Internal conflicts of interests

INTERNAL conflicts of interests within government agencies does not seem to be recognized as a problem yet, that is why I have decided to write about it, to get the ball rolling, so to speak.

To be more specific, I am talking about conflicts between the developmental functions of government agencies on one hand, and their regulatory functions on the other hand.

My first example is the Cooperative Development Agency ( CDA). As its name suggests, it is supposed to be a development agency, but then it is also loaded with plenty of regulatory powers, some might even say that the latter seems to be getting more attention than the former. In more ways than one, this is really stunting the development of cooperatives.

My second example is the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA). Again, as its name suggests, it is supposed to be a development agency, but right now, its time and attention is fully invested on controlling the traffic and cleaning up the garbage, short term goals that are less meaningful than its long-term development goals.

My third example is the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA). Again, as its name suggests, it is supposed to be a development agency, but it seems that we do not hear much about their development related functions. Instead, we hear more of their regulatory functions. Laguna Lake is supposed to be our long-term source of food and water, but are we making any progress in these development goals?

LET’S STRENGTHEN LOCAL POLICE

As stated in the charter of the Philippine National Police (PNP), it is supposed to be national in scope, and civilian in character. I think that it has already accomplished the first part, but it still has to do a lot of work for the second part.

Sad to say, there are still some remnants of a military culture within the PNP, but I am still hopeful that over the years, it can eventually achieve full civilianization as it is supposed to do.

As far as I can recall, the PNP is already supposed to move away from using military uniforms and military ranks by now, but it seems that it is still not being done full y.

Why is it important for them to do that? Why do we still allow the PNP to keep on militarizing itself ?

The answer to that i s very simple. Because that is what the law says, and that is what we must do.

In the United States, it is a big issue not to allow local police to acquire military grade equipment, even surplus equipment that is available in the local market.

Why is that so? The answer to that is very simple. Military is military, and civilian is civilian, and clear boundaries have to be drawn between the two.

At the risk of stating the obvious, the PNP is a civilian agency, period. I do not know exactly how much budget the PNP is getting from Congress, but whatever it is, it should be increased so that it could fully perform its functions as a nationwide civilian agency.

By doing that, it will become more independent from the LGUs that are partially funding it now./

Military is military, and civilian is civilian, and clear boundaries have to be drawn between the two.