) will soon embark on a program that would hone its members in exercising their civic duties, so that they could build their habit of becoming good citizens in due time.

Although the program is primarily intended to produce a working model that would validate the “Civic Duty Exercise” (CDE) approach, it is actually envisioned to shoot three birds with one stone, because it would also solve specific social problems, aside from it being able to raise funds for the projects of the allied UNIDA organizations in the shelter, health, agriculture, peace and education (SHAPE) sectors.

For many years now, we have been trying to encourage our citizens to pay taxes, to vote regularly and to recycle always. As we clearly see it in the low tax collections, the low voter turnout and in the low volumes of segregated garbage, our encouragement is falling into deaf ears, indicating that our citizens are not doing their part as far as these three civic duties are concerned.

As a requirement for keeping their membership in good standing, members of allied UNIDA organizations will be asked to turn in their official receipts and to submit copies of their tax returns. This will validate the fact that they are paying their taxes properly. They will also be asked to “vote” regularly in opinion surveys and referendums. This will get them into the habit of voting, a habit that would ordinarily be difficult to build if they could only do it a few times over many years. Lastly, they will also be asked to segregate their garbage always, and to turn these over to designated collection centers.

As an incentive for members to comply with these requirements, they could win prizes in regular raffle draws in exchange for their official receipts and tax returns, they could receive discount coupons and promo items in exchange for their survey “votes”, and they could get points for their segregated garbage, redeemable in the form of grocery and food items.

(EID-007) “CONVERGENCE OF THREE ECONOMIES”

Three economies fused together are definitely stronger than one, but could you imagine how much stronger it would be if were also to converge as one coherent and cohesive economy? This is the ideal that we should pursue, to blend together our agricultural, industrial and knowledge economies into one AIK economy.

Could you imagine an agricultural economy that is fully supported by an industrial and a knowledge base? Could you imagine how much stronger that would be? Going back to basics, we are still lagging behind in building large scale silos and dryers for our grains industries. Add to that the need to automate our grains milling and transporting infrastructure.

The one town, one product (OTOP) project of the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) is a good initiative, but it would be better if it were to follow the AIK model, meaning that it should promote industrial products that are supported by an agricultural base, and are complimented by a knowledge base.

By industrial products, I mean any product that could be produced using any manufacturing process. This could be handicraft products, but should ideally be made in a factory where economies of scale could be attained. By agricultural base, I mean any product that uses materials from agriculture, from animal husbandry, from fisheries and from forestry.

It is ironic to note that while we are trying to export our manufactured goods and knowledge based services, China is infiltrating our local markets with fruits and vegetables that we could have grown here in our own farms. We note with interest that many of these products are packaged well, indicating that these have gone through some manufacturing processes.

One way to converge our agriculture economy with our knowledge economy is to build databases that would enable us to make more intelligent decisions as to which agricultural products to import, and which ones we should just source out locally. One example is the importation of rice, wherein the government always claims to have a shortage, without presenting hard data about local production.

Learning from the experience of Taiwan, we should build canneries and tinplate industries in order to provide an industrial manufacturing base, in support of our agricultural producers. This time however, the government should just fund privately owned factories, instead of directly operating it.

(EID-006) “FROM SALEMANSHIP TO ENTERPRENEURSHIP”

“One small step for a school, one giant step for our economy…” This is how I would describe a program that is now being developed by the University Consortium for Resource Networking (UNICORN) for a leading business school in Metro Manila. It is a two-stage program that would first train students in salesmanship, and then move them on towards entrepreneurship training.

Going back to the basics, it is really sales that is the heart and soul of marketing, even if marketing itself is the heart and soul of business. The goal of the program is to produce sales professionals for the marketing companies in our country, but with the option for them to put up their own companies if they are so compelled to become entrepreneurs. More basic than that is the fact that salesmanship is an excellent training ground for entrepreneurship.

Aptly called the Young Entrepreneurs and Salesmanship (YES) Program, it is also envisioned to become a scholarship program wherein the student participants would be able to fund their own education from their sales incomes, at the same time be able to raise funds for their student organizations.

From the standpoint of UNICORN member schools, it is a win-win solution to the problem of marketing their “downtime” and the problem of financing school tuitions, thus enabling them to shoot two birds with one stone.

