Mind your own business, not ours

People ask me what can be done about the current political crisis or what has to happen in order for the economy to recover and the Philippines to rise from our broken state of affairs.

Everyone has an answer. Some say we need “moral recovery;” we need to stop electing corrupt politicians. We need to put a stop to corruption altogether, educate young Filipinos better.

 Others suggests eliminating Congress or shutting down the Senate or both. In addition to that, no less than President Bongbong Marcos has expressed the need to downsize or right size the government bureaucracy.

 Another solution that people and politicians keep toying with is the idea of changing the form of government from democratic presidential form to a parliamentary form of government. Marcos Sr. played with the idea.

 When Rodrigo Duterte became president, he acted like he really wanted a change in the Constitution that would eventually result in a parliamentary government. Unfortunately, he lost interest in it. 

During an impromptu lunch with regular people who have small property investments or small businesses, someone asked, what about another People Power?Would it still be possible? Could it happen?

I said it was highly unlikely. To begin with, if the original version failed while version 2 just gave power to the wrong set of politicians, why would version 3 succeed? People Power 1 was for all intents and purposes an uprising that targeted the Marcos family and their close supporters. Version 2 was to remove president Estrada. 

Filipinos simply wanted the Marcoses stripped of power and kicked out. Some may have wanted to do worse, but Filipinos don’t have a taste for blood.

 Everybody had different reasons and different motives for being involved, supporting or taking part in People Power. I dare say that the general sentiment was anger and less of patriotism, two very different things. The theme song of the uprising was “Ang bayan Ko” and not “Lupang Hinirang.”

 Because it was emotional, spontaneous and unorganized, it was only normal to end up as a half-cooked solution to the deeply rooted cancer of politics and corruption. Once the Marcos family and friends were kicked out, people had to go back to their poverty stricken, limited opportunity lives. Filipinos picked up the pieces to start again.

 Forty years later, we are on replay, repeat or flash back mode. For the Boomers it’s Groundhog Day, Philippine version. Same names, same rackets, same institutions, same crime, same poverty and grief.

The only difference is that the Senate and Congress are now “under” the executive department and the judiciary is in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. The worst part is that most Filipinos are now on survival mode, dealing with food inflation, transport and energy unaffordability and bundled taxation, leaving them with no time or strength to fight back.

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It’s bad enough that life is hard, products expensive and government only gives dole outs to the poorest of the poor. But aside from taxes, all government agencies take a cut from beginning to end when you start a business and then lets corrupt people steal it all!

 For instance, if you want to put up a business, you need to go to city hall or the LGU and apply for a permit. They then ask you to fill up a form and submit documents.

 That requires going to the DTI to apply for a business name, but first you have to get a barangay clearance and then a cedula and somewhere down the road, the BIR is expected to come in.

 Most micro/mini business owners believe that the good people at ARTA should, motu proprio or on their own initiative, study all these cancer-like multiplication of requirements and added costs.

But almost always, the ARTA will send people like me a love letter, asking for a specific matter, complaint, etc. If a person does so, he will have more headaches and problems than when he started.

 Don’t get me wrong, I like ARTA, and they do the work, but like I said, motu proprio will make a difference.

 Instead of requiring so many submissions and applications to this department and that department, ARTA and government offices should simply integrate one application form, one fee and one place for filing. 

Sending people from building to building to make sure each agency gets their cut or fees and making applicants their courier is worse than red tape. In Tagalog: Pinagperahan niyo na, pinapagod niyo pa!

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Recently, the Department of Energy has been sniffing out the independent solar power providers and users, talking about safety and regulation.

 Just to pacify the angry mob forming online, Secretary Garin now tries to differentiate between “off grid” installations and “on grid” or those who sell back electricity to Meralco. But it’s still regulation which means burden, added cost, delays – which defeat the very purpose of saving money on electricity bills.

Please, mind your own business, not ours. By this I mean focus on big ticket projects like generating power for the Visayas and Mindanao. Helping manufacturers and commercial establishments with affordable electricity.

 Stop picking on Filipinos who are already suffering from the failure and incompetence of government.