Intentional incompetence

Back during the Marcos time, a very patriotic but unemployed journalist found out that the rice being imported and sold to the government had a “patong” or add-on amount of P20 to every sack. The ex-journalist was so upset with the obvious kickback that he went to his senior “brod” in the fraternity, a General, to share what he had discovered. The ex-journalist was bent on exposing the whole thing by telling their even more senior brod, the President, about the whole scam.

After a week, word reached the General and the ex-journalist that the President knew of the “patong” and that it was “for a good cause.” That was when I realized that many things that happen in government often happen with the approval of the leaders, if not their direct involvement and profit.

Recently, I met up with someone very close to the current President and I found it bizarre that this person was wondering out loud as to what certain cabinet officials could have fed P-Noy that prevents him from firing the most incompetent members of cabinet. Unfortunately he is not alone. Thousands of Filipinos who’ve had to deal with the LTO, LTFRB and DILG and the MRT under the Roxas/Abaya tandem have also been wondering why the President coddles and protects them. The general assumption is that P-Noy is a man who values “utang na loob” and given his very small circle of friends and supporters, it would be foolhardy for the President to further reduce numbers.

After much thought, I was reminded of the “patong” story that I learned during the Martial Law days and it raises the possibility that the incompetence of certain cabinet members (not just Abaya and Roxas) are in fact intentional. Remember being stupid or pretending to be stupid is not a crime and given the impression that these same players are not stupid, then the only plausible answer is that they are being intentionally incompetent, underspending, and under-achieving in order to keep windows of opportunities for campaign supporters to recoup their investments in 2010 and to attract more funding for the 2016 election. It could be a way of preserving the status quo and preventing competition.

When nothing gets done except to imprison or harass political enemies, then it would mean a “status quo” for the people in power in the business sector. When no new real opportunities are created then there will be no new players to redefine the playing field or provide competition. In case you want to check, even the so-called new players from abroad in business are merely add-ons to old names in business that are very loyal supporters of the administration.

Think about it: What would be the one thing that could seriously affect bus companies, trucking firms and airlines in the Philippines? What would seriously hurt car manufacturers, gasoline companies, bus lines and jeepney operators as well as taxi companies? An efficient and well-managed train system! If we revived the railway in and out of the ports of Manila and Batangas and linked this with the various industrial zones all the way to Clark and Subic, it would spell the death of the trucking and logistics businesses, as we know it.

If the MRT and LRT were actually managed well and expanded, the car manufacturers would not be bragging about selling 20% more year on year, the gasoline companies would not be reporting wonderful profits of billions of pesos in net revenues. Unfortunately none of these positive results is actually beneficial to the Filipino people. We are carrying the burden, paying the price in order to cope or survive the consequences of intentional incompetence that require                                                                                                                                       us to buy cars for reliable mobility, the traffic jams that prolong our stay on the road and force us to consume fuel, Carmagedon that force us to stay in business districts and malls where we eat meals alone and frustrated instead of being with our families.

If this administration were actually sincere about developing the country and expanding our economy, they would have prevented the habitual destruction of roads and subsequent repaving using government funds every three years. They would have pursued inter-island connectivity through bridges like the San Juanico that Ferdinand Marcos built instead of standing idly by as ferries and roros dwindle or fail to meet the demand.

Why did Malacañang take control of the communications from the DOTC? Simple, that way it would be almost impossible for Congress and the Senate to poke, probe and expose the practices of the duopoly controlling telecoms in the country. Why is it that in spite of paying very high rates, Filipinos get the slowest speeds and poorest service in telecoms, quite simply because Malacañang has the ball and kept it beyond our reach. As a result there is no “independent” authority or office with a mandate separate from the Office of the President to investigate AND regulate the telecoms companies.

Why is it that in spite of the many foul ups, complaints and publicized incompetence of airport authorities, no one is fired? Why are the regulators against offers to improve the runways etc.? How come the airline industry remains poorly regulated in terms of customer complaints and operational failures? Again it seems to be all intended to retain the status quo.

Many years ago I was invited to a meeting of the Young Presidents Organization and I persisted in getting an answer as to why such an influential group never pressed hard in creating a business environment totally free of “red tape.” After badgering the guys in our circle, one executive spoke out:

“What makes you think we want it?

“Given the current situation, we are at an advantage because we know how to work in this system and environment. The foreign companies can’t compete with us because they are prevented by strict laws against corruption.” So it is plausible that the new administration is not interested in a system that works but simply something that works for them.

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