BB Virus infecting more people?

Could it be that more and more people are now infected by the highly volatile, and dangerous BB Virus? Is the BB Virus a low impact condition that disappears in time? Is the BB Virus really a seasonal condition that usually manifests itself during the last quarter of the year or during the stressful pre-election periods?

Just to reassure our readers and officials of the Department of Health, the BB Virus does not seem to infect or affect everyone. In all known and publicized cases the BB Virus cases have been observed to manifest only among high-ranking government officials and politicians and civil society leaders and leftist activists.

The most recent high profile cases that have been observed on the BB Virus were at the Philippine Senate where several Senators manifested the classic behavior of calling out names, insinuating suspicious conduct or interests and generally BLAMING BUSINESS for contradictions and conflicts affecting legislation and policy.

Among those known to have the BB Virus a.k.a BLAMING BUSINESS are Senators Serge Osmeña, Senator Antonio Trillanes, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and recently as reported in the news, Senator Ralph Recto. Osmeña has been quite vocal of his pursuit against Businessman Roberto Ongpin, Trillanes singled out businessman Manny Pangilinan as meddling in our Foreign Affairs policy, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile questioned the involvement and relationships between Big businessman and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Anti-smoking advocates in the Philippines, while Senator Ralph Recto was reported as calling the Sonny Belmonte Sin Tax version as the “Purisima-San Miguel” version.

I don’t know if I should heckle the behavior as caused by a virus or view it as what is “trending” in the Philippine Senate, but no matter what the cause, the tendency or behavior of BLAMING BUSINESS on the Senate floor is very alarming and a serious cause for concern. While many of us Filipinos are proactively trying to contribute in promoting the country as a tourism destination and investment point, our Senators should call a time out and reflect on this dangerous trend inside their hallowed halls. One of the reasons that businessmen hesitated to invest in the Philippines during the Arroyo administration was also because of so many Senate investigations and “interrogations” that went on in the fading years of GMA.

Perhaps, Senator Franklin Drilon who cautioned Enrile on the same, can call attention to the “trend” because it is counter productive to all the efforts being made by the PNoy administration to hype up the country to investors. What confidence and sense of privacy can businessmen feel in a country where investors and Flagship conglomerates become material for privilege speeches or press statements? Our Senators need to remind themselves that we are no longer an isolated nation of 7,100 islands. We are connected to the world and anything they say or do can and will be used against the country and its people. Privilege speeches and personal statements to the Press may represent personal sentiments, however, as senators, what they say can also be read as representative of policy, legislative agenda, or political reality. The problem with people who have the BB Virus is that in the end, they do more injury to the people were never infected and never blame business.

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I don’t know how Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon and President Noynoy Aquino will resolve the problem, but I just learned of a really weird situation concerning the Bureau of Customs in Davao.

Based on the coffee shop story, the Bureau of Customs in Davao has a strange setup established in the past administration where inspections of imported goods including X-ray, were done “outside” the port and off-premises of the BOC. In addition, the inspection facility is reportedly owned and managed by a private contractor associated with the GMA camp in Davao. The idea back then was that a “private contractor” would be less, or unlikely to conspire with smugglers because this would deny them a guaranteed business with government. Because the arrangement ultimately took a lot of pocket money from the insiders, my source told me that attempts were made to wrest the inspection and X-ray services from the private contractor. As expected, the private contractor took them to court and I guess things have been at a status quo.

Interestingly enough, there is now a new group of “genuine” PNoy supporters in Davao who presumably see a viable business opportunity and are now lobbying and trying to pressure BOC officials as well as Commissioner Biazon to bring in a new group to set up a new facility for X-ray and inspection. Some Customs people are now shaking their heads wondering whatever happened to the claims of the PNoy supporters that they only want to support PNoy? I guess it’s only human to want to get a return on your investment, right?

Personally, what Commissioner Biazon should do is to determine if it’s legal and an operationally accepted practice worldwide to have the critical X-ray and inspection process done off-site? To begin with, one would think that in terms of quarantine concerns, bio-security as well as efficiency, it would be best to keep the inspection and X-ray well within the BOC area inside the Davao port facility. Whether it’s privately or publicly managed, no imported goods should be allowed outside BOC facilities until after inspection and clearance.

Unless the private contractors are paying for all the needed equipment and facilities, I think it is counter productive to share government earnings with a private company all in the interest of preventing corruption. There are still many competent public servants at the BOC and if any money is to be made, the BOC should earn it and their employees should be the first to directly benefit from it. Only by giving them incentives can we motivate them to keep their integrity. Government services should not be transformed into a business opportunity for the private sector especially not for so-called supporters of administrations both past and present.