HIRING OF CONTRACTUAL PUBLIC ATTORNEYS

I do not know how many attorneys the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) has, but I am sure that the supply is always short of the demand. Right now, the remedy to the shortage is for a judge to assign any lawyer, wherein the chosen lawyer practically works as a volunteer, under the legal fiction that he or she is also an officer of the court. There appears to be no problem in assigning volunteer lawyers to serve the needs of indigent clients, but if it is done too many times, it could already affect the incomes of those lawyers, one way or the other. Besides, if they are providing their services on a pro bono basis, they may not be giving their indigent clients the same attention as they would give to their paying clients. The obvious solution is to increase the budget of the PAO, so that they could hire more lawyers, but the cheaper solution could be creating a special fund so that the PAO could pay some reasonable honoraria to these volunteer lawyers, so that they could be compensated even to a small extent. I also do not know the existing distribution of PAO lawyers, but if that special fund could be established, it would be possible to assign volunteer lawyers everywhere in the country, because of the fact that there are indigent clients all over the country too. Any other ideas to help the PAO? IKE SENERES/03-01-2024

DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR RANKS FOR LABOR OFFICIALS

Since we are signatories to the diplomatic and consular conventions, we have to conform to the protocols and agreements of those two conventions. Otherwise, it would seem that we are behaving like rouge countries in an international community of responsible nations. Right now, the DOLE has Labor Attaches assigned to offices in cities away from our embassies in those host countries. Since it is very clear that “attaché” is a diplomatic rank, it is technically wrong to assign that rank to a person who is not physically working in an embassy. It is definitely a misnomer, and perhaps other people in the diplomatic corps would find that amusing. The DMW also has Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs) in cities where we do not have embassies and consulates. Their posted people there are called POLO officers, an invented title that is not recognized by the other foreign missions in those countries. Technically, the host countries could give “Consular Commissions” to the representatives of foreign countries provided that they are physically assigned to a Consulate or to a Consulate General. Since we do not have these offices in places where there are big Filipino populations, the solution could be to put up “Consular Agencies” in those places, like what the United States has done in Cebu City. That way, we could assign real consular ranks to the representatives of both DOLE and DMW, and they could function properly. IKE SENERES/2-29-24

BIGGER BUDGETS FOR BIODIVERSITY MANAGEMENT

What used to be known as the Parks and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) has been renamed as the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB), but it has been retained as an agency under the DENR. I think that it is a good move to change the name, but what would have been a better move was to increase its budget, considering that it now has a bigger scope of responsibilities. Although it is difficult to argue that wildlife protection is more important than health, education and national defense for example, it could also be argued that our flora and fauna are part of our national patrimony and our national identity. What that means is that if we lose these two, we may lose our sense of being a unique people. Aside from the sentimental side, there is also a practical side to this, because our natural ecosystems are part of our overall food security, because if our environment is destroyed, we may not be able to produce food at all. Let us not also forget that the destruction of our natural environment has an impact on our climate security. I know for a fact that in many countries, wildlife protection agencies are able to reverse the numbers of many animals from near extinction to relatively safe levels. Some have even managed to find animals that have been thought to be extinct, but were actually still in the wild. Can anyone suggest which species we should prioritize? IKE SENERES/ 02-28-2024

MANAGING THE SCIENCE OF GENOME SEQUENCING

The good news is, the Philippines has already established a Philippine Genome Center (PGC). The bad news is, if we can call it that, it is a relatively small research facility under the University of the Philippines (UP), meaning that it is solely dependent on the budget of UP, and it probably is not getting any other support from the government, other than what UP gets from Congress through the General Appropriations Act (GAA). Although I might be coming from the left field, I am going to argue that the Philippines can become one of the topnotchers in scientific research in certain fields, even if we have become the “topnotchers” in certain fields such as the slowness of our traffic flows and the volumes of our contributions to the plastic wastes in our oceans. While some other countries might have become topnotches in the positive fields because of their financial capital, we still could compete with them because we do have a wealth of human capital and because of our outstanding scientists, many of whom have been globally recognized for their inventions and innovations. Even if genome sequencing or DNA sequencing could be a force for good, it could become a force for evil if it is not properly managed. That is the reason why I say that we should already create the policies and the regulatory frameworks to manage this science as early as possible. IKE SENERES/02-27-2024