From the standpoint of UNICORN employer partner schools, it is a win-win solution to the problem of recruiting good sales talent, and the problem of penetrating non-traditional markets through direct selling strategies.

The students participating in the YES program will be asked to sell specific products, to prepare sales forecasts, and to defend their sales performance just like a regular salesman would, under the guidance of actual sales supervisors.

A major distributor of Unilever and Kimberly-Clark products has already agreed to become the first employer partner, thus ensuring the immediate implementation of the program. UNICORN is the lead organization of the United National Integrated Development Alliance (UNIDA) for the education sector. UNIDA also has programs for the justice, health, agriculture and shelter sectors.

(EID-005) “LET A THOUSAND COMPANIES BLOOM”

With not much success to show as we passed the Agricultural Age and the Industrial Age, we are now hoping that we could do well in the Information Age, also known as the Knowledge Economy. Figuratively speaking, we scrapped our agricultural focus and we embraced a new industrial focus, only to breed infant industries that could not survive the mature tests of globalization. Where do we go from here?

As I see it, it is better for our country to view the three “Ages” not as sequential stages, but as incremental ingredients to a composite economy that should incorporate all three. Better still, we should aim for the convergence of all three ingredients, in such a way that each one would complement and strengthen the others.

Simply put, we should have built an industrial economy on top of our agricultural economy, using the latter as a complimentary source of raw materials. Moving on, we should have built a knowledge economy on top of our agricultural and industrial economies, modernizing the other two in the process, without departing from them.

As we try and compete in the global economy, we should do so with products coming from our agricultural base and our industrial base, and not just with services coming from our knowledge base. What this means is that we should modernize and upgrade our existing farms into corporate farms, and our cottage industries into corporate producers.

Learning from the experience of other economies, we should build networks of small corporations around the big corporations, thus forming supply chains that would benefit both the small companies and the big companies.

As we see it now in the global economy, marketing is the front-end activity that only the big players could win and sustain. As a way to give them a place in the global equation, we should give our small players the back-end role to produce for the big players, thus turning small scale entrepreneurship into a resource that could beef up our front lines against globalization.

As always, the best place to start is in the policy arena where we should pass laws and executive orders that would encourage big companies to outsource manufacturing tasks to small companies. Putting together the small players, they could then play as big players in the back end.

(EID-004) “LOCALIZATION VS. GLOBALIZATION”

Globalization is a game of business, and there is no other way to win it except to play the rules of the game. That means being able to sell products and gain market shares in a highly competitive global arena where only the best products could win and survive.

The days of the so-called “safety nets” are long gone, and the issues of whether these were put in place or not are already irrelevant. By now, the expected fall of the market players that were supposed to be cushioned by these “safety nets” may already be crippled or dead, and there is no more sense in crying over spilled milk.

From this point onwards, we have no other choice but to compete aggressively in the world market, and that includes taking on global market players in our own homeland, meaning the products that are imported and are not made here. Needless to say, our own producers would also have to compete with foreign brands that are already manufactured here.

From this point onwards, we should ask ourselves whether we are going to continue just being a dominantly consumer nation or become a dominantly producer nation, which means that we have to manufacture more competitive products that would not only meet the local demand, but would also win market shares in global arenas.

Just as small shopkeepers are able to strengthen and sustain the economy of the United Kingdom even up to now, I believe that the hope for our long term economic survival and sustainability lies in the small entrepreneurs of our country regardless of whether they are in the cities or in the countryside. In order for them to become more globally competitive however, it is necessary to upgrade them to corporate entities so that they could be infused with more capital more easily.

Aside from building roads and bridges that were supposed to be completed a long time ago, our local governments should now build the support infrastructure that would enable small corporations to grow and prosper, starting with business incubation centers that should be fully equipped with all the latest technological tools.

Whether we like it or not, globalization is already here, but in order to win this game, we should give importance to the localization of business incubators for small corporations to use, being as they struggle to build their companies in the short run, while they gear up for the long run.

(EID-003) “CHARITY OVER JUSTICE”

It appears that Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales had the case of the Sumilao farmers in mind when he called upon the faithful to put “charity over justice” as they celebrate Christmas, but considering the depth of his message, we should embrace his call as a guiding principle in the delivery of public governance.

Putting “charity over justice” means giving substance to the saying that “those who less in life should have more in law”. How are we going to do this in a country where the majority of the people are poor, and where the rich minority hold the reigns over the mechanisms of the law?

It is ironic that in a country where the majority of the people are Christians, we see so much injustice around. Part of the irony is the fact that the majority of lawmakers, judges and law enforcers are Christians too. Alas, if only a small minority would take the call of Cardinal Rosales to heart, we would probably see more of justice delivered everywhere.

By way of a reality check, there is no denying that right now, the overall form and manner of delivering justice in this country is very much slanted in favor of the rich, to the disadvantage of the poor. To begin with, the poor could not even afford to file charges before the courts, much less be able to afford a lawyer. Every action of the courts needs money to the spent, money that the poor does not have.

Although it will sound like a “Catch 22” situation, it seems that the only way to balance the delivery of justice is to change the laws that govern the process, laws that have to be passed by a Congress that is largely composed of the rich minority.

And although it will sound like an impossible dream, it seems that the only way to balance the representation in the Congress between the rich and the poor is to change the election laws, so that it would become possible for poor but deserving candidates to run for public office and win.

On the practical side, it is about time that we institutionalize small claims courts in this country, so that the poor people could get immediate justice without spending too much money, and without hiring a lawyer. Aside from that, the government should increase the budget of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) so that it could hire more lawyers. Better still; the government should pay public defenders the salary of private lawyers, so that the poor could get better legal representation for free.

(EID-002) “UPGRADED INFRASTRUCTURE”

Two misconceptions have infested the language of Filipino bureaucrats and politicians, in the understanding of what infrastructure means, and what it should include. Infrastructure is generally understood to mean only constructions such as roads and bridges, and is usually planned only to include public facilities.

It is about time to widen their general understanding of what infra should mean, and what it should cover, in connection with particular socio-economic development needs. In the case of education for instance, the meaning of infrastructure should cover not just buildings, but also the hardware and software that are needed in modernizing the delivery of learning.

Although there is no debate that public funds should not be spent for private purposes, our planning for development programs and projects should include incentives for private providers of public services, perhaps in the form of soft loans and tax breaks.

Take the case of the education and health sectors for instance. While it appears that private schools and private hospitals are more efficient than their public counterparts, they are not necessarily awash with cash, and could therefore use some help from the government in delivering their services that are public in nature.

In the case of the agriculture sector, it is unfortunate that infra is generally understood to mean only irrigation, and is even more unfortunate that the government target is to deliver water only to rice lands. It should enter the government mindset that poultry growers, hog raisers, cattle ranchers, vegetable farmers and even orchard owners also need water.

The active cooperation of the public sector and the business sector is the key to increasing access to public services, and upgrading the infra for these services should be their common goal. To state the obvious, the local government units should get involve in these undertakings, making sure that goals towards increasing access are included in their plans and actions.

Perhaps as an intervening factor, non-profit organizations (NPOs) should go in between these two sectors, being supposedly the third parties that have no commercial interests in the directions and outcomes of all development programs and projects. This is where a broad alliance of NPOs could be of great importance.

(EID-001) “INTEGRATIVE DEVELOPMENT”

The term “integrative development” is already popularly used in the field of medicine, but it appears to be rarely used in the field of socio-economic development. Compared to the term “integrated development”, it seems to be more dynamic and proactive, which should be the character and manifestation of all development efforts.

I believe that the integration of development programs and projects should happen in two levels and two spheres. It should happen in the local and national levels, and should also happen within the smaller sphere of a sector, and in the bigger sphere of interactions between several sectors.

Following the “infrastructure-content-manpower” (ICM) model that is popularly used in computer systems development, it would be best to have an “infrastructure base” that would host or receive the “material content” that is delivered by the “manpower pool” involved in development.

Not unless the ICM model is made complete, we could not say that development programs and projects are fully integrated. To illustrate my point, let us apply this model towards solving the five major economic problems of our country, namely hunger, poverty, criminality, sickness and homelessness.

