GROSS NATIONAL NEGLIGENCE

BANTAY GOBYERNO SERIES 046
By Ike Señeres 12/12/2010

GROSS NATIONAL NEGLIGENCE

It was my first time last week to see the esteros in Manila and to say that I was shocked with what I saw is an understatement. I was fortunate to be invited by Ms. Gina Lopez along with a delegation from the Corinthian Coffee Clutch, a volunteer think tank that has now adopted the name ISIP BAYAN. Ms. Lopez wanted to meet some urban planners from our group, and so we went, along with some of our members who are experts in waste management and community organization.

To go direct to the point, what I saw was clearly the result of gross national negligence, and I say that because the degradation of the environment in that area is not just the fault of the government, but of everyone who lives in this metropolis, everyone who produces wastes as a result of consumption, wastes that are not properly disposed of as it should be.

I realized however that the problem is not just waste disposal, but the bigger problem it seems is the violation of river easement laws that were completely ignored by the long parade of local government officials who were supposed to implement these laws. Immediately I realized that the problem is political, because that is the only way to explain the absence of political wills that should have been there in the first place.

Ms. Lopez is correct in saying that not unless we clean the esteros that are feeding it, we could not clean the Pasig River, and not unless we clean the Pasig River, we could not clean the Manila Bay too. To that, I will add that not unless we clean the watersheds in the mountains, we could not clean the Laguna de Bay too, and not unless we clean the Laguna de Bay, we could not clean the Pasig River.

In most other countries, the richest people live in the waterfront communities, and that is because the views from that vantage are spectacular. In contrast, here in the Philippines, the poorest among the poor live on the easements of the rivers, and there is nothing spectacular about the congestion and pollution that is caused by the overpopulation of these waterfronts.

As I listened to Ms. Lopez, I understood right away what she is trying to do. By being able to succeed in the cleanup of the smaller waterfronts and waterways, she is laying the groundwork for the political will to grow as a groundswell, after the people in the metropolis could see that if we could succeed in cleaning the smaller parts of the ecosystem, we could then believe that we could clean the bigger ecosystem as well. The good news is, she is already succeeding and many people are already getting convinced that it could be done.

Beauty is one thing, safety is another. Ms. Lopez is trying to beautify the esteros and the Pasig River on one hand, but it is easy to see from what she is doing that it is going to be the safety of the people in the metropolis that will be the ultimate result of her work. It is not too difficult to understand that, because the floods have already shown us what the congested waterways could do to our environment.

It took many years of neglect to bring the Pasig River and its tributaries to its present state of decay. Certainly, it will also take many years to bring it back to its former glory, but that could only happen if everyone who contributed to its destruction would move towards its restoration. To do that, multi-sectoral and multidisciplinary efforts would have to be undertaken, and that too would take a lot of political will.

It is obvious that in order to clear the easements along the waterways, the illegal settlers would have to be relocated. Ms. Lopez believes that it is a better option to just move them to move them to more decent dwellings nearby, rather than move them to far places that would take them away from their livelihood. This is the reason why she needs the urban planners, and ISIP BAYAN is committed towards helping her in that task.

In the final analysis, it is going to be the combination of good environment, shelter and livelihood programs that will bring lasting solutions to the problem as defined. Aside from that however, I see the need to also bring in good education and health programs, and ISIP BAYAN is going to help with that too. I am sure that as we move on, we will see the need for more programs, but we will deal with that too. More than anything else, it is going to be the rollout of the good pilot experiences in the Pasig River project that will benefit the nation the most. The fact is, there are hundreds of other rivers that also have to be cleaned, but if we could clean the Pasig River, there is no reason why we could not clean all the other rivers.

Go for Complete Convergence! Tune in to Universal Access 2pm to 3pm Monday to Sunday in DZRJ 810 khz or log on to www.rjplanet.com/rj-radio/
Watch KA IKING LIVE! Saturdays 8 pm to 9 pm in Global News Network (GNN), Channel 8 in Destiny Cable. Email iseneres@yahoo.com or text +639234059174 for local cable listings. Visit www.senseneres.blogspot.com

A THINK TANK FOR NATION BUILDING

BANTAY GOBYERNO SERIES 045
By Ike Señeres 12/04/2010


A THINK TANK FOR NATION BUILDING

Universal Access is now the title of my radio program in DZRJ that is aired daily, Mondays to Sundays from 2PM to 3PM. DZRJ can be heard locally on the 810 AM band and is also streamed live at www.rjplanet.com/rj-radio/ where it could be heard internationally. Each day, a different topic is discussed about universal access to Governance, Learning, Health, Justice, Business, Services and Banking (in that daily order).

It is easy to discern from the discussions that universal access is really all about the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as defined by the United Nations. It is also easy to conclude that it is not possible to achieve universal access without achieving complete convergence first as a requisite. By this, I mean the convergence of the components of universal access, and the convergence of the contributors to the complete process.

