Counting Potatoes

Controversial Views on Philippine Politics: Chaos is the Politician's Golden Goose

Ever got that feeling that there's a conspiracy going on and that some of the BIG problems in our country are just covers for a money making business?

My father loves to say "In chaos there is opportunity so why fix it?" whenever he comes across news items or everyday government bullshit that smells suspiciously like fish.

Meralco and its highly controversial system loss charge.. Why fix it if there are government officials and Meralco officers getting free electricity from the deal?

LTO, BIR and COMELEC's long lines and convoluted procedures. Who says the system's broke?? After all, the system's working beautifully for the Fixers and the Fixers' partners right??

The economy going belly up and the prices of goods going through the roof? Chaos and opportunities galore! After all, how would you justify EVAT (and thus be able to dip your fingers into it) if everything is going well?

Do you honestly think the government loses sleep over the high price of oil? Think again!Oil is one of the prime sources of EVAT as well as regular tax. Why in the hell would they want to fix this problem if they can get to pocket more now and fly to Switzerland later?!

Regardless of what excuses, records, statistics or platitudes they might come up with, I wouldn’t trust our government farther than I can spit. Why? Because these 'guards' don’t want any guards watching them! If they did then they would've thought of the following checks and balances first:

1. Bantay Boto ( Guarding our Votes )

A relatively simple idea, use mobile phones (its camera, video and audio recorders) to make sure our elections are clean and honest. How many politicians have you heard railing against election fraud and tampering?.. Too many to count.

How many politicians have you heard proposing this simple yet effective idea before our TV networks came up with it?... He he he, thought so.

Now how many politicians do you hear talking about how this proven and effective system could be improved further through online forums, video sharing, online real-time election monitoring, social network of election guardians, etc?

He he he, see? Do you think they really want elections to be clean and open to the public?? Do you really think Gloria gives a rats ass about eradicating election fraud this 2010?? HELLO!...Garci..He he

2. Bantay Buget (Government Budget Transparency)

If our politicians were so serious about fighting against corruption, why don’t they and their contractors post their budget breakdown online where we can talk about it and debate its accuracy? If you want to make people feel assured that no corruption and under the table deals are taking place, then wouldn’t you welcome the help of thousands of Filipinos monitoring, dissecting and guarding our money?

Then again, you can't post expenses like "brown paper bags with P500,000 inside given as incentives to governors" on this type of system right? He he he

By the way, Naga City's budget as well as all the bids in city projects are posted online (www.naga.gov.ph) where people can check it and talk about it. Thumbs up to Major Jesse Robredo. Maybe there's hope after all.

3. Bantay Opisyal ( Accountability of Politicians)

Imbestigador seems like an effective way of catching government crooks and compelling the government to act. Use videos and recordings of the people as proof, give them media exposure and match the case with the appropriate professionals to get it going and its easily done.

Why doesn’t the government set up a Linked In/YouTube/Ebay like site where:

1. People can post graft and corruption videos

2.Comment and add data on them

3.Match them with professionals with track records of successfully pursuing its cases ( Linked In with Ebay feedback system )

... Oh right...Chaos equals opportunity, how did I forget that..

4. Bantay Cellphone (Cellphone Snatching)

How many cellphones are snatched each year? Moreover, how many innocent lives are snuffed out each year because of cellphone snatching?

Now how hard is it to set up a program like the one below:

GPS tracking + Mobile Phone's MAC address/ serial number = triangulation of snatched phone and snatcher

Add the following regulations to the system:

1.All cellphones and serial numbers must be registered by retailers on a government site when sold.

2.Owners are given user passwords for the online mobile phone registration site.

3.People selling their phones to another must register and verify the sale online.

4. Mobile phone unblocking services must be monitored by the government.

5. Pawnshops must verify ownership of mobile phone online before accepting phones as collateral.

Is the above system that hard to set up?

Or is it in the government's interest to let the current chaos rule?

Maybe we can just pack our mobile phones with C4 and remote detonate them when snatched? He he, talk about the cellphone owners' War of Terror!

5. Bantay Botante ( Flying Voters)

Sometimes it’s not just the votes but the voters themselves that must be guarded. Why, because in our country even the dead votes! I mean, I know democracy teaches us the virtue of a one man one vote system, but I don’t think it's supposed to include the dead.

Moreover, voters who use "gwapo kasi/ he's handsome", "mukhang mabait/ he looks nice" or "ma prinsipyo sa peliku / is principled in movies" as a criteria for voting may be on the gray fringes of democracy but flying voters are definitely on the dark side!

Rights exist hand in hand with responsibility. People should be removed from the list of voters if caught selling their votes! Moreover, people should have easy access to information about, qualifications and track record of all politicians running for office.

Think Political Friendster accounts coupled with an Ebay feedback program based on performance appraisal systems. Account page would also include all projects undertaken and its verified outcomes, achievements and their proof, as well as a record of all votes given to proposals, laws, issues, etc. Add this to a forum and a blog on the site and you have a very powerful political awareness platform.

Imagine a political candidate roll social network where you can compare running politicians to each much like comparing X-men playing cards, he he, wouldn’t it help us choose our politicians a lot better?

Jamby madrigal says she has her own Friendster account, who knows, maybe this might even become a norm come 2010 elections. He he,

6. Bantay Energiya ( Power Issues)

Judy Ann recently went on national TV explaining to the masses how Meralco's system loss is a part of everyday life.

She may have a point there.Basic electromagnetics states that system loss does occur because of wire resistance but system loss due to political cronies or Meralco officials tapping into the electric grid for a lifetime of free electricity? I don’t think that's a part of the standard definition for system loss, he he

There's a simple device called an ammeter that can measure the amount of electric current flowing in and out of electrical circuits. This device alone could make the detection of illegal connections very very easy. Now which is cheaper?