CLAIMING OUR EXTENDED CONTINENTAL SHELF

According to Bard AI, the extended continental shelf (ECS) refers to the portion of the continental shelf that extends beyond the 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of a coastal state. In other words, it is the underwater landmass that continues past a country’s existing maritime borders. The legal basis for defining and acknowledging both the EEZ and the ECS is derived from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Because of that, there should be no problem in asserting our own ECS claims, not unless some errant states would also file counter claims that would certainly be baseless. Russia, Australia and Brazil have some of the biggest ECS claims, with 7.0, 5.6 and 4.5 million sq. km. respectively. The United States of America (USA) has already established its ECS claim at 1.0 million sq. km. There is a possibility however that the USA claim could go as high as 5.1 million sq. km., thus making their new territory slightly bigger than Alaska. The USA claim is being handled by the US Department of State, the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). That gives us an idea that our task force for our own ECS claim should be led by our Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the National Mapping and Resource Information Agency (NAMRIA) and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). IKE SENERES/02-26-2024

ACQUIRING AND MANAGING EARTHQUAKE DATA

To buy or to build. That is the classic question in technology management. Before asking that question however, the data host entity which could either be a government agency or a private company has to ask themselves how much money is already available or could potentially be made available, based on an objective needs analysis. In the case of acquiring and managing earthquake data however, it would be fair to assume that since we are talking about saving lives and property, whatever money is already available will probably be not enough, and there would always be a need to make more money available. There is surely no question whether it is needed or not. To buy or to build involves either buying data that is already commercially available, or to build the infrastructure that could collect data from raw sources, for purposes of data consolidation and analytics, two back-to-back processes that would ultimately result in possessing data that could have been commercially bought. In the overall, I think it would be more practical to acquire data that is already available from both commercial and official sources, instead of building the infrastructure ourselves. The official sources could be tapped using diplomatic channels, under the aegis of economic diplomacy. We could start with techno-economic cooperation within the ASEAN, since we have common interests with all its members. IKE SENERES/02-25-24

ENFORCEMENT OF DISTRIBUTOR DATA LAWS

There is supposed to be a law that requires manufacturers and importers to place distributor information in all their retail packaging, but it seems that too many companies are getting away with not doing it, and as a result, it looks like there is a free-for-all out there in the retail markets, where anybody could just sell anything, and the consumers would not have a way of knowing where to go and what to do if they have some complaints. The way it looks now, it seems that nobody really knows and nobody really cares whether these laws are being enforced or not. I do care however, and I am sure there are thousands if not millions of other consumers who would care, if only they would know what to do and where to go, in case that they have complaints. I am also sure that there are many who care to know the country of origin of the retail products, and of course they would want to know which products are locally made in case they want to patronize our own local products. Of course, they also want to know whether these products are approved by the FDA, but that information is not always available. And by the way, this lack of enforcement could also make it easy for both smugglers and fakers to bring their goods into the retail markets without detection. And so, who is responsible for solving this problem? Is it the BOC? Or the DTI? I think that the retailers should also do something. IKE SENERES/2-24-2024

BETTER FRONTLINE SERVICES BY THE GOVERNMENT

When I designed the original concept for the 8888 system, I envisioned it to be a 24x7 customer relations management (CRM) service not only for the Office of the President (OP), but also for the entire executive branch of the government. As a CRM service, I envisioned 8888 to function like a one-stop-shop, wherein anyone could be able to contact the government, at any time, from anywhere, using any device. To cut a long story short, my concept was implemented during the previous term, but my design was not completed in its entirety. As a result, the government does not have a system now that enables anyone to contact them at any time, from anywhere, using any device. To be fair, the existing 8888 system may be contacted via email, via text and via phone calls, but the texting system rejects texts that are less than 200 characters. There are also not enough phone lines and phone operators who could process the high volume of calls. In my original design, text messages could be received from 1 up to 160 characters, and we had planned about 200 phone operators with sufficient lines. Because of my desire to develop a system that could supplement 8888, I developed the Citizen’s Automated Response and Listing Organization (CARLO), a web-based and browser-based system that would enable any citizen to ask questions, express opinions, submit requests, ask for assistance and answer surveys, and it works 24x7. IKE SENERES/09088877282/2-23-24

INTERNAL CONFLICTS OF INTERESTS

Internal conflicts of interests within government agencies does not seem to be recognized as a problem yet, that is why I have decided to write about it, to get the ball rolling, so to speak. To be more specific, I am talking about conflicts between the developmental functions of government agencies on one hand, and their regulatory functions on the other hand. My first example is the Cooperative Development Agency (CDA). As its name suggests, it is supposed to be a development agency, but then it is also loaded with plenty of regulatory powers, some might even say that the latter seems to be getting more attention than the former. In more ways than one, this is really stunting the development of cooperatives. My second example is the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA). Again, as its name suggests, it is supposed to be a development agency, but right now, its time and attention is fully invested on controlling the traffic and cleaning up the garbage, short term goals that are less meaningful than its long-term development goals. My third example is the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA). Again, as its name suggests, it is supposed to be a development agency, but it seems that we do not hear much about their development related functions. Instead, we hear more of their regulatory functions. Laguna Lake is supposed to be our long-term source of food and water, but are we making any progress in these development goals? IKE SENERES/2-22-24

LET’S STRENGTHEN LOCAL POLICE

As stated in the charter of the PNP, it is supposed to be national in scope, and civilian in character. I think that it has already accomplished the first part, but it still has to do a lot of work for the second part. Sad to say, there are still some remnants of a military culture within the PNP, but I am still hopeful that over the years, it can eventually achieve full civilianization as it is supposed to do. As far as I can recall, the PNP is already supposed to move away from using military uniforms and military ranks by now, but it seems that it is still not being done fully. Why is it important for them to do that? Why do we still allow the PNP to keep on militarizing itself? The answer to that is very simple. Because that is what the law says, and that is what we must do. In the United States, it is a big issue not to allow local police to acquire military grade equipment, even surplus equipment that is available in the local market. Why is that so? The answer to that is very simple. Military is military, and civilian is civilian, and clear boundaries have to be drawn between the two. At the risk of stating the obvious, the PNP is a civilian agency, period. I do not know exactly how much budget the PNP is getting from Congress, but whatever it is, it should be increased so that it could fully perform its functions as a nationwide civilian agency. By doing that, it will become more independent from the LGUs that are partially funding it now. IKE SENERES/02-21-2024

KICK STARTING AN INNOCENCE PROJECT

I am kick starting an Innocence Project in the Philippines, with the goal of freeing those who have been wrongly convicted. This is actually not a new idea, this was probably started in the United States about forty years ago, but sad to say, it has not yet reached our shores until now, that is. As of now, we have already formed an organizing committee composed of the DNA Analysis Laboratory under the UP-College of Science (UPCS), the PNP Forensic Group, the UP-Sigma Rho Fraternity (SRF) and the UP-Law Karapatan ng Komunidad sa Loob ng Selda (KAKOSA). We still have to formally invite the UP-College of Law, and we are also in the process of accepting the Philippine Law School-College of Law. DNA analytics is going to be the main technology that will be used for this project. It is such an exact science, and by using DNA evidence, it could be proven without any doubt that a convict in prison is actually innocent, and therefore he or she should be released. Conversely, DNA evidence could also be used to convict those who are guilty. Joining our organizing committee is Dr. Maria Corazon de Ungria of UPCS, Atty. Leonardo de Vera, Mr. Rick Rocamora and Mr. Lino Atienza of SRF and Col. Reynaldo Calaoa of PNP, assisted by Lt. Col. Thess Bodo. The way this project is shaping up, we are probably going to invite many legal minds, starting with the SRF lawyers. We will also need more technical experts, who will probably come from UPCS, PNP and KAKOSA. IKE SENERES/02-20-2024