Universal Access is also the theme and purpose of the Corinthian Coffee Clutch, the weekly forum of Filipinos and foreigners that meets every Friday at the Dodge Room of the Elks Club in Makati City. Nation building is the main objective of the Clutch, but it is clear to all the members that complete convergence is the way towards universal access, leading to nation building. In a recent meeting of the Clutch, the members agreed to adopt “Isip Bayan” as a nickname, a Filipino term that roughly translate into nation building.

As part of its repositioning, the members of Isip Bayan also agreed to become a volunteer think tank for nation building, in the service of the government agencies and the local governments, as well as the nonprofit organizations and the private corporations. It was also agreed that the think tank will become more pro-active in the media, to bring forward to the public mind the importance of complete convergence, universal access and nation building.

Being a volunteer think tank for nation building is a tall order, but the roster of Isip Bayan is a tall one too. Included in its ranks are several businessman and professionals many of whom are scientists and experts with doctorate and masters degrees from top local and foreign universities. Aside from the locally based members, the think tank has a mailing list of foreign based scientists and experts who are all ready to help in our nation building.

As a think tank, Isip Bayan is not going to get directly involved in the project level, even if individual members may do so on their own. In line with this rule, we are now accrediting organizations that could become our partners for implementation at the project level. We have accredited two organizations so far, one for the peace process, and the other one for social medicine. We will disclose their identities soon.

For the peace process, Isip Bayan is going to host a separate weekly meeting of organizations that could participate in programs and projects that would bring peace to the country, by looking for peaceful solutions that would end our conflicts with insurgencies, rebels and other armed groups. If you are interested in this effort, please contact us.

Universal access to health is one of the most important goals in nation building. Towards this goal, Isip Bayan is now in the process of building a charity hospital that will become the “mother ship” of a network of charity clinics, all interconnected via the technology of telemedicine. With this technology, it is now possible to treat patients in remote locations.

The services provided by the commercial think tanks are usually very expensive, and most government agencies and local governments could not afford their rates. The same is true in the case of nonprofit organizations. Many private companies could afford their rates, but not all of them would be willing to invest in think tank services for public purposes.

I applaud the efforts of many nonprofit organizations that are all trying to do some good things for nation building one way or the other. On the other hand, if all of these organizations will go towards their own individual ways without coordinating with the others, it would be difficult to achieve the critical mass of results. We invite all of them to coordinate with Isip Bayan.

Go for Complete Convergence! Tune in to Universal Access 2pm to 3pm Monday to Sunday in DZRJ 810 khz or log on to www.rjplanet.com/rj-radio/
Watch KA IKING LIVE! Saturdays 8 pm to 9 pm in Global News Network (GNN), Channel 8 in Destiny Cable. Email iseneres@yahoo.com or text +639234059174 for local cable listings. Visit www.senseneres.blogspot.com

SEDA FORUM

BANTAY GOBYERNO SERIES 044
By Ike Señeres 11/25/2010

SEDA FORUM

It has been difficult for me to explain the meaning of complete convergence, and what its correlation is to universal access. There is actually a cause and effect relationship between the two. Complete convergence is the cause, and universal access is the effect. Of course there is a quantitative side to this, because if the convergence is not complete, then the access is not universal.

In my media work and my advocacy work, I meet a lot of people who are in a position to contribute to complete convergence, in other words they are potential assets that could make universal access happen. Conversely, I also meet a lot of people who need support, in order to make universal access happen where they are. It disturbs me to see that in many cases, they do not even meet, such that their common energies are wasted.

We are facing the sad reality that by nature and by structure, the bureaucracy of the government is really compartmentalized, and that is the opposite of convergence or being converged. On the positive side, the government is already seeing the benefits of public and private partnership (PPP). That is good news, but with PPP coming into the picture, there is now an increased burden on the government to converge the actions not only of the national agencies, but also of the local governments.

It is a known fact that the national government bureaucracy is not just compartmentalized, it is also Balkanized. Agencies and bureaus within a Department are not talking to each other, how much more coordinating with each other. This is also true in the case of Departments that are supposed to be part of a cluster that should address a common concern. Whatever happened to the cabinet clusters that used to work so well before?

I do not want to blame anyone in the government in particular, but it could be said that government functionaries could not be as aggressive as their private sector counterparts, because they do not have a profit motive. I mean a profit motive for the corporate bottom line, and not for their pockets. This profit motive could have been substituted by a genuine concern for the good of their own institutions, but that is absent too, because most bureaucrats are now political appointees and are no longer career public servants.
Not that I am crying over spilled milk, but in the absence of a profit motive, the new political appointees could have been expected also to be highly motivated if they are loyal members of a political party that has a genuine and serious platform for economic prosperity and good governance. Sad to say again, there appears to be no party behavior in the pattern of political appointments. I am talking about political will, a powerful motivation that is greater than a profit motive.

In the spirit of public and private partnership, the Corinthian Coffee Clutch (CCC) has already become a clearing house not only for PPP, but also for corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects. It is my wish that PPP and CSR projects will also converge in specific geographic locations, jointly addressing common sectoral concerns such as health and education.

Please join me in the forum of the Socio Economic Development Alliance (SEDA FORUM), where we could discuss the ways and means of nation building, leading towards our socio economic development. To join, just send a blank email to SEDA_FORUM-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
SEDA has the same purpose as CCC, except that it is online. It became necessary for me to activate the SEDA FORUM, because my mailing lists for CCC are already full, and I could no longer send mass emails.

By nature, PPP programs are always profit driven, but CSR programs are not. On the other hand however, some expenses for CSR programs could be tax deductible. For one reason or another, the private sector would be very much open to helping sectoral concerns everywhere, if only they would know where to go and what to do.

I am hoping that through the SEDA FORUM, I will be able to bring together via online means the government agencies and private companies that would want to do projects together. This is also applicable to local governments. As usual, we could all meet in the CCC for real time, brick and mortar “eyeball” transactions. Online or offline, we have no more reasons not to act now.

Go for Complete Convergence! Tune in to Universal Access 2pm to 3pm Monday to Sunday in DZRJ 810 khz or log on to www.rjplanet.com/rj-radio/
Watch KA IKING LIVE! Saturdays 8 pm to 9 pm in Global News Network (GNN), Channel 8 in Destiny Cable. Email iseneres@yahoo.com or text +639234059174 for local cable listings. Visit www.senseneres.blogspot.com

ECOLOGICAL CITIES

BANTAY GOBYERNO SERIES 043
By Ike Señeres 11/15/2010

ECOLOGICAL CITIES

“Sustainable” is still a big word in the development circles, but it seems that the bigger word “ecological” has overtaken it. These two words are actually compatible, and are in fact mutually exclusive. By comparison however, “sustainable” seems to be a spent word, because it is already given that it should be done in the first place, whereas “ecological” is still a relatively emerging word that suggests imperative actions that still have to be done.

A number of my friends pointed out to me that the correct terminology is “ecological capital” and not “ecology capital”, and I stand corrected. I also stand corrected that ecological capital is not exactly a new concept, except that it has not really gained in popularity. Perhaps what is relatively new is the notion that when combined together as joint assets, ecological capital and social capital could become a powerful resource that could generate a lot of financial capital.

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and the Debt for Nature Swap (DNS) are the two huge sources of ecological capital that are still relatively untapped by both the national government agencies (NGAs) and the local government units (LGUs). This is really very surprising to note in a country that is hungry for capital, when in fact these two sources of money are already staring at us in the face.

Also known as the carbon credits scheme, CDM is quickly becoming very popular worldwide as its mechanics are becoming clearer, and as its manner of applicability is becoming more defined. Essentially designed to reduce the carbon footprints of countries in general, its methods of applicability have gone down to the level of compliant companies, and it is evolving to a point that it is now down to the level of personal carbon footprints.

Strictly speaking, the DNS scheme does not really condone our foreign debts, although that is true in a figurative sense. What actually happens is that we will in effect pay for our external debts not in the form of cash, but in the form of ecological capital that we would internally generate, by way of nature related projects. Of course we have to invest money to generate the ecological capital, but the value added we get is very much worth it.
“Green communities” is a generic term that applies to buildings and villages. In both cases, the common denominators are the building associations and village associations that are composed of the residents. On a slightly bigger scale, this would apply to barangay councils that are in effect composed also of the residents. All told, buildings, villages and barangays could now go green if their organizations would decide to do so.

In service to the nation, I have formed a consortium of experts who are now ready to provide consulting services to the NGAs and LGUs that are in search of ways and means to raise ecological capital from CDM and DNS projects. The income potential does not stop there, because even without these two mechanisms, money could be made from several choices of environment related projects.

To make it easy for its clients, the consortium will also provide the initial financing that is needed to start-up the projects, in consideration of a success driven profit sharing arrangement. Furthermore, the consortium will also handle the documentation of the carbon and nature values, as well as the marketing of these values to the world markets.

It is already a forgone conclusion that the funds that are available from the general appropriations act (GAA), the internal revenue allocation (IRA) and the countryside development fund (CDF) sources are not enough to finance the local development projects. Given this reality, it is now time for the NGAs and the LGUs to start tapping the ecological capital sources that are already widely available.

Ecological cities or eco-cities are the ways of the future. Many countries have started many years ago to create new cities or to recreate old cities in such a way that these population centers would have very low carbon footprints, while at the same time keeping or raising the standards of living that used to be fed with high carbon resources. The time to act is today, because tomorrow is already too late. If we do not act today, we will be left behind by the countries that already started their ecological moves yesterday.

Go for Complete Convergence! Tune in to Universal Access 2pm to 3pm Monday to Sunday in DZRJ 810 khz or log on to www.rjplanet.com/rj-radio/
Watch KA IKING LIVE! Saturdays 8 pm to 9 pm in Global News Network (GNN), Channel 21 in Destiny Cable. Email iseneres@yahoo.com or text +639234059174 for local cable listings. Visit www.senseneres.blogspot.com