A one time cost of installing an ammeter for every electric post in the country? Or a lifetime cost of power tapping that translates into what they call 'system loss'?

Following this line of reasoning further, which is cheaper, a one time cost of installing street light guards and a light activated bulb (turns on automatically when its dark) or a lifetime of frequent bulb replacements and energy waste?

Add this to the open windows in air-conditioned rooms, the continued use of incandescent light bulbs and water coolers/heaters in government agencies and do you really believe the government is serious when it says energy conservation is good and it sympathizes with its people when it comes to energy price hikes??

Do you see the "chaos" here? do you also see the opportunities for graft and corruption?

7. Bantay Pirata (Battle against Piracy)

uuhhhmmm...Is this really considered a problem in our country? I mean you really don't have to go to dark alleys and seedy looking places just to buy pirated DVDs right? Hell, everyone knows where pirated DVDs are sold! In a commercial building that used to be a cinema, right across the mall and usually even inside malls, right beside the supermart's checkout counter, right beside the flyover and across Quiapo church, etc, etc.Knock knock Madam President, retailers of pirated DVDs are not exactly hiding under rocks. Usually, they are just a few meters away from the nearest policemen. He he.

Solution? Isn’t it obvious? He he, then again maybe there is such a thing as an unofficial PVAT (pirated goods value added tax).

8. Bantay Addict ( Anti-Drugs )

Have you ever met a closet addict that nobody knew was taking drugs??

" I thought he only had a permanent cold what with all the sniffing and red eyes..Never noticed his body twitching though.. "

or

"I thought they were just sniffing tawas"

I know drug pushers are hard to find and drug lords harder still but what happens if you ship all the addicts you find to a separate island? Will the pushers and drug lords stick around hoping to convince non users into becoming users? Furthermore, will the rate of conversion be greater than or equal to the rate of deportation? He he, drug users are also way way easier to catch, just air a commercial.

Text addict [space] name [space] address and send to 2366.

9. Bantay Kalusugan ( Pro-Health)

Government doesn’t have enough money to give sufficient medicines to the poor.. Fair enough.. But some free medicines are way better than none right?

What if instead of medicine, the government distributes seeds of medicinal herbal plants to rural clinics all around the country and instead of unsustainable government subsidized drug stores, sick people can go to government herbal gardens just behind the local clinic?

Of course, we cant expect these herbal gardens to address all the ailments but I'll bet the savings we can get from these free and sustainable herbal gardens will help much in covering for those health ailments that needs conventional meds.

Cost of operation? Research into herbal meds, seeds, gardening and water. Then again, if you count the opportunity lost because of decreased chaos then the cost becomes astronomical for the politicians. He he

10. Bantay Kalikasan (Resource Management)

The natural environment doesn’t produce "waste". Before we came, everything in nature was part of a cycle that makes most of its resources. Dung becomes compost in which plants grew.Plants recycle air and become food for animals, etc, etc.

Garbage becomes a problem not because of the lack of resources to dispose of it but because of the lack of systems to utilize and profit from it - and this is a problem of political will rather than resource.

Consider the following scenario:

Waste from Cities

Food:

A. Excess food and Fast-food items that have not been bought/gone cold and which are usually thrown away could be collected and used to jumpstart feeding program for the poor working in farms in outlying towns (participating business gets a tax break, government has less waste problem and poor gets food = win win situation )

B. Leftover food is also taken to the farms as feeds for hogs and other farm animals. ( hog farmers gets cheap feeds and thus price of meat becomes lower, less waste problem for government, food businesses benefits from cheaper meat = win win situation )

C. Pig manure, dead plants and other decomposable trash are collected into local composting tanks - turns into cheap fertilizer and methane gas. ( cheap fertilizer leads to cheaper rice, fruits and veggies, methane can be piped and used for cooking and alternative fuel, less garbage problem for the government and more economic progress = win win situation )

Non-Perishable Trash

A. Non-recyclable plastics outlawed, containers minimized. shampoos, toothpaste, jam, etc. are refilled like computer ink and mineral water. Plastic shopping bags are replaced by reusable bags. (lower production costs for companies, cheaper prices for consumers and less garbage for government to clean up)

B. Recyclable materials are segregated, recycled and reused (lower dependence on imports, less damage to environment and new job opportunities to the poor)

C. Landfills also mined for methane and piped to cities as cooking gas and alternative fuel.

Our country doesn’t need more money or resources to drastically improve our economic situation. We do however need a new mindset, one that involves:

- The proper management not just of resources but of 'wastes'

- The realization that Lower living costs are just as beneficial as higher wages.

- The strengthening of political will to create the systems that will jumpstart efficient resource management.

But why alienate big corporations with these sweeping changes? The government after all doesn’t bite the hand that feeds it. He he

A sincere call for change and a genuine stand against graft and corruption should not only involve sound bites for the media and vague references to projects and proposals that people cannot monitor and much more take part of.

A sincere public servant will always advocate transparency of information, finance and procedures, accountability for decisions and results, and more importantly the participation of people who can help by suggesting/doing better ways to accomplish the task.

People should recognize the fact that our politicians are way smarter than they seem. The complicated procedures, the long lines, the inefficient systems, the seemingly unsolvable problems are usually products not of the lack of imagination, resource or even fate but of the basic conflict of interest between the government and the people.

With great chaos come great opportunities...

Why settle for the small bucks that come with a Country's progress when they can make much much more with a Country's Woes?

So why fix something if its going to make them broke?

	Controversial Views on Philippine Politics: Chaos is the Politician's Golden Goose