Changes that matter

Just how does this news on the lowering of interconnection rates for voice calls affect us? Well, if the lowering of interconnection rates represents a 40 percent decrease

from the usual charge, as what the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) claims, then we should expect retail rates for voice calls to be lowered by a minimum of about P1 per minute.

How do we translate this to our daily lives? For a simple messenger who makes calls totaling to 10 minutes all throughout the day, he actually will spend P10 less starting January 2017. This P10 can instead be used to buy two
big pieces of pandesal while caught in Metro Manila daily traffic.

This clearly illustrates how important the government’s move was in making the telcos agree to lowering their interconnection rates. Furthermore, the NTC stated that 48 percent of Filipinos still use feature mobile phones and still rely on traditional calls.

It’s safe to say that these Filipinos are most likely cost- conscious individuals since it’s either they cannot afford a more expensive phone or prefer to keep it simple. This
lowering of interconnection costs directly benefits this big segment of our society.

President Rodrigo Duterte and his telco regulator certainly know how to bring about a desirable and relevant change to people’s lives – and this they did at the soonest possible time. Much still needs to be done with the overall state of our telecoms.

But NTC was correct in saying that enjoying the new, lowered interconnection voice rates was just a first step in assuring good quality and affordable services for subscribers. This government is moving at an impressive pace to bring about meaningful changes. The least we could do is show our support and encourage it to do even more.

There is one that needs such strong push if its only given more impetus to the focused campaign of President Duterte to effectively cut down  – if not totally eliminate – the rising drug addiction problem in our country.

A Senate bill filed before the 17th Congress is seeking such a remedial legislation to correct the flawed campaign in addressing the drug addiction problem in the country. Currently mired by alleged extra-judicial killings or summary execution of illegal drugs suspects, President Duterte is indeed hard-pressed to solve the drug menace with firmness and strong hands.

But the effective ways to carry out this campaign are obviously hampered by institutional weaknesses in the existing bureaucracy.

Thus, the proposed Senate bill seeks to reorganize the Dangerous Drugs Board and Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency (PDEA). The proposed remedial legislation was filed by Senate majority leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III who is the principal author of Republic Act (RA) 9165, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

The proposed bill also seeks to rename PDEA into an Authority and the DDB subsumed into it as one agency that will be all placed under the Office of the President. Once transformed into a full-fledged Authority, the head of the PDEA will be a Cabinet-ranked Secretary who automatically becomes the alter ego of the President to carry out the mandated anti-drug tasks on a full-time and continuing basis.

Tito Sen, as he is fondly called by Senate reporters, disclosed his Senate bill has the full backing of President Duterte. Speaking at our weekly breakfast forum Kapihan sa Manila Bay last Wednesday, Sotto said President Duterte expressed his tacit support to his proposed Senate bill during their mini-LEDAC meeting held last month at Malacanang Palace. The LEDAC, or the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), is chaired by the President with key leaders of both the Senate and the House of Representatives as members.

After 14 years since the DDB/PDEA law was approved, Sotto noted with dismay the agency specifically created to conduct the government’s anti-drug mandate has not lived up to expectations. However, he admitted the PDEA’s effectiveness to wage the anti-drug has been debilitated through these years by institutional weaknesses caused by RA 9165 itself.

This is why, Sotto explained, he filed the remedial legislation to correct such institutional weaknesses and thus strengthen the government’s hands in the war against illegal drugs. RA 9165 mandated the government to “pursue an intensive and unrelenting campaign against the trafficking and use of dangerous drugs and other similar substances.”

As envisioned by this law, Sotto pointed out, it was supposed to keep up to date the anti-drug campaign of the government. This was originally spelled out in RA 6425, or the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972 when at that time shabu was categorized as “regulated” drug due to presence of substance methamphetamine, Sotto noted. It was repealed 30 years after by RA 9165.

The existing law established the DDB to be the policy- and strategy-making body to plan and formulate programs on drug prevention and control. The DDB, which is under OP, is composed of 17 members, including the chairman, with the rank of Secretary.

The same law created the PDEA to serve as the enforcement arm of the DDB, and is automatically part of the 17-member DDB. The DDB chair has a rank of Cabinet secretary while the PDEA Director General has the rank of undersecretary.

Sotto himself once served at the DDB during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from June 2008 to November 2009. The DDB is currently headed by Dr. Felipe Rojas Jr. whom President Duterte earlier named as chairman of the 17-man inter-agency body. President Duterte appointed retired police general Isidro Lapeña as PDEA director-general.

This is also one of the flaws of this law which Sotto wants to amend to lessen the 17-man Board. But the Board hardly meets, Sen. Sotto lamented.

His bill proposed to limit this to just seven, to include the Chairman and executive director and the five to represent the five pillars of the anti-drug campaign. He enumerated the five as follows: enforcement (PDEA); prosecution (Department of Justice); prevention (Department of Education); rehabilitation (Department of Health); and, alternative development (Departments of Labor, Industry and Agriculture).

There may be other changes that matter a lot to make the anti-drug war more effective, if not less deadly.