In similar order, I think that the solution for hunger is agriculture, for poverty is education, for criminality is justice, for sickness is health, and for homelessness it should be shelter. Logically, the infrastructure for agriculture should be farms, for education should be schools, for criminality should be police stations, for sickness should be hospitals, and for homelessness should be tenements.

Despite the diversity of these five problems, it appears that their common denominator is the lack of modern technologies that should upgrade their infrastructure. At the core of these technologies should be the assets that would enable the manpower pools to manage databases and to communicate with other spheres, while banking on these same databases.

I am just using general terms in this essay, agricultural infra should go beyond the farms, the education infra should go beyond the schools, the justice infra should go beyond the police stations, the health infra should go beyond the hospitals, and the shelter infra should go beyond the tenements. In particular, tenement housing offers the homeless the chance of owning a place to stay at the price of renting an apartment monthly.

BLOGGER’S NOTES

RPG-026 will henceforth be followed by a new “Essays in Development” (EID) series. EID will touch on the same subjects covered by the “Rated PG” (Public Governance) series, but will be written in the essay form, departing from the column format earlier used.

(RPG-026) “A VISION FOR A NEW NATION”

I recently met with Mr. Victor Barrios, convener of a US based group called “Global Filipino Nation”. Many will remember Mr. Barrios as a top investment banker here before he moved to the States. He now commutes between Manila and San Francisco, but like many of our foreign based compatriots, he is still actively involved in organizing development projects for the Philippines.

**

As I understand it, Barrios leads a network of other Filipino communities all over the world, all of them working towards the common goals of uniting overseas Filipinos, and mobilizing them for national development back here. Needless to say, most of these communities are composed of overseas Filipino workers, with small numbers of emigrants among them.

**

In a casual conversation, Barrios talked about the possibility of passing new laws so that Filipinos with dual citizenships may be allowed to run for the Senate. He said that many other countries allow this already, opening a new opportunity for these citizens to get involved in the national lawmaking process.

**

Being closely in touch with overseas Filipinos through my radio program and newspaper column, I observed that what we lack as a nation as a whole is a common vision, in terms of where we are going and how we are going to get there. Where we are going is our “destination”, while the means of getting there is our “journey”.

**

Generally speaking, some say that our vision is to join the ranks of developed nations by a certain date, whatever that is. I would go along with this vision, provided that would also mean reducing the incidences of crime, corruption and poverty in our country.

**

While we could not totally eradicate these three negative factors, we should be happy with simply reducing their incidences to levels that would come near the percentage rates of acknowledged developed nations today.

(RPG-025) “ACCESS TO MARKETS”

In the language of the United Nations, the success or failure of development programs is generally measured in terms of “access”. For example, success or failure is measured in terms of access to clean potable water, access to low cost housing and access to affordable health care.

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In the many years that I have been involved in the process of providing livelihood, I have noticed that it is many times more difficult to market livelihood products, as opposed to starting or creating livelihood projects. It is even easier to provide livelihood training, because there are many trainers all over the country.

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Using the language of the United Nations, it would be right to say that what is needed now in the process of providing livelihood is to create access to markets for livelihood products. Of course this is easier said than done, but fortunately for all of us, marketing is a science that is available to everyone, and all we have to do is to put it to good use.

**

In the new structure of the United National Integrated Development Alliance (UNIDA), the Inter-Charity Network (ICN) is the lead organization for providing livelihood. Given this task, the ICN will provide access to all the components of livelihood namely training, financing and consulting, but on top of it all, more emphasis will be given to providing access to markets.

**

At the higher level of the UNIDA, a direct selling organization (DSO) is now being formed, a project that will be implemented through the lead organizations namely the CFPCI, the UNICORN and the ICN. An e-Commerce portal is also being designed, to sell products online. Completing the line-up is a year round bazaar project at the HK Sun Plaza, now open for all entrepreneurs who would like to display their products.

**

As the saying goes, there are many ways of skinning a cat. The bottom line is to be able to be able to provide market access to the products coming from livelihood projects, so that these projects could be sustained in the long run.

(RPG-024) “UNIDA HELPS”

In my previous column, I wrote that the Citizen’s Foundation for the Prevention of Crime and Injustice (CFPCI), the University Consortium for Resource Networking (UNICORN) and the Inter-Charity Network (ICN) have banded together to form the United National Integrated Development Alliance (UNIDA).

