Fight corruption! Practice good governance!

For our special topic on tonight's talkshow Straight from the Sky, we give you another discussion on Good Governance. We've always demanded the eradication of corruption, but if you didn't know, the opposite of corruption is Good Governance and it is time for both the government and private sector to really focus on doing Good Governance practices in their companies or offices.

To give us their insights on how to usher Good Governance in your own offices or businesses, we have with us Mr. Ruben Almendras, former chairman of the Metropolitan Cebu Water District and currently an independent director of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. and Mr. Antonio Pineda, general manager of Isuzu Motors, Cebu, Inc.

Both our guests are deep into the practice of Good Governance and we hope that by their appearance on our show, our televiewers would realize the importance of Good Governance in our fight against the cancer of corruption. See them tonight on SkyCable's channel 15 at 8:00 p.m.

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Since we've already started the ball rolling on Good Governance, let me go further by giving our readers a complete background of what kind of animal this is. For this exercise, I searched the Internet (one doesn't really have to go to school to know more about Good Corporate Governance, just go to the Internet) and got a definition of Good Governance from the context of the United Nations UN and allow me to reprint what they have printed.

"The concept of "governance" is not new. It is as old as human civilization. Simply put "governance" means: the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented). Governance can be used in several contexts such as corporate governance, international governance, national governance and local governance.

Since governance is the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented, an analysis of governance focuses on the formal and informal actors involved in decision-making and implementing the decisions made and the formal and informal structures that have been set in place to arrive at and implement the decision.

Government is one of the actors in governance. Other actors involved in governance vary depending on the level of government that is under discussion. In rural areas, for example, other actors may include influential landlords, associations of peasant farmers, cooperatives, NGOs, research institutes, religious leaders, finance institutions political parties, the military etc."

For years, we've chastised many government offices for being so corrupt, yet, like in the Bureau of Customs, but unfortunately most of its clients are more comfortable in dealing with corrupt government bureaucrats than those honest ones, simply because they find more profit with the corrupt on a per product basis than if they paid their taxes honestly. Very clearly, if our business leaders practiced Good Governance in their businesses, then they would never allow themselves to negotiate with corrupt bureaucrats.

Basically, those who practice Good Governance are people who follow the rule of law, show transparency and allow for participatory management with their workers. We can see this in the way most families handle their businesses, especially when their enterprises grow into a big family corporation. Usually, the eldest son is given the helm of the business who more often than not also passes down the helm of their family business also to his eldest son. But then, this practice is wrong especially if the eldest son was a spoiled brat who being the son of a rich man didn't care to go to school. This is where professional managers come into play, but they often get entangled with the unqualified member of the family.

But today, most big corporations in this country are still basically family-owned businesses. The Ayala Corporation, SM ShoeMart or the Gokongwei group are good examples where there are more professional managers than family managers. Here in Cebu, our best example is the Aboitiz Corporation, whose official motto is, "Passion for Better Ways" where Good Governance is practice from the CEO down to the lowest ranked employee.

I recall hearing one speech of Jon Ramon Aboitiz President and CEO of Aboitiz Corp. where he quoted his grandfather, Don Ramon Aboitiz who once said, "The biggest fortune I have is my word and reputation, money can be lost and can be recovered, but once your name and reputation is lost, and one's word is worthless -one is surely finished!" Don Ramon's stirring words was true during his time and it's just as true today.

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