Strong lobby behind useless LTO drug test

In reaction to previous columns and opinions expressed by some of our readers, newly installed LTO Chief, Gen. Bobby Lastimoso said he has explored the possibility of suspending the implementation of the mandatory drug test for those applying for or renewing their driver’s license. But, he sadly reports, the DOTC top brass is not inclined to approve his recommendation because the lobby behind the useless drug test is very strong.

In fact, he said, they have been threatened with new anti-graft cases if they suspended the implementation of the rule. While the rule is based on a law passed by Congress, the mandatory testing is not specifically stated in the law. It can be argued that you don’t need a new law to junk the mandatory testing. But the easy money benefiting a few influential individuals will ensure that the bureaucracy will be too intimidated to scrap a senseless rule.

Explaining to us his dilemma over breakfast at the Edsa Shangri-La Tuesday Club, General Lastimoso said that the best he can do for the moment is to see to it that the testing centers do their job. Almost everyone at the long table who had experience with the new rule at LTO offices had some complaint to make.

A former top government auditor complained that he was not issued an official receipt. The BIR should monitor and collect proper taxes. Dirty urine containers and dirty comfort rooms were the common complaints, as was first made public by a daughter of our publisher. One of the club members whispered to me that a friend of his did not even bother giving his urine sample but merely paid the P300 fee.

General Lastimoso himself agrees that the rule will not create a dent in our anti-drug addiction drive. The test itself, the former PNP Director General pointed out, only screens shabu and marijuana users. Those using more powerful drugs, including cocaine will not be detected.

The General also admitted that the test has only come out with less than 300 positive results out of 10,000 tests in one LTO district. It is almost certain that of the positive results, a large number are false positives. In other words, it is a waste of money, like using a sledgehammer to kill a flea.

The General also wondered if the rule is anti-poor. He admitted that P300 for the test may be nothing for senior bureaucrats like himself but that’s a day’s work for a professional driver on minimum wage. That’s why they can’t raise the license fee, to begin with. Ate Glo and her band of pro-poor civil society braggarts should take note.

The new LTO Chief agreed with the unanimous suggestion of the club members that the test should be made mandatory only for those arrested for traffic law violations. But we can only dream on.

He didn’t say it in these words but we read between the lines that DOTC Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez is too scared to create powerful enemies from a vested interest group by suspending the rule. The DOTC Chief has enough enemies as it is. So, I guess, this is something for Malacañang to look into. In the meantime, let’s just hope Bobby Lastimoso is able to assure that this legalized racket does not look and smell too much like one.

SEC responds

SEC Chairman Lilia R. Bautista responded to our column last Monday on the need for a proactive stance from government regulators and also from private sector professionals to prevent a local version of Enron from exploding. Here is her e-mail.

We have taken steps to come up with a Code of Corporate Governance. We already held a public hearing on this and have received comments and suggestions to improve the Code. We would hope that your readers will likewise give their comments so we can have it out after the first quarter.

We also amended Rule 68 on the application of the international standards of accounting and have come up with the rules on accreditation of external auditors. They are all posted at our website (www.sec.gov.ph).

Finex called after reading your column and we will be calling a meeting with the association of listed companies maybe next month to take up the recommendation of a study group on the accounting profession and public companies.

Best regards.

It is definitely good to hear that the SEC is on the ball on this one. It is also good to hear that Finex has likewise started to react. Maybe, Finex should be joined by the normally noisy Makati Business Club, PICPA and the Management Association of the Philippines in taking steps to make sure investor confidence here is not tarnished by lack of transparency in corporate governance and by less than accurate financial statements.

These Makati organizations are quick to call for transparency in government and good governance. But now, in the post Enron environment, the ball is also in their court. Will the ubiquitous and loquacious Bill Luz be scarce and tongue-tied now that the focus is on corporate governance?

Abangan!

PNOC-EDC and EC

I got a weird e-mail from one of my former staff at PNOC, Debbie Diokno about my having attributed the Victoria drilling to PNOC-EC instead of PNOC -EDC. OK, I stand corrected, PNOC-EDC should get the credit and not EC.

I found the correction a little weird because they went to all the trouble of making it. From the sound of Debbie’s e-mail it seems that her bosses were agitated a lot by the mistake. As far as I am concerned, it was a small one, if at all. I thought it was an EC project simply because, doing that was an EC mandate, at least in our time. EDC was supposed to keep itself busy with geothermal and EC was concerned with petroleum, including natural gas.

I guess they now have little fiefdoms at PNOC and it is no longer as it was in our time when everything was really just PNOC and it didn’t matter much who got the credit so long as the work was done. I heard from the grapevine that due to the appointment of political personalities in the mother company as well as the subsidiaries, giving credit to the right little fiefdom matters.

Well, that’s a pity. Anyway Debbie, I made the correction as requested. The other correction can only come from Malacañang, if only because it appointed all those politicians and retired generals to the detriment of the career professionals. Too bad, the Secretary of Energy, good and highly competent as he is, does not have the personality nor the clout to tell these characters that there is only one boss in energy and that is he.

Family planning

Dr. Ernie E. e-mailed this one.

An American Indian boy goes to his mother one day with a puzzled look on his face.

"Say, mom, why is my bigger brother named Mighty Storm?"

She told him, "Because he was conceived during a mighty storm."

Then he asked, "Why is my sister named Cornflower?"

She replied, "Well, your father and I were in a cornfield when we made her."

And why is my other sister called Moonchild?" The mother said,

"We were watching the moon landing while she was conceived."

Mother Indian paused and asked her son, "Tell me, Torn Rubber, why are you so curious?

(Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected])