BANTAY GOBYERNO (SERIES 044)

By Ike Señeres                                                                                        

SEDA Forum

It has been difficult for me to explain the meaning of complete convergence, and what its correlation is to universal access. There is actually a cause and effect relationship between the two. Complete convergence is the cause, and universal access is the effect. Of course there is a quantitative side to this, because if the convergence is not complete, then the access is not universal.

In my media work and my advocacy work, I meet a lot of people who are in a position to contribute to complete convergence, in other words they are potential assets that could make universal access happen. Conversely, I also meet a lot of people who need support, in order to make universal access happen where they are. It disturbs me to see that in many cases, they do not even meet, such that their common energies are wasted.

We are facing the sad reality that by nature and by structure, the bureaucracy of the government is really compartmentalized, and that is the opposite of convergence or being converged. On the positive side, the government is already seeing the benefits of public and private partnership (PPP). That is good news, but with PPP coming into the picture, there is now an increased burden on the government to converge the actions not only of the national agencies, but also of the local governments.

It is a known fact that the national government bureaucracy is not just compartmentalized, it is also Balkanized. Agencies and bureaus within a Department are not talking to each other, how much more coordinating with each other. This is also true in the case of Departments that are supposed to be part of a cluster that should address a common concern. Whatever happened to the cabinet clusters that used to work so well before?

I do not want to blame anyone in the government in particular, but it could be said that government functionaries could not be as aggressive as their private sector counterparts, because they do not have a profit motive. I mean a profit motive for the corporate bottom line, and not for their pockets. This profit motive could have been substituted by a genuine concern for the good of their own institutions, but that is absent too, because most bureaucrats are now political appointees and are no longer career public servants.

Not that I am crying over spilled milk, but in the absence of a profit motive, the new political appointees could have been expected also to be highly motivated if they are loyal members of a political party that has a genuine and serious platform for economic prosperity and good governance. Sad to say again, there appears to be no party behavior in the pattern of political appointments. I am talking about political will, a powerful motivation that is greater than a profit motive.

In the spirit of public and private partnership, the Corinthian Coffee Clutch (CCC) has already become a clearing house not only for PPP, but also for corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects. It is my wish that PPP and CSR projects will also converge in specific geographic locations, jointly addressing common sectoral concerns such as health and education.

How to Join the SEDA Forum

P lease join me in the forum of the Socio Economic Development Alliance (SEDA FORUM), where we could discuss the ways and means of nation building, leading towards our socio economic development. To join, just send a blank email to SEDA_FORUM-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

SEDA has the same purpose as CCC, except that it is online. It became necessary for me to activate the SEDA FORUM, because my mailing lists for CCC are already full, and I could no longer send mass emails.

By nature, PPP programs are always profit driven, but CSR programs are not. On the other hand however, some expenses for CSR programs could be tax deductible. For one reason or another, the private sector would be very much open to helping sectoral concerns everywhere, if only they would know where to go and what to do.

I am hoping that through the SEDA FORUM, I will be able to bring together via online means the government agencies and private companies that would want to do projects together. This is also applicable to local governments. As usual, we could all meet in the CCC for real time, brick and mortar “eyeball” transactions. Online or offline, we have no more reasons not to act now. # # #

Go for Complete Convergence! Tune in to Universal Access 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Monday to Sunday in DZRJ 810 khz or log on to www.rjplanet.com/rj-radio/  Watch KA IKING LIVE! Saturdays 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 pm in Global News Network (GNN), Channel 21 in Destiny Cable. E-mail iseneres@yahoo.com or text +639293605140 for local cable listings. Visit www.senseneres.blogspot.com