Supra/Mega region? Why not a federal state?

Today, there's a scheduled joint Cabinet meeting between the official family of Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) and the officials of the Regional Development Council in Region 7 (RDC-7). On the table, we're supposed to discuss the newly-concocted plan for a Mega or Supra Region. Supposedly, the Philippines would be broken into four separate Supra or Mega Regions so that it would enhance their economic growth.

While I'm not averse to this idea, my concern really is, will this really solve the problems that plague all these regions? If you ask me, the biggest problem we face in government today is its own bureaucracy where documents need to be approved in Manila, while many a Regional Director of National Government Agencies are merely glorified postmen! I have always maintained that the biggest culprit we face today is the present unitary or centralized form of governance. For as long as we are linked by a financial umbilical cord to Imperial Manila, nothing would really work to the advantage of any Mega or Supra regions.

It is for this reason why I earlier questioned, why doesn't the Arroyo Government make these four Supra/Mega into Federal States? Let's not beat around the bush here. Let's finally accept that if these Supra/Mega Regions can craft their own traffic laws, make their own license plates, issue driver's licenses within their turf and above all, collect taxes and revenues that would stay in that Supra/Mega Region, then folks, you can say that the Philippines is poised to compete not only with each other State or Regions, but with the rest of the globalize world. But while this is only my ten devalued centavos' worth of suggestion, I would be all-ears in this meeting; that's if it would push through at all.

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As we wrote last Tuesday, I was in Ubay, Bohol over the weekend visiting a friend's farm when last Sunday, I began experiencing difficulty in accessing the Globe Internet. It became worse when my cellphone too was having connection problems. Knowing that this part of Bohol was having trouble with roving bands from the New People's Army (NPA) where they once tried to sabotage the Transco submarine cable link between the Pres. Carlos P. Garcia Island link to Leyte, I thought that another Globe cellsite was being torched by the rebels.

The next day, I talked with my good friend, Jones Campos PR Division head of Globe Telecom and it turned out that there was a cable break in Panay that links to Luzon, so last weekend's technical glitch wasn't due to the NPA. Well, just a few days ago, the NPAs torched another Globe cellsite in San Isidro, Bohol which gives you the idea that Bohol isn't yet free from the clutches of the NPA terrorists.

Once again, we take issue of the fact that the NPA rebels only destroy Globe Telecom cellsites, while the cellsites of other cellular service providers (where often, these cellsites are placed not so far from each other) have always been spared. Perhaps it is time for military intelligence to figure out how to expose those businessmen that continue to fuel the Communist insurgency by paying "Revolutionary Taxes" to the NPA rebels.

Mind you, there is a law that says it is a criminal offense when you aid and abet criminals. So let me just say that the ball on this issue is now in the hands of the military to expose these companies in order to teach them a lesson and embarrass them in the eyes of the Filipino people for helping prolong the Communist insurgency instead of helping to end it. Now what about barangay officials who help the NPAs? I guess these cowards should also be pilloried and manacled and jailed for helping terrorists!

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The Ombudsman recommended the impeachment of Comelec Commissioner Resurrecion Borra over the scrapped P1.2 billion computer deal with the private consortium Mega Pacific eSolutions, Inc. Now the Commission on Elections made an en banc decision to file a motion for reconsideration insisting that there was no irregularity in the deal. Now wait a minute! Didn't Com. Borra question the Ombudsman decision asking why he was singled out on this decision when he wasn't alone when the poll body approved that deal?

This en banc motion for reconsideration filed by the Comelec is clear proof that the Comelec makes a collective decision and if something was amiss in that computer deal, it should be the entire Comelec Board that the Ombudsman should recommend for impeachment. I have never met Com. Borra, but I fully concur with him that he was singled out in this. So now the ball is in the court of the Ombudsman to explain to the Filipino people, why they only recommended the impeachment of Com. Borra and not the entire Comelec board. Let's hear it from the Ombudsman!

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