Privatization is right, but it’s an ugly word!

Last Saturday, The Philippine STAR came out with the news about that Social Weather Station (SWS) survey that showed that 16.7 percent of Filipino families went hungry in the last three months of 2005. Accordingly, the last survey showed figures of 16.1 percent in March 2001, while last August it was 15.5 percent. What does these surveys show? That many of our brethren have no food on the table or they have very little to eat. While this may be true in urban centers, I’m sure this is not true in the provinces where people have more than enough rootcrops to eat.

Perhaps one of the reasons why people in the urban centers are getting hungry is perhaps, they are saving up for their e-load. Indeed, we learned a few years back from my kids that their classmates with cellphones were saving up their baon to make sure that their cellphones had loads, even to the point of skipping class recess. This goes to show that Filipinos love to communicate with one another even if they have to go hungry just so they can keep in touch. It’s a strange phenomenon, but true.

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Cebu first district Rep. Eduardo Gullas has said that the government should seriously consider eventually assigning non-core, back-office operations to private business process outsourcing (BPO) providers, which is the current trend in private business, which allows for high productivity and efficiency. Gullas added, "Of the P1.04-trillion proposed 2006 budget, nearly 32 percent or P330.5 billion would be used to pay for the salaries and benefits of 980,000 government employees."

Finally, we have a congressman who is now championing BPO because this is already a worldwide trend. For instance, I know that many airlines, hotels and manufacturing companies here have already taken out their accounting departments. As part of the retirement package, the people working in those departments facing closure are given contracts to handle the same job that they have been doing for so many years. The difference now is that they are no longer employees of the company, but owners or stockholders of their new accounting firm.

The major difference in pursuing this scheme is that there’s no room for lazy bones because this time around, if you goof off, your own company loses. Today, there are just too many government employees working in national or local governments or in government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) and I dare say that many of these institutions can save millions, if not billions, if they follow the advice of Rep. Eddie Gullas.

At this point, I suggest that the Arroyo Cabinet issue guidelines on how government offices can approach BPO… that’s if they have completely understood the advantages of going into BPO. Doing so would certainly decrease the number of people working (or should I say milking?) the government and increase the number of new businesses in the year 2006. Incidentally, if you want to know why the economy of India has grown by leaps and bounds, it is because of BPO providers and call centers, which we already have.

While BPO is a good start for the government to start streamlining its operations… however, if the government wants to save some more money, the best option is to privatize many GOCCs. In his "Demand and Supply" column last Monday, our good friend Boo Chanco suggested, "Why not privatize the Manila Domestic Airport?" Ten years ago, this question was already asked of the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) whether it would be feasible or not. In truth, it is feasible, but we have to deal with the reality that "privatization" is an ugly word for government employees!

For as long as many government employees, especially those who are too lazy to heed the call to privatize, I don’t think we’ll ever get there. I recall more than a decade ago, the National Power Corp. (Napocor) privatized the Naga Thermal Plant… and many of us members of the Regional Development Council (RDC-7) were chastised by Napocor workers and pilloried in placards and on public radio fora. But the Napocor still went through with it… and Salcon Power was able to get the contract, absorbing all the government employees.

Years later, we still got no thanks from those employees who chastised us… but they are quietly happy that they get better work benefits that what the government could offer. Now what about the sequestered corporations like Channels 9 and 13 that should have been sold and privatized years ago, but their officers are using them as their personal milking cows? Why hasn’t the President sold them to private companies to rid the government of these "white elephants?"

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Come Jan. 21, the group that has been actively promoting the saving of endangered languages called Save our Languages through Federalism (SOLFED) will have a Roundtable Discussion on Federalism and Charter Changes at the Mango Park Hotel along Gen. Maxilom Avenue (Mango Avenue) Cebu City starting at 9 a.m. The meeting will map out various approaches to the House of Representatives and the Senate for a federalist agenda, especially on the proposed "People’s Initiative" through the barangays. This is the only concerted effort I know that is independent of Malacañang.

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Last Sunday afternoon, the big bikers of Cebu (from the motorcycle clubs Easy Riders, Recycle, Vog and Redeemers) came out with their motorcycles for the annual "Ride of a Lifetime" Big Bike run to greet some 80-plus orphans of Ms. Margot Osmeña’s Task Force Street Children for a Christmas and Three Kings treat.

First, they brought the kids to McDonald’s along Fuente Osmeña for some burgers and ice cream. Then the 80 or so big bikers paraded from Osmeña Boulevard to the Asiatown IT Park for a thrilling ride on their big motorcycles. It wasn’t really a huge affair, but it was more than enough for Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and his son, Miguel, to come out and share some fun with the kids they have grown to love and care. It was a simple affair, which the big bikers have learned to do every year for four years in a row.

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talkshow, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, at 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.