Need to change our political system
Call for us lucky that super typhoon "Ruby" (international codename Hagupit) only struck northern Cebu (again), but was not as badly hit as when super typhoon "Yolanda." I guess you can say that our prayers were answered. Of course there are those who openly complain that we should not have called for those storm signals for Cebu City when the weather was not really stormy at all. But then, those are the same people who would cry out loud if the typhoon struck us and we did not follow the directive of PAGASA. In short, we just cannot please everyone. But I submit that I would rather be on the safe side of being prepared as to being unprepared.
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Sunday afternoon, I was able to catch up with Karen Davila's show on ANC dubbed "Forum on Strategic Building: Beyond 2016." It was probably one of the best discussions on the future of the country that ANC ever came out with. For too long, we never heard any such discussion over nationwide TV on how the nation should go forward, where the panelists gave their ten centavos worth on what this nation really needs and how we can fix ourselves and make a better nation.
One of the panelists was DPWH Sec. Rogelio Singson, who said that one of the solutions to the problems in Metro Manila was to disperse the population and build more infrastructure projects in areas like Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Bacolod, Davao City and Cebu City. I fully agree with his observation. At least this is one Cabinet Secretary inside the Aquino regime that has grasped the idea on how to solve the problems of Metro Manila. But it is more than obvious to me that all of them are paying mere lip service on how to solve the ills of Metro Manila.
That imperial Manila practically gets 80 percent of foreign investments to the country only shows their greed, which is now working against their favor. The more investments they pour into the National Capital Region the more congested they become with no real solution in sight. Hence the only solution left for them is to stop their present growth. Unfortunately, imperial Manila refuses to recognize that this is the only solution on their plate.
Sec. Singson also pointed out that there should be more infrastructure development given to those cities that he mentioned. Unfortunately he did not mention the reforms that the DPWH direly needs, like the ones where the road works for Cebu City and Mandaue City need to be worked on a 24-hour basis. It is sad that the contractors that DPWH used do not work after 5:00PM, just like ordinary offices. Sec. Singson must order work from these contractors on a 24-hour basis, including Sundays and holidays.
The road widening along M. Velez St. which began in the year 2006 is still not finished, but at least DPWH listened to us not to cut the trees and instead put those threes in the middle of the road. This is what DPWH should have done on the national road going to Carcar City, where they should have preserved those centuries' old Acacia trees.
One of the panelists of the ANC Show was Mr. Vince Lazatin, director of Accountability & Transparency Network, who said that planning in the Philippines is "Sashay planning" while Singapore usually plans for the next 30-years. How true! But then there is really no permanent planning office here in the Philippines because planning here follows the path of the terms of office of our elected officials. Unless we change our political system, I do not see a good future for the country even if we just want to be at par with our ASEAN neighbors.
I can only second guess that this is so because of our current system of governance where every three years, we hold elections. Hence all plans for the development of the country are earmarked for only three years. Thanks to the 1987 Constitution which was borne out of a Martial Law hangover. Before 1986 there were no elections. After the EDSA Revolt, we have elections every three years. It is for this very reason why we must have real reforms before we go into another election. This is what the National Transformation Council in all their declarations from cities of Cebu, Lipa, Butuan, Clark and Davao were seeking to do.
I once abhorred having a parliamentary system of governance because we had parliamentary one during the 1973 Marcos Constitution. But in light of new developments, I have since changed my mind and believe that we must shift to a parliamentary form of government as soon as possible simply because of the top ten most corrupt leaders, none of them came from a parliamentary form of government. This alone should entice our people to drop our current centralized form of government and make that paradigm shift into a parliamentary/federal form. But whether our present political leadership feels that need for reforms is another story.
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