**

I also wrote that the CFPCI will work for the improvement of peace and order by helping lawmakers and enforcers, the UNICORN will work for the improvement of education and training by helping universities and schools, and the ICN will work for the improvement of livelihood by helping jobseekers and entrepreneurs.

**

Having established the umbrella organizations for “Peace” (P), “Education” (E) and “Livelihood” (L), we are now in the process of establishing two more umbrella organizations, one for “Health” (H) and another one for “Shelter” (S). This will complete all the umbrella organizations for the five major programs of UNIDA, namely “Health”, “Education”, “Livelihood”, “Peace” and “Shelter” (HELPS).

**

Admittedly, there are many other programs that have to be incorporated into the process of integrated development, but as of now, we are only ready to intervene in the five major programs that we have already identified. In the future, as we gain more experience, we could consider adding more programs.

**

We have identified “Health” as a logical area of intervention, because we believe that our experience in consolidating universities and schools through UNICORN could immediately be used also in consolidating hospitals and clinics into a health consortium. Hopefully, this will take shape through the creation of the United National Health Association (UNAHEALTH). We identified “Shelter” as another area of intervention, because we have acquired new technologies that will enable us to lower housing costs. In line with this, we also hope to use the vacant lands of CFPCI for housing.

(RPG-023) “INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT”

It is interesting to note that in the aftermath of the Manila Peninsula siege this week, Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales found a reason to connect the incident to the problem of poverty in this country, in the process finding a way to trace the problem to the lack of coordination in the government’s delivery of public services.

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Truth to tell, poverty has always been a problem here. That is not actually the main problem. The real problem is that the government does not seem to have a coordinated plan or program to reduce it objectively and systematically, and therefore the good Cardinal hit the problem right on the nail.

**

Coordination is one thing, integration is another. Perhaps we can liken it to the choreography of a Broadway musical where the actors have to be in tune, at the same time that they have to be in step. Integration ought to be the objective, while coordination on the other hand ought to be the strategy.

**

Basing it on the principle that governance is a process that should involve not only the government but the people as well, a new alliance was recently formed by three umbrella groups, each one of them active in their own development programs.

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The Citizen’s Foundation for the Prevention of Crime and Injustice (CFPCI), the University Consortium for Resource Networking (UNICORN) and the Inter-Charity Network (ICN) have banded together to form the United National Integrated Development Alliance (UNIDA).

**

CFPCI is the umbrella organization for “Peace”. It will work for the improvement of peace and order by helping lawmakers and enforcers. UNICORN is the umbrella organization for “Education”. It will work for the improvement of education and training by helping universities and schools. ICN is the umbrella organization for “Livelihood”. It will work for the improvement of livelihood by helping jobseekers and entrepreneurs.

(RPG-022) “DATABASES FOR GOVERNANCE”

Veteran IT experts say that we need not computerize, just because there is a computer. What they probably mean is that we should have more objective reasons for deciding to computerize, and simply having a computer should not be the sole reason.

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Having been a mountaineer in my younger days, I am fully satisfied by the reason given by mountain climbers why they climb mountains. “Because it’s there” is the reason given, and certainly it is a logic that only mountaineers could fathom and understand.

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Dwelling now on the subject of governance, I am more inclined to reason like mountaineers do, that we should computerize “Because it’s there”, arguing this time that it would be a waste of resources not to computerize, if the computers are already there to use.

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Are we already “computerizing” by simply using applications such as word processing and spreadsheets? This is a relevant question because many government units are using their computers solely for these purposes, and nothing more.

**

Without any argument, we could say that government units could build their data by simply using document files and spreadsheet tables, but if that is all they do, could we really say that they are actually and functionally using databases for governance, in the form and structure that real databases ought to be?

**

As a means of helping local government units (LGUs) build their own databases for their own governance needs, I am offering them licensed database software for free. The offer is worth 100 dollars per license, but I have no takers up to now. Could it be that most LGUs have not yet learned the importance of using databases for governance? In the absence of real databases, I would dare to say that “It’s not there”, meaning that these government units have nothing to work with, to begin with.