DAILY TESTING OF WATER SAFETY

I have already written about water safety for many times, but I will not stop doing it, and I will keep doing it, because water security is very important to us. Water security is part of food security, and water security is also part of health security. At a higher level, it is actually part of national security. In a previous essay, I wrote about the existing practice of bi-annual or annual testing of water safety. In that essay, I argued that water testing should be done weekly, and if possible, daily. Who should be doing the regular inspections? I know that the water concessionaires are doing it, and the DOH is also doing it. But in addition to that, I think that the LGUs should also do it. Some could argue that the LGUs could probably not afford to buy the equipment to do it, but what is the price of human life and public safety? If the LGUs could not afford to buy this equipment on their own, they should just provide incentives to the private companies within their jurisdictions. That way, these companies could become their service providers. Assuming that the LGUs could not decide on their own whether to buy this equipment or not, then the civil society should already enter the picture in order to convince their elected officials to do so. After all, there are provisions in the law for representatives of the civil society to attend council meetings. If that does not work, then the civil society could initiate a signature campaign for a people’s initiative. Yes, a people’s initiative can be done at the LGU level! IKE SENERES/2-19-24

BIOENGINEERED FOOD INGREDIENTS

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, bioengineered food is defined as food that “contains detectable genetic material that has been modified through certain lab techniques that cannot be created through conventional breeding or found in nature” . Bioengineered foods are also known as genetically modified organisms (GMOs). This is quoted directly from Microsoft Bing Chat. So why the subterfuge? Since it is actually GMO, why go around the bush and call it another name? The problem is, most people do not understand what “bioengineered” means, even those who are strongly opposed to GMOs. Actually, some people are allergic to GMOs! The problem here is the poor enforcement of packaging and labeling laws. I would imagine that before an imported product lands on the grocery shelves, they have to pass through the scrutiny of the Bureau of Customs (BOC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Bureau of Import Services (BIS) under the DTI. Aside from that, they have to be inspected by the grocery owners. But why is it that nobody notices this sleigh of hand to pass off a GMO product? By now, the battle against GMO might already be lost, but still, consumers have a right to know what they are buying and eating. However, consumers can still fight back by growing their own food, and that is already happening all over the world. If you want, I can connect you. IKE SENERES/02-18-2024

THE BROKEN WINDOWS THEORY

According to Wikipedia, “In criminology, the broken windows theory states that visible signs of crime, antisocial behavior, and civil disorder create an urban environment that encourages further crime and disorder, including serious crimes.[1] The theory suggests that policing methods that target minor crimes such as vandalism, loitering, public drinking, jaywalking, and fare evasion help to create an atmosphere of order and lawfulness”. The layman interpretation of the theory states that if there is even one broken window in a neighborhood, and it is not fixed, it could trigger the creation of other broken windows that could eventually lead to the deterioration of the community. The first lesson here is to stop early signs of vandalism before it spreads and worsens. The second lesson here is for police departments to become more vigilant in monitoring and detecting early signs that would indicate that the conditions for crime might already be growing or emerging in a neighborhood or community, instead of waiting for the actual crimes to happen, before they would take action. The broken windows theory also applies to the preservation of real estate values. What that means is that the more deteriorated and vandalized a neighborhood is, the more likely that the real estate prices will go down. The safer the community is, the more housing starts there will be, and the more that the economy will grow. IKE SENERES/02-17-2024

PROTECTION OF HERITAGE BUILDINGS

According to Microsoft Bing, “The National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009 is a Philippine law that aims to protect and conserve the country’s cultural heritage . The law created the Philippine Registry of Cultural Property (PRECUP), which is responsible for identifying, documenting, and protecting cultural properties that are at least 50 years old . The law also mandates the establishment of a National Cultural Heritage Committee that will oversee the implementation of the law and the preservation of cultural heritage sites “. Since the law is very clear that buildings that are at least 50 years old could not be demolished or torn down, why is it that some heritage or cultural buildings are still being torn down? One example of this is the iconic Philam Life Building in Ermita, Manila. It is about 60 years old, but the new owner, SM Development Corporation (SMDC) has apparently started tearing down the building, supposedly due to their plans to build a condo on that same site. However, there are also news reports that SMDC has “promised” to preserve the Philam Life Theater itself, being a classic architectural wonder on its own. I am told that the quality of acoustics is so high inside such that so far, it has not been surpassed by the newer and more modern theaters in the country. I hope that it is not too late already, but perhaps SMDC could look into “adaptive” use, which is the popular trend in Europe. Preserve the old building, but give it a new use. IKE SENERES/09088877282/02-16-2024

JEEPNEY TRANSPORT COOPERATIVES

We hear so much about “jeepney consolidation” but I think that instead of focusing on that, we should focus on “cooperative formation”, and by that, I mean the formation or the strengthening of transport cooperatives. To me, that sounds like a cause-and-effect relationship, and by that, I mean that cooperativism should be the cause, and consolidation should be the effect. Long before the idea of “jeepney consolidation” came along, there are many transport cooperatives already, and many of them already own and operate jeepney units. As the saying goes, “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it”. And by that, I mean that we should have just encouraged the adoption of more jeepney units, but owned and managed by transport cooperatives. Strictly speaking, it does not even have to be transport coops at all, because it can just be any cooperative that is already selling all kinds of products and services, and all they have to do is to add jeepney operation as another service. That is so simple and easy to do, and any coop can do that. I am wondering why the jeepney drivers have to be forced to go into consolidation, if it is going to be profitable to them, meaning that they can make more money out of it. And if they can be offered friendly and affordable financing packages, there should be no need to force them also to buy in. but the good news is, many coops can afford to finance their own projects, if and when profitable. IKE SENERES/02-15-2024

CONTROLLING SPAMS AND SCAMS

There is a big difference between spams and scams. There is really no hard and fast definition, but I would liken spams to a wrongdoing, and scams to a sin. Another way to define it is to say that a spam is a misdemeanor, while on the other hand, a scam is a crime. Right now, there are no clear rules that could be used in controlling spams, except of course that the “victims” could report the “perpetuators” to the service providers, and the later could either suspend or cancel their accounts. Right now, there is also no real clear distinction between what is a spam and what is not, because some legitimate messages could also be mistaken as spam. What is clear however is a scam is identifiable, and there are enough government agencies that are tasked to enforce the laws that are regulating them. There are enough yes, but some scammers might still be able to get away if there are cracks or gray areas between the functions of two or more government agencies. Generally speaking, most of the scams would fall under the jurisdiction of the DTI, because the victims of the scammers are almost always the consumers of goods and services. There could however be some gray areas or overlaps in the case of some technical services such as mobile and internet services, wherein the jurisdiction could be under the NTC or the DICT. As far as I know however, they are coordinating with each other. IKE SENERES/02-14-2024

LAPSES IN WATER SECURITY

There is no way around it, because for sure, lapses in water security could lead to problems in food security. Of course, it is true that water is life, but water is also necessary to produce the food that sustains human life. A perfect example of this is the cooking of rice. You might already have the rice grains, lots of it, but you cannot cook it if you do not have lots of water. In a recent incident in Baguio City, several people including some tourists fell ill supposedly because of contaminated water. The good news it, it was not the tap water that was contaminated. What was reportedly contaminated was the water that was delivered by the water trucks. The bad news is that there seems to be no system to monitor the safety of water delivered by way of these trucks. In a previous article, I already wrote about the need to regularly monitor the safety of both tap water and bottled water. I was able to confirm that there is now a system in place to monitor these two water sources, although the inspection schedules are not as frequent as I wanted it to be. Apparently, the inspection of water trucks is not included in this system. What happened in Baguio City should be a wake-up call for all of us that not only should we include the safety of tap water and bottled water more frequently, we should now also include the inspection of trucked water. To add to that, we should now transfer the function of water safety to the LGUs, under the direct supervision of the DILG. IKE SENERES/02-13-2024

USING TECHNOLOGY FOR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

Many years ago, the government bought an imported traffic control and management system, hoping perhaps that it could provide magical solutions to the problem of slow traffic flows in Metro Manila. By now, that system is probably gone, but the problem of slow traffic flows is still here. The MMDA has announced that the problem of slow traffic flows is caused by too many vehicles on the road. They could be partially correct, but I think that the volume of vehicles is only one of the causes. The proof of that is that there are many other cities in the world that have more vehicles on the road than we do, but their traffic flows are faster than ours. In fairness to the MMDA, they could actually speed up the flow of traffic by reducing the volume of vehicles, but that is only a partial solution. Even if there are lesser vehicles on the road, the traffic flows would still be slower if the bad habits of many drivers will not change, such as taking over incoming lanes and overtaking in the wrong places. To echo what the MMDA is saying, I believe that the problem is not just the volume of vehicles, but also the number of errant drivers and the number of those violating the traffic laws. In other countries, these violators are identified and these names are included in databases that could be the basis for increasing their insurance rates or cancelling their driver’s licenses. The LTO should also become stricter in issuing and renewing these driver’s licenses. IKE SENERES/09088877282/02-12-2024

LET’S SUPPORT GLOBAL FILIPINO MOVIES

A few Filipino movies have made it to the Netflix movie streaming platform. I have seen most of them, and I would say that they are world class, meaning that they are as good as any other movies shown in Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime and all other streaming platforms. I have observed that many of the movies that are shown on these platforms were made with the support of their national film development agencies, such as our own Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP). It’s either I missed the movie credits at the end of the films, but I do not remember seeing the name of the FDCP in any of the Filipino films shown on Netflix. In fairness to the FDCP, I do not think that they lack the interest to support the production of Filipino movies for global release. Obviously, what they are lacking in is the funding to do it, and that is a problem that only the Congress can solve. But to begin with, what is needed perhaps is a change of perspective, meaning that our lawmakers should realize that spending for the production of world class movies is an investment, and not a one-way expense. While waiting for the support of Congress, perhaps the Office of the President (OP) could invest in the FDCP, since it is directly under the OP. but the first thing that the people in the OP should do is to watch all of those movies that have been globally released so far, to convince them. IKE SENERES/2-11-24

FUNCTIONS OF THE PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) is a civilian law enforcement agency that is attached to the Department of Transportation (DOTr). It is tasked with (1) enforcing laws within Philippine waters, (2) conducting maritime security operations, (3) safeguarding life and property at sea, and (4) protecting the marine environment and maritime resources. The PCG used to be a military organization under the Philippine Navy (PN), but was converted to a civilian agency when it was attached to the DOTr instead. That is the reason why some remnants of its military past still linger in the PCG, including the wearing of military uniforms and the adoption of military ranks. I am very happy about the fact the fourth function of the PCG is very clear, and that there are supposed to be no gray areas whatsoever. True enough, there are no gray areas, but there are some overlaps with the functions of other civilian agencies, particularly in the case of environmental protection. As I understand it, the term “Philippine waters” could be interpreted to mean not only the coastal areas, but also the lakes and rivers. Just as an example, it should be the function of the PCGs to protect mangrove trees and forests not only near the seas, but also near the lakes and the rivers. There is a gray area in the case of mangrove trees. Technically, these trees are not under the DENR, and not under the DA. Ideally, it should be under the BFAR through the DA, but that is not the case. This is where the PCG can come in to help. IKE SENERES/02-10-2024

AN INVASION OF ARMY WORMS

I prefer not to point fingers and throw blame in the midst of a national problem, but there is something that I want to clarify first of all, before we proceed with the discussion of this topic. I want to be clear about the fact that army worms (harabas) are in truth and in fact invasive species, and we failed to detect them when they first arrived, and worst than that, we also failed to stop them when they started spreading. As a matter of fact, we did not hear any announcements from the government about their arrival, and we only knew about their presence in their country when they started devastating the crops of our farmers. We also did not hear from the government about how the possible ways that these pests could have been stopped, since science is now telling us that these are controllable. I do not want to play the game of “I told you so”, and that is why at this early stage, I want to send the message to the government to become more serious and become stricter in finding and eradicating all kinds of invasive species, and that means both flora and fauna, both plants and animals, including invasive marine life of course. Which agency should be responsible in finding and eradicating these invasive species? I say that the LGUs should always take the lead at the local level, supported by the DILG, and backed up by DA, the DENR and the DOST. We should declare an all-out war against these alien invaders. IKE SENERES/02-09-2024

BUYING PLASTIC WASTE BY THE KILO

Desperate times call for new ideas, some of which might sound stupid or ridiculous. As there seems to be no solution to the problem of what to do with plastic waste, I am proposing this new idea of buying and selling plastic waste by the kilo. Since there are too many types and sizes of plastic, it would be very difficult to assign a different buying and selling price to each type or size, hence the idea of using kilograms as a measure. Of course, this idea will not work if there is no market for plastic waste, so what needs to be done is to create the legal basis for the buying and selling. In effect, the legal basis will create the market for the plastic waste. In practical terms, it could mean giving incentives to companies that would buy these goods, including the existing junk shops. I do not have the data with me right now, but I think that the small sachet packaging of many household products could account for the bulk of waste plastic that are not collected and recycled. The grand irony here is that while the poor people may be the ones buying these sachets, they are the ones who suffer most from a polluted environment. Generally speaking, sachets are just part of a bigger category of waste known as one-way plastic. While some of these plastics may be recyclable, that could not happen if these are not collected in the first place. And the only way to ensure that these are collected is to assign an economic value to it. This could be a way to encourage recycling. IKE SENERES/2-8-24

TOWARDS A BIGGER FEED IN TARRIF FUND

Maintaining a Feed-in- Tariff (FIT) program is a good idea, even if the system has some weak points as of now. The main idea behind FIT is to encourage the development of more energy through renewable sources such as wind, hydro and solar. That is the upside. The downside, which is the weak point right now, is that the funds to enable FIT comes from additional fees that are collected from electricity consumers. Because of the existing source of funds, it has in effect become a damn if you do, damn if you don’t situation. That is so because electricity consumers are happy when FIT collections are suspended because their electricity costs go lower in the short run, but actually they should be unhappy because it will eventually make their electricity costs go higher in the future, if and when renewable energy sources are not developed. I think that the solution to this problem is plain and simple. Instead of getting the money from the electricity consumers, the government should just allocate more funds for this purpose through the General Appropriations Act (GAA), perhaps giving the additional budgets to the DOE. I think that the Congress should do some pencil pushing so that they could discover through macroeconomic analysis that the economy could benefit more in the long run if renewable energy development would have its own funding source rather than getting it due to some kind of a penalty clause. This is actually a cost and benefit analysis. IKE SENERES/02-07-2024

QUESTIONING SENIOR DISCOUNT RULES

The recent incident involving a Starbucks store deciding on their own about what discounts to give to senior citizens is a wake-up call. I am sure that it is not the only Starbucks that is playing with the rules, so to speak. We are lucky that someone caught them in the act and reported them on social media. Otherwise, they could have gone on and on without anyone of us knowing about it. It seems to me that even if the laws are in black and white, the bad faith of some companies would give them the motivation to play tricks on their customers. What surprises me however, is how the netizens have reacted to this violation, and it seems that it will not be easy to appease them. The proof of that is the netizens are demanding that a lawsuit be filed against the Rustans Group, the owner of Starbucks, saying that an apology is not enough. Congressman Joey Salceda even suggested that Starbucks should give free coffee and pastries to the citizens, but it seems that would not be enough either. Which agency should take the lead in making sure that the laws pertaining to senior citizen’s discounts are strictly implemented? Should it be the DTI or the DILG? I think that the latter should implement it through the LGUs, with the close monitoring and supervision of the National Commission of Senior Citizens (NCSC). In fairness to the NCSC, they are under staffed and underfunded, and that is one problem that the Congress has to solve. IKE SENERES/09088877282/02-06-2024

PROTECTION FROM ONLINE CRIMES

www.legaldictionary.net defines cybercrime as “any criminal activity that entails the use of a computer system, computer technology, or the internet”. As someone who is familiar with computers, I would say that that definition also covers mobile phones, because these are basically small computers also. It would also cover any activity that is offline, as long as a computer or a mobile phone is used. www.uslegal.com defines a computer as “a device that computes, often a programmable machine, which can perform a programmed list of instructions and respond to new instructions given to it”. My own definition is much simpler. I define a computer as any device that has a processor, a display and a keyboard or keypad. Whenever we talk about computers, it is implied that one way or the other, the DICT, the NTC, the DTI and the DOST would be involved. However, whenever we talk about crime, it is also implied that the DOJ, the DILG, the NBI and the PNP would be involved. In layman’s language a crime is just like any other crime, except that it becomes a cybercrime whenever a computer is used, in whatever way. With all the many government agencies involved in enforcing cybercrime laws, how do we ensure the protection of our citizens against these crimes? As far as I am concerned, I would always say that the LGUs should take the lead, under the supervision of the DILG, assisted by the other agencies. IKE SENERES/02-05-2024

LASER POWERED MICROSCOPES

As viruses and bacteria become more complex and more sophisticated, there is now a need for more advanced laser powered microscopes and supercomputers, and there are no other ways around that. Old equipment that we have been using over the years could probably still work, but are no longer accurate and are rather slow. The choice is very clear. Either we buy the new equipment or not. If we don’t, our analysis of viruses and bacteria will always be slow and inaccurate. Never mind the slowness, but we can not do away with accuracy, because the readings will be useless if these are not on the spot. In technology, it is always a balance between speed and accuracy. While some might argue that this equipment is too expensive and is perhaps not affordable, I will argue on the other hand that there is no price to the human life that could be saved or lost, depending on which way it will go. Add to that the disruption in social life that epidemics and pandemics can cause. Perhaps before, the need for this equipment was occasional, but that is no longer the case nowadays. For example, many viruses are constantly mutating, and therefore we need to know what their characteristics are, as soon as possible. Not knowing the new mutations of these viruses would mean our not knowing what to do, as fast as possible. This is a matter of life and death. IKE SENERES/09088877282/02-04-2024

GOVERNMENT SHOULD LEAD IN USING BIOFUELS

As the collective owner of one of the biggest transportation fleets in the country, the government should take the lead in using biofuels in all of their vehicles. And I do not just mean the vehicles of the executive branch, I also mean the vehicles of the judicial and the legislative branches. As far as I know, there is really nothing wrong with our local biofuels, including our biodiesels. The problem I think is economic rather than scientific, because as of now, the regular diesel product that is derived from fossil fuels is cheaper than the biodiesels. I do not know which agency of the government could do it, but I think that if a macroeconomic study is done, it would come out that in the overall, it would be cheaper to use biodiesels compared to the regular diesel fuels. What macroeconomic costs and benefits should we consider? First in my list is the livelihood opportunities it would create if more coconut farmers could sell more of their produce. Second is the potential savings in foreign exchange if we could reduce the imports of foreign fuels. Third is the job opportunities it would create in the local manufacturing of biodiesels. Fourth would be the reduction of our carbon footprints as we reduce the importation of the foreign fuels. The list could go on and on but what is important is the real awareness that we should not limit ourselves to myopic microeconomic analysis to arrive at the real costs of these fuels. IKE SENERES/02-03-2024

COOPERATION IN WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT

As I understand it, the DENR has jurisdiction over mangrove trees, and not the DA. That is probably due to their understanding that mangroves do not produce fruits and are therefore not part of food security targets. It therefore goes without saying that all trees that do not produce fruits or do not have edible portions are also not part of food security. If that is the case, then both the DENR and the DA would need to come up with a database that will show which is which. Just to be clear, wildlife could mean both flora and fauna and, in that sense, mangrove trees are generally part of wildlife, although there are already mangrove forests that are artificially or commercially planted. Although mangrove trees do not directly produce food, these trees are the reason why more fish, crabs and shrimps are harvested where they grow. My purpose in writing this is to encourage all concerned national government agencies (NGAs) and LGUs to work together more and coordinate more in protecting our wildlife, especially when there are overlaps in jurisdictions and whenever it is not clear who does what. Rather than allow gray areas in jurisdictions to cause confusion as to who does what, I suggest that the LGUs should take the lead, with the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) of the DENR and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) of the DA providing the supports, possibly with the assistance of the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) under DA. IKE SENERES/02